3 Good Things: A turtle boom, cheers for cheerleaders and that third cup of coffee

Conservation works

Green sea turtles have made a stunning comeback on the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles since hunting was banned in 1968. Back then, the females who came ashore would lay about 3,000 broods of eggs each year. Recently researchers are finding more like 15,000 broods per year. All these turtles needed was a little protection, and nature did the rest.

Call in reinforcements

When the ball got stuck behind the rim during a March Madness basketball game, the tallest players couldn’t dislodge it. A referee standing on a chair and jabbing up with a pole couldn’t touch it. Who came to the rescue? Two Indiana University cheerleaders trotted over from the sidelines. One stepped into the other’s hands, and he hoisted her into the air to retrieve the ball. They made it look so easy!

Drink your medicine

Go ahead, have a third cup of coffee. Researchers analyzing a huge data set on 382,535 Britons with no known cardiovascular disease found that the ones drinking two to three cups of coffee per day were least likely to develop coronary heart disease, heart failure or arrhythmias over a 10-year period. Folks drinking more or less coffee were at higher risk.

And one more ...

Reader Billie Greer of Los Angeles sent in a suggestion for a “good thing” that she thinks more people should try: riding a motorcycle. “Research shows it improves your mood, as motorcyclists stay in the moment with their minds free of worries,” she writes. “You’re helping clean up the environment as motorcycles use less fuel than cars, your brain is tuned up, you easily find places to park, and you experience the immense joy and the amazing freedom of the open road. At the age of 84, I have been riding with a Harley group — for the most part the only female — for nearly two decades.”