Ever wonder what its like to be a veterinarian? Jenna shows us in a report on a special animal hospital that’s helping injured pets. We learn that becoming a veterinarian is a lot like becoming a “people” doctor. Vets have to go through special training and can work long hours. In fact, getting into a vet school can be a challenge in itself: there are only 27 colleges of veterinary medicine in the U.S., which means there can be up to 10 applicants for every open slot! 

 Lauren takes us to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. President Abraham Lincoln saw the United States through the Civil War, and ultimately abolished slavery.  His most famous speech, The Gettysburg Address, is inscribed on the south wall of the memorial. Since its dedication in 1922, the memorial has played host to countless speeches, protests and celebrations

Jenna tells teens about the Civil Air Patrol, or CAP.  The three goals of CAP program are to teach students about aviation, emergency services, and cadet programs.  Participating teens will get a taste of military life and a chance to help their communities.

President Barack Obama published a thank you letter to the American people on Thursday, his last day in office, encouraging them to stay active in democracy and promising to “be right there with you every step of the way.”

“Before I leave my note for our 45th president, I wanted to say one final thank you for the honor of serving as your 44th. Because all that I’ve learned in my time in office, I’ve learned from you,” Obama wrote. “You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.”

Obama has spent the past couple of weeks delivering the final message of his presidency, giving a farewell address from Chicago last week and speaking at his final White House press conference on Wednesday, signing off with the same notes of hope and optimism that launched his presidency.

“I’ve seen you, the American people, in all your decency, determination, good humor, and kindness. And in your daily acts of citizenship, I’ve seen our future unfolding,” he said. “All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into that work — the joyous work of citizenship. Not just when there’s an election, not just when our own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. I’ll be right there with you every step of the way.”

Obama will attend the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump with Michelle Obama on Friday.

“And when the arc of progress seems slow, remember: America is not the project of any one person,” Obama wrote. “The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We the People.’ ‘We shall overcome.’ Yes, we can.”

Read Obama’s complete letter here:

My fellow Americans,

It’s a long-standing tradition for the sitting president of the United States to leave a parting letter in the Oval Office for the American elected to take his or her place. It’s a letter meant to share what we know, what we’ve learned, and what small wisdom may help our successor bear the great responsibility that comes with the highest office in our land, and the leadership of the free world.

But before I leave my note for our 45th president, I wanted to say one final thank you for the honor of serving as your 44th. Because all that I’ve learned in my time in office, I’ve learned from you. You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.

Throughout these eight years, you have been the source of goodness, resilience, and hope from which I’ve pulled strength. I’ve seen neighbors and communities take care of each other during the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes. I have mourned with grieving families searching for answers — and found grace in a Charleston church.

I’ve taken heart from the hope of young graduates and our newest military officers. I’ve seen our scientists help a paralyzed man regain his sense of touch, and wounded warriors once given up for dead walk again. I’ve seen Americans whose lives have been saved because they finally have access to medical care, and families whose lives have been changed because their marriages are recognized as equal to our own. I’ve seen the youngest of children remind us through their actions and through their generosity of our obligations to care for refugees, or work for peace, and, above all, to look out for each other.

I’ve seen you, the American people, in all your decency, determination, good humor, and kindness. And in your daily acts of citizenship, I’ve seen our future unfolding.

All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into that work — the joyous work of citizenship. Not just when there’s an election, not just when our own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime.

I’ll be right there with you every step of the way.

And when the arc of progress seems slow, remember: America is not the project of any one person. The single most powerful word in our democracy is the word ‘We.’ ‘We the People.’ ‘We shall overcome.’

Yes, we can.

2016 was a great year for movies, we’ve had  Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, Moana, Rogue One, Kubo and the Two Strings – I could go on. But 2017 is also looking to give us some great movies, so here’s our roundup of what movies you should look forward.

Now that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has been in theaters for a few weeks, Disney, Lucasfilm and the crew behind the sci-fi saga spin-off are starting to reveal some of the secrets behind the making of the movie. Just recently the film’s editors discussed the reshoots and a unique pre-production process, and now a story from Nightline reveals one of the most simultaneously impressive and unsettling elements of Rogue One.

Football is not a safe sport, and the Super Bowl on Sunday was no exception, with one player out because of a concussion before the New England Patriots prevailed over the Seattle Seahawks. Even though players wear lots of protective gear and helmets to protect their skulls, it doesn’t stop what many are calling a “concussion epidemic” among U.S. sports. But, one scientist is calling upon the community to develop new materials that could make helmets much safer.

