Upbeat News Thursday

23 hours ago
4 min read

Today's tasty bite-sized chunks of upbeat news from around the world.

Whale Museum

Norway is getting a knowledge and experience centre next year that's all about the whales that inhabit the waters near its northern coast. Fittingly, the building's form resembles one of these majestic sea creatures diving into the ocean. The Whale, as it's called, is located in the village of Andenes, on the Andøya island. This situates it alongside the North Atlantic ocean that's populated with a variety of different kinds of whales. The town attracts visitors year-round to encounter sperm whales that can reach nearly 50 ft (15m) in length, as well as humpback whales, pilot whales, orcas, and porpoises. Out of the site's rugged landscape rises an undulating concrete roof that's deeply integrated with its surroundings. It looks like a whale's tail rising out of the water as it dives into the depths.

Bear 910 showing good bulk as she walks beside a river in Katmai National Park — Bear 910 | NPS

Bulking Up Nicely

We are mere weeks away from Fat Bear Week 2026, but the brown bears gorging on salmon at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska are already showing off that beautiful bulk. Bear 910 looks like she might be a major contender for this year’s competition. She was first spotted in 2019 at Katmai’s Brooks River. The bulky bear is about 10.5-years-old, has large, blonde, floppy ears, which can help viewers pick her out of the crowd when it comes to the time for voting. on the live cam set up in the park. The National Park Service and Explore.org reported that over 1.5 million votes were cast throughout the 2025 tournament. Voting for Fat Bear Week 2026 runs September 22 through September 29.

The Glasgow set of 'The Batman: Part 2' with fake snow on the road — Credit: @bigweekev | Instagram | Irn-Bru

Product Placement

The Glasgow set of The Batman: Part 2 is being regularly inspected for rogue Irn-Bru cans planted by locals determined to sneak Scotland’s national soft drink into the film. The city’s Bothwell Street “has been transformed into downtown Gotham City” for the blockbuster sequel, but Glaswegians have been adding a Scottish twist by leaving the cans on bins and hot-dog stands in the hope the beverage sneakily makes it into the final cut, said The Scottish Sun. “Security crews are reportedly on the lookout and are having to do nightly sweeps of the set.”

Perched 1,000 feet in the Sacred Valley of Cusco, these glass bedroom suites dangle from a granite cliffside — Credit: Natura Vive

Something Different

How do you normally arrive at your hotel - car, bus, train? At Skylodge Adventure Suites in Peru, you’ll have to climb with cables (Via Ferrata) to your bedroom hanging from the side of a mountain. Perched 1,000 feet in the Sacred Valley of Cusco, these suites dangle from granite cliffside and you need to be reasonably active to be able to get there. Once there, you get a night with glorious views of the valley and a compost toilet. Guests are advised to bring a light bag and a bottle for water, along with personal hygiene products. But fair warning: there is no shower up here. And, you don’t go down the same way you come up - you zipline instead!

Two runner ducks standing together on a lawn — Two of the runner ducks

No Pesticides

“Every morning, around 1,000 long-necked ducks are let loose” on the Vergenoegd Low Wine Estate near Cape Town, where they gobble up “aphids, worms and snails”, acting as a natural alternative to pesticides, says AFP. The Indian Runner duck was “originally bred in Indonesia to control pests in rice paddies”, but its long neck makes it perfect for reaching insects on the vines in this environmentally-friendly solution.

Owls Helping Wine Makers in California: Pesticide-free solution to keep mice and gophers under control.

'Jurassic Park' movie prop of a fossilized mosquito in amber — Credit: Propstore

Crazy But True

A major Jurassic Park movie prop was sold for an eye-popping amount of money. The “screen-matched opening-scene” fossilized mosquito in amber from the opening scene of Jurassic Park sold for a cool $403,200, according to auction house Propstore. “The distinctive bubbling, positioning of the embedded mosquito, and patterning where the amber meets the surrounding rock screen-match the fossil seen in close-up during the Mano de Dios mine sequence,” an official description reads. This was the first time the movie prop was offered publicly. “Few objects capture the premise and enduring cultural impact of a film so immediately, and the response from collectors reflects the significance of this remarkable piece,” says Propstore.

“Education breeds confidence, which breeds hope, which ultimately brings peace.” Jeannette Kagame

On This Day

Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming working in his lab

3 September 1928: Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers a mold later identified as penicillin while sorting through petri dishes containing colonies of the bacteria Staphylococcus, at St. Mary's Hospital in London. Over a decade later, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain successfully mass-produced the antibiotic, earning all three the Nobel Prize in 1945.