By Scottie Andrew

My legs finally saw the sun this week. It’s been months (years?) since I’ve worn shorts outside, but this week, I bared my prickly skin in the sunlight and felt marvelous. It was finally warm enough to pretend it’s spring, and I really fed the fantasy — I packed up my puffer jackets, turned off the heat in my house and painted my toenails in case they make a cameo soon. Then I checked the forecast for next week and immediately unpacked my jackets and put my socks back on. Fingers crossed for warmer days ahead. 

Here are some good things that happened this week.

Helping hands

A small team of resourceful fifth graders has successfully circumvented the American health care system to get aid to other kids who need it. These Georgia students are building 3D‑printed prosthetic hands for children their age, carefully wiring them so recipients will be able to feel with the prosthetic fingers. Their first hand is going to a 10‑year‑old boy in neighboring Alabama. (Most heartwarming to this writer: only six students were chosen for this project based on essays they wrote about why they wanted to help. Future engineers and essayists?! I’m verklempt.)

A scene-stealing intruder

The gold medal in adorable anarchy goes to the Czechoslovakian wolfdog that crashed the Winter Olympics. The spirit of the Games moved this pup — who belongs to an Olympic event official — to break out of his house and bolt onto the snowy track during the final leg of the women’s cross‑country skiing team sprint free race, closely tailing two skiers as they crossed the finish line. Miraculously, he didn’t disrupt the competition! (BTW, his name is Nazgûl — as in the terrifying servants of Sauron from “The Lord of the Rings.” This gorgeous dog is clearly no villain, but he did make a scene and enjoyed every second of it, which is pretty Nazgûl of him.)

Ashley Landis/AP

Stealth on skates

You’ve probably never seen Jordan Cowan on TV at the Winter Olympics, even though he’s skating on the ice all day. He’s a former pro figure skater-turned-cameraman who wears a white tux to blend in on the ice and capture close-up moments with the Games’ best skaters. If you’ve been moved by Alysa Liu’s quiet pride or felt just as shocked as Ilia Malinin when he spun out last week, you’ve already seen Cowan’s work. Skating while balancing a giant camera — all while staying out of Olympians’ way — is just another day for this unassuming breakout star.

Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Centre, Inkfish, Kelpie Geoscience/AP

One chilly shark

Sharks rule the seas, and in case you needed reminding, one showed up in Antarctica for the first time. This massive sleeper shark, which may’ve been as long as 13 feet, was found over 1,600 feet down in the Antarctic Ocean, where the temperature was just a few degrees above freezing. How toasty. A shark’s never been seen so far south, experts say, but there are probably more sleeper sharks around the continent. I say we respect that sharks have dominion over all oceans and leave them alone.

Punch and his plush

If you’ve been online this week, you’ve no doubt come across Punch, the baby macaque who’s never far from a plushie twice his size. After being abandoned by his mother at birth, keepers at the Japanese zoo where he was born cared for him around the clock. Now that he’s on habitat, he’s slowly acclimating to life with the grown-up troop — but he’s still clinging to the stuffed orangutan he’s grown up with.