An upbeat collection of inspiring news snippets to put a spring in your step.
Danielle Crull is an optician from Pennsylvania. She runs a practice called A Child's Eyes where her primary focus is infants, toddlers and children in elementary school. When kids come in - many with severe eye problems - they are often terrified of anything coming near their eyes. That's when Truffles comes to the rescue. "She is literally magical with little kids," Crull told CNN. "It takes me at least half an hour to try and get to know them so they realize I'm not something to be afraid of, and Truffles will come strutting out from the back as if she knows exactly when I need her help." Truffles hops right up next to the child and tilts her head up so Crull can put on a pair of glasses. The mood changes instantly, says Crull. Tears turn into smiles, and suddenly those glasses don't look so scary anymore.
Fortnum & Mason, the famous Piccadilly department store, reports that a new drink called Copenhagen Sparkling Tea is flying across the bar. “Along with champagne, it’s been one of our biggest success stories during the lockdowns. People who taste it say they can’t believe there’s so much flavour in there,” says their wine and spirits buyer. Except, it's alcohol-free. Brits, as everyone knows, love tea - consuming more than 100 million cups on each day of the year, according to the UK Tea & Infusions Association. Brits also love what's euphemistically called “a drink”. Now, tea drunk in a new way – cold, sparkling and rounded out with a splash of grape juice – is emerging as a credible alternative to champagne or a cold glass of white in those moments when you feel like “a drink” but don’t feel like having alcohol.
Solar domes could desalinate seawater at a commercial scale and the first one is under construction in Saudi Arabia. 71 percent of the Earth is covered in water, but only 3 percent of that is freshwater. The effective desalination of seawater at a mass scale - harnessing the power of the sun - would clearly be a world-changing achievement, celebrated the world over. With that goal in mind, London-based Solar Water PLC recently signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian government as part of the country's clean future $500 billion "NEOM" project. The company is building the "first desalination plant with solar dome technology" and is expected to power up next year.
A cure for osteoarthritis could be no further than the end of your nose - as nasal cells can relieve chronic inflammation in the knee, according to new research. Doctors say the treatment could revolutionize therapy for a crippling condition that impacts 8.5 million people in the UK alone.
Scientists conducted a randomized trial across 600 villages and more than 340,000 people in Bangladesh and found that even some adoption of surgical masks made a difference. The research, conducted across 600 villages in rural Bangladesh, is the largest randomized trial to demonstrate the effectiveness of surgical masks, in particular, to curb transmission of the coronavirus. The new findings demonstrate that efficacy in the real world - and on an enormous scale.
In the village of Honeoye Falls, New York, an unusual partnership is taking root. Nonprofit EquiCenter spans 200 acres and is home to an equine therapy center focused on supporting veterans with PTSD and rehabilitating wild mustangs with a mutually beneficial training program. The programme is called Hoof-It For Heroes. Many of the participating veterans struggle with PTSD, depression, and anxiety, while the mustangs, rounded up by US officials to control population numbers, are wild and distrustful of humans. Working together, they’re both finding confidence and calm.
Fun Fact: Castroville is a rural town in California that grows a lot of artichokes, thanks to the fact that the area enjoys ideal weather year round. Because of this, it grows 99.9 percent of all commercially grown artichokes and has even been nicknamed the "Artichoke Capital of the World."
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Upbeat Dance Video
A great mash-up of 23 movie dance scenes from loads of movies you may recognise.