A new study shows former NFL players who played tackle football before age 12 were more likely to have memory and thinking problems when they’re adults. But scientist Ainissa Ramirez, author of the book Newton’s Football: The Science Behind America’s Game, says it doesn’t have to be this way. If helmets were made with better materials, players’ brains could be better protected. “Helmet material is too stiff, it’s not able to absorb the force,” she says.

Ramirez and her co-author Allen St. John decided to ask the question: Why don’t other animals who hit their heads often get concussions? First, they looked at the woodpecker. “What we learned that woodpeckers don’t get concussions because they have small brains which means they can handle bigger forces,” explains Ramirez. “You know this intuitively, if your cellphone drops off your desk or your laptop drops off your desk, you’re not going to be too worried about your cell phone but you’re going to be afraid for your laptop.”

Next they looked at rams, and made a promising discovery. “Rams and big horned sheep hit each other at 40 miles and hour, and seconds later they are coming back for more,” says Ramirez. “They have brains comparable to our own size. They can survive and not get concussions because of their horns.” Rams’ horns are made out of a polymer called keratin. Keratin is in our hair, our fingernails, in tortoise shells, and porcupine quills for example. Ramirez says it’s very stretchy, and for rams, it acts like a crumple zone for a car, but with the ability to recover.

“We need better materials [for helmets] and we can borrow from nature. Maybe we need a material that’s sort of like keratin,” says Ramirez.

It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve borrowed from nature. Velcro, for example, was created in the 1950s when George de Mestral, a Swiss electrical engineer. After returning from a walk, he discovered his socks and his dog’s fur were covered in burs. Intrigued by how they worked, de Mestral looked at the burs under a microscope and discovered a bunch of little hooks, which became the inspiration for velcro.

Ramirez isn’t positive that keratin will for sure work as a helmet material, but she’s calling on the scientific community to try it out, or at least prioritize the search for better materials. Despite the fact that in 2013 the NFL launched a $10 million program to find better shock absorbent materials for helmets and other technologies to prevent concussions, there hasn’t been much of a race for finding the perfect material. One promising effort is from a team at UCLA that’s researching the use of a energy-absorbing microlattice material that could replace the foam in helmets.

You can watch a video of UCLA’s material below:

Star Wars Rebels has just dropped a mid-season trailer for the third season into our laps just before its return this weekend and, oh boy, is it special. The legendary Mandalorian darksaber shows up and Mon Mothma makes her first Rebels appearance but the big news is a rematch 18 years in the making: Obi-Wan is set to go toe-to-toe with Darth Maul. That sound you can hear is me squealing with excitement. This season could even set up future Star Wars movies. As if you needed another reason to watch.

Star Wars Rebels season 3 returns on Disney XD on January 7.

In 2017, you’d think doctors would know the human anatomy thoroughly, but researchers recently were surprised to discover a completely new body organ. The organ is called the mesentery, it resides in our digestive tract, and may hold the key to better understanding digestive disorders.

The mesentery didn't just appear from thin air. According to ScienceAlert, it was previously believed to be made of fragmented, separate structures. However, new research has shown that it's actually one continuous organ. The discovery that the mesentery is actually a continuous structure was actually made in 2012, but it has taken four years of further research before the findings could be officially released. Grey’s Anatomy, the world’s most famous medical textbooks, have even been edited to include the update.

Still, it’s unclear exactly what the mesentery does. The body part has been long ignored and believed to be otherwise useless, but scientists are beginning to change their ideas on its function.

“Now we have established anatomy and the structure. The next step is the function. If you understand the function you can identify abnormal function, and then you have disease, said J. Calvin Coffey, a researcher from the University Hospital Limerick in Ireland who helped to identify the organ, ScienceAlertreported. “Put them all together and you have the field of mesenteric science … the basis for a whole new area of science.”

While it may be hard to believe, this is not the first time that scientists have recently discovered a new body part. In 2015, scientists discovered a “missing link” between the immune system and the brain which they dubbed the "central nervous system lymphatic system vessels.” The team believes that the “missing link” between the brain and the immune system could explain why some diseases like Alzheimer’s can cause plaque buildup in the brain, and may offer insight into the pathology of other illnesses as well. More research is needed.