Today's bundle of uplifting good news snippets from around the globe.
During the next few weeks, look up and you can expect to see shooting stars lighting up the night sky. The Perseids “are considered the best meteor shower of the year,” according to NASA. This year’s show began on 17 July and will last until 26 August, peaking on the night of 11 August when the rate of shooting stars will be at its highest, with about 50 meteors per hour. The extra good news? The moon will be only 13 percent illuminated on 11 August, so if you have clear skies you’ll have an excellent view of all those shooting stars.
Margaret Seaman, a 92-year-old great-grandmother, spent two years knitting a giant replica of Sandringham Estate for charity, and was left starstruck by a private visit by none other than Her Majesty the Queen. Mrs Seaman, who lives with her daughter, knits for 12-15 hours a day and has so far raised about £3,000 in donations for projects at three Norfolk hospitals. The knitted work will be on display at Sandringham House until October 14.
Turning seawater into potable water is typically an expensive and polluting process. Now, Climate Fund Manager and Solar Water Solutions have a revolutionary solution with zero carbon footprint. They intend to provide clean water to 400,000 Kenyans by 2023. Typically, desalination requires a lot of electricity to keep the water at a constant pressure. This solar-powered technique, however, works without connecting to a grid - no batteries or chemicals, ever.
Good news for weeds: A garden filled with Ragwort and other weeds, was awarded a gold medal at the Royal Horticultural Society's Tatton Flower Show in Cheshire last week. Sunart Fields, the Derbyshire farm behind the concept, explained: "They are wild plants that have been branded incorrectly as weeds and some people would say that a weed is just a plant in the wrong place."
In January 45 percent of people polled by YouGov in 20 countries said either that they would not be inoculated or that they were unsure about it. The much better news is that by late June just 20 percent did, reports the Economist. Fingers crossed that the numbers keep going in the right direction.
Want to go to space? Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic are offering trip to the edge of space to promote their space tourism venture. If you don't have the funds for the $10,000 deposit or the ability to then pay the $290,000 balance, why not enter the sweepstake for the chance to win yourself a rocket ride to space aboard Virgin Galactic? Sign up to the free to enter sweepstake.
By putting the recycling costs on the producer rather than the consumer, Maine becomes the first U.S. state to hold companies responsible for the waste they create.
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Caught on camera for the first time
Hornbills have figured out a way to pluck bats out of the air mid-flight using their terrific eyesight and giant bill.