Today's uplifting bundle of bite sized good news snippets.
An ephemeral artwork made with thousands of footsteps in the snow has captured attention near Finland’s capital of Helsinki. Under the guidance of local resident and amateur artist Janne Pyykko, 11 snowshoe-clad volunteers stamped a series of complex geometric patterns on a golf course. Together, the designs create a pattern with a starfish-resembling central figure surrounded by six huge snowflakes. The artwork, which was completed over two days, measures about 160m (525ft) in diameter.
CT scan catches 70% of lung cancers at early stage, NHS study finds. Early detection hailed as ‘major breakthrough’ for treatment of Britain’s deadliest form of cancer.
Hollywood resident Aaron Epstein had been complaining about his slow internet service for years. Despite hours on the phone to customer services and promises that action would be taken, the 90-year-old said any attempt at streaming a film on Netflix was “like watching a slideshow.” With frustrations at boiling point and all traditional avenues seemingly exhausted, the AT&T customer of more than 60 years took drastic action - paying $10,000 for an advert in the Wall Street Journal. Titled, "Open Letter to Mr. John T. Stankey CEO AT&T," Epstein hoped to catch the eye of the company’s directors. It did! 48 hours later he and his neighbours were all on super-fast fibre broadband.
The United Arab Emirates has published the first image of Mars sent by its space probe. The UAE is the first of a trio of countries to arrive at the Red Planet. It's a triumph for the Arab world's first interplanetary mission and makes the UAE the fifth nation to ever reach Mars.
Major financial investors are to be urged by the world’s largest shareholder advisory firm to vote against company board members if they fail to address climate issues. Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), which issues advice to some of the world’s biggest fund managers, has updated its proxy voting policy including changes that allow it to recommend votes against company directors over “material failures … including, demonstrably poor risk oversight of environmental and social issues, including climate change”.
Hills could be used as batteries: Another innovative idea to help store power, use it when it's needed and reduce carbon emissions.
The first electric Land Rover will go on sale in 2024 while the Jaguar range will be all-electric by the following year under plans announced on Monday by the new Jaguar Land Rover boss. Thierry Bolloré said all JLR vehicles will have electric options by the end of the decade. The company is hedging its bets by developing hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles too.
The FTSE 100 soared and the pound broke above $1.39 for the first time in almost three years on Monday, as Britain hit a milestone in its vaccination programme.
Basketball star Michael Jordan is donating $10 million to open two rural health clinics near his hometown of Wilmington, North Carolina, as the pandemic has underlined unequal access to healthcare. The clinics, will serve 'rural and rural-adjacent communities' as well as those with little or no health insurance.
It's time to rethink the limits of life: The accidental discovery of marine organisms on a boulder on the sea floor beneath 900m (3,000ft) of Antarctic ice shelf has led scientists to rethink the limits of life on Earth.
A dog shelter in Missouri created an awesome programme to pair kids ages 6 to 15 with shelter dogs. Kids who enter the Shelter Buddies Reading Programme sit outside of the dogs' kennels and read to them. It aims to bring comfort and reduce anxiety in the shelter dogs so they can become more adoptable.
The results are in: last year, for the first time, renewables generated more electricity than fossil fuels across the EU, spurred on by new solar and wind power projects.
Even the hardest heart will be melted by this wonderfully romantic wedding proposal...