People are sharing the things America does best. Here are 17 things they're totally right about.

[1]( [People are sharing the things America does best. Here are 17 things they're totally right about.]( If you watch the news all day, you’ll probably think that America is a politically divided, dangerous, bigoted, contentious, depressing place that’s slowly losing its grip on being a world power. That’s because there are very few media outlets that can stay in business reporting good news. (Unless they’re Upworthy, of course.) Humans have a negativity bias, so they are much more interested in hearing about the world’s problems than what’s going well. That makes it easy for them to develop a warped view of their country and the world that is much more negative than it should be. Thousands of people on Reddit came together to make people feel a lot better about being an American recently after a user named KyleB2131 asked, “What does America do better than most other countries?” The post received thousands of responses from Americans and people abroad about the things that truly make the country great. [Read the story]( [2]( [Queen Elizabeth's bodyguard shared a hilarious story of her meeting two Americans on a hike]( After seven decades on the throne as Britain's monarch, Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8 at the age of 96. The historic nature of her passing can't be overstated. Elizabeth was Britain's longest-reigning monarch and the second-longest reigning monarch in history (after France's Louis XIV). She wore the crown for a third of the entire history of the United States, which is mindblowing. The vast majority of people alive today have never lived in a world without Queen Elizabeth. Whatever people's feelings may be about the monarchy, British colonialism, royal family drama and the like, her passing marks the end of a long and storied era in human history. Her title and station may have been powerful and consequential, but at the end of the day, she was a human being. The popular Netflix series "The Crown" helped remind people of that fact, but perhaps nothing showed the fun-loving, human side of Queen Elizabeth like the stories told by those who spent the most time with her. During the celebration of her 70 years of reign this summer, the queen's former bodyguard Richard "Dick" Griffin told Sky News about a hilarious encounter Elizabeth had with two Americans while hiking in the hills near her castle in Scotland. The hikers struck up a conversation, and it was immediately clear they didn't recognize that they were talking to Queen Elizabeth. [Read the story]( Did a friend forward this to you? [Subscribe here]( [3]( [Hobbit actors share perfect response to racial grumblings over 'Rings of Power' casting]( The Fellowship of the Ring has banded together once again in the name of solidarity and standing up for what’s right. In response to racially centered backlash for the diverse casting choices in the new Amazon series “Rings of Power” (a situation disappointingly common for many modern fantasy franchises) the trilogy’s original Hobbits Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan took to social media—about as treacherous as Mordor, some might say—to show their support. Each actor wore a clothing item displaying a row of elf ears in different skin tones along with a message in Elvish that translates to “You Are All Welcome Here.” The coolest, most LOTR way to rebel possibly ever. [Read the story]( [4]( [Woman uses her super sense of smell to help scientists detect Parkinson's in minutes]( We don’t always choose our gifts. Joy Milne’s superpower, one she inherited from her mother’s side of the family, was having a highly acute sense of smell. Milne might have never used her olfactory talent as a force for good, had it not been for her late husband, Les Milne. According to NPR, Les and Joy met in their teens and it was love at first sniff. "He had a lovely male musk smell. He really did," she told NPR. After many years of a happy marriage, Joy noticed her husband, then in his 30s, had developed an “overpowering sort of nasty yeast smell.” The running joke-slash-complaint was that Les “wasn’t washing enough.” Eventually Les’ scent wouldn’t be the only thing to change. Joy told NPR that her once funny, thoughtful husband completely transformed, becoming “moody,” irritable and even aggressive. He wouldn’t receive a proper Parkinson’s diagnosis until the age of 45. [Read the story]( [5]( [10 things that made us smile this week​]( Did you know that one smile can stimulate your brain as much as 2,000 chocolate bars? In a 2005 study, British researchers used an electromagnetic brain scan machine to measure mood boosts from various stimuli. Not only did seeing a child's smile provide the same stimulation as up to 2,000 chocolate bars, but it was also equivalent to receiving 16,000 British pounds (more than $25,000 in U.S. dollars at the time of the study). Another study from Wayne State University, as reported by TIME, discovered that professional baseball players who were smiling widely in their photos lived an average of 79.9 years, while those who were not smiling only lived 72.9 years—a full seven-year difference. In his 2011 TED Talk, "The Hidden Powers of Smiling," Ron Gutman shared what he'd gleaned from his review of research on smiling, including the above studies and more. He found that smiling is an incredibly powerful human behavior that can make a profound difference in our lives. So these weekly smile-worthy roundups aren't just for fluff. Smiling is good for us, and if enough of us get enough of those feel-good endorphins, maybe—just maybe—we'll make a noticeable, positive mark on the world around us. Enjoy, friends! [Read the story]( Find us on the World Wide Web: [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [Website]( [LinkedIn]( Copyright © 2022 GOOD | Upworthy, All rights reserved. 1370 N St Andrews Pl, Los Angeles, CA 90028 You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.