Collection of positive and uplifting news snippets.
While many industries suffered in 2020, the demand for cosmetic dentistry has risen, particularly among over-40s. It’s known as the Zoom boom. Valued at £2.2 billion, the British cosmetic-dentistry industry is thriving. According to the British Beauty Council, one in 10 Brits has had a treatment such as veneers, bonding or teeth-whitening in the past 12 months, putting to bed the old myth that Britons don’t look after their teeth.
Apart from their teeth, what else have Brits spent their money on in 2020? Travel curbs and homeworking prompted people to shop near home instead of in city centres, so it's good news for local independent shops, amongst others, according to Barclaycard - which covers nearly half of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions.
Are you the proud new owner of an iPhone 12? OGN reviews the super discrete Totallee clear protective case.
A US judge has rejected a lawsuit from a Republican congressman that sought to allow vice president Mike Pence to reject electoral college votes for Joe Biden when Congress meets on Wednesday to certify his victory over president Donald Trump. The latest long-shot attempt by Trump’s Republican allies to overturn the November election result was dismissed by one of Trump’s own appointees to the federal bench, Jeremy Kernodle.
A green-fingered Italian, who moved to London six years ago, has succeeded in growing so many vegetables during lockdown that he hasn’t needed to go out and buy any in eight months, after transforming his tiny 8m x 5m terrace into a fruit and vegetable garden. Pretty impressive.
In very good news for a struggling swimmer in Hawaii, as Australian surfer Mikey Wright charges into the surf to rescue her on New Year's Day. All caught on video.
Love this: We told our 3 year old that New Years is special because you get to toast to a new year. A few hours later she said: 'Are we gonna make toast now?' And thus a New Year's Day tradition was born.
2021 looks set to be an exciting year for stargazers, with the first big celestial event happening this weekend, as the Quadrantid meteor shower peaks from January 2 into January 4. Wrap up and look up: you may see between 60 and 200 meteors per hour as they travel at 25.5 miles per second. You may also see the fireballs the Quarantids are known for. Spectacularly bright, they appear visible for longer than other meteors.
India tree mortgage scheme: Kerala villagers are reaping the benefits of an innovative new scheme that pays them to leave their trees rooted, reducing risk of deforestation, and could enable their towns and villages to become carbon neutral.
Being pregnant during a pandemic doesn't seem like a lot of fun, but it's probably a little better when your sister's going through the same thing. Ashley Carruth and Brittany Schille, two sisters from Minnesota, both found out they were pregnant in April. Luckily, they lived close to each other, and were able to see each other regularly through it all. As their due dates arrived, hospital staff were even able to put them in delivery rooms that were right next to each other, and they had the same doctor and many of the same nurses. As if they weren't in sync enough, they gave birth a mere 90 minutes apart. Cassius Carruth was born first, followed by Zander Schille. "It's like those moments you think about when you're a little girl, happening in such a special way," Carruth said. "So it was very, very emotional for both of us."
Spotted by a sharp eyed art dealer, hanging above the pantry door in a Welsh baronial home in 1935, he purchased the Botticelli of dubious provenance for £12,000 from a very grateful Lord Newborough. It's changed hands a couple of times since then, and has been authenticated as a genuine work by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), and will go on sale with Sotheby's in New York later this month. It's expected to fetch £60m ($80m). If the painting (known as Young Man Holding a Roundel) sells at that price, it will not only trounce the existing Botticelli record of $10.4 million (paid in 2013 for the so-called “Rockefeller Madonna”, which apparently wasn’t in tip-top condition), but will also become the second most expensive Old Master painting ever sold at auction - currently Rubens’ Massacre of the Innocents, sold at Sotheby’s in 2002 for £49.5 million - after Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi which sold for $450 million in 2017, following a battle between two Middle Eastern bidders.
Is it snowing where you are? If so, don't forget that some dogs love a toboggan ride as much as the rest of us! And this remarkable dog doesn't need any help.