Monday's Positive News
- 10 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Kick-starting the week with an eclectic global round up of positive news nuggets.
Fish Eyes
London Camera Exchange has announced the winners of its competition. Nearly 14,500 entries were received, demonstrating the contest’s growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading competitions for photographers of all abilities and experience. The overall first prize winner is Sophia Spurgin, a UK-based retired teacher, with her humorous portrait of a fisherman captured spontaneously on a boat in Hoi An, Vietnam. Spurgin said: ‘I was keen to dedicate some time to serious travel photography during a family holiday and had been taking photos of this fisherman at work alongside a local photographer.’ See more LCE category winners.
Hats Off to Poland
A generation ago, Poland rationed sugar and flour while its citizens were paid one-tenth what West Germans earned. Today, the economy of the country has edged past Switzerland to become the world’s 20th largest with more than $1 trillion in annual output. It’s a historic leap from the post-Communist ruins of 1989-90 to European growth champion, which economists say has lessons on how to bring prosperity to ordinary people.
Rhinos Return
For the first time in more than 40 years, rhinos are roaming Uganda’s Kidepo Valley national park thanks to a conservation effort that will help restore the wider ecosystem. Two southern white rhinos were just reintroduced to the park and more are set to follow. “Kidepo Valley National Park is one of Uganda’s most intact savannah ecosystems,” said John Makombo of the Uganda Wildlife Authority. “The reintroduction of southern white rhinos restores a key component of that ecosystem.” The mighty animals were poached to oblivion there four decades ago.
‘Truly Spectacular’
A drug for sleeping sickness simplifies treatment, raising hopes for eradication. European regulators have approved acoziborole, a new treatment for sleeping sickness that cures the disease with a single oral dose. The drug replaces complex regimens requiring hospitalisation, spinal taps and weeks of monitoring, making treatment far easier in remote regions. Experts say the breakthrough could help eliminate the disease this decade, reports Science.
What's That?
In what could be the best thing to ever happen to bored travellers at an airport, customers found a real possum hiding among the plushies - including bilbies and dingoes - at a gift shop inside an Australian plane terminal. It wasn’t distressed, officials said, just chilling in the AC after “another day of adventuring.” That’s the vibe of most airport denizens on a good day, so he fit right in. Airport staff helped the possum safely leave the terminal in Hobart unharmed.
24/7 Solar Power
A massive project in Abu Dhabi that aims to prove that 24/7 solar power is possible is due to become operational next year, says Reuters. The falling cost of batteries has been key to its development. By combining the solar array with a massive amount of battery capacity, the aim is to store enough power generated during daylight hours so that a minimum of 1 GW of electricity - enough to power between 500,000 and one million homes - is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This will help to address one of the critical flaws with solar power - its intermittency. What is the point of pouring billions of dollars into solar farms, critics have often asked, when they are unable to deliver power when the sun is not shining?
Auto-besity
Paris has done it - Cardiff, Lyon and Grenoble too - and now London is looking to put the brakes on SUVs by charging owners more to use them in the capital. As well as pumping out more emissions, research shows that SUVs are 77 percent more likely to kill a child than a regular car. It prompted Paris (which called the vehicles "absurd") and others to rein in ‘auto-besity’ by hiking up parking fees for SUVs. Now, the London mayor is considering doing the same.
“The fact that everybody in the world dreams every night ties all mankind together.” Jack Kerouac, Book of Dreams
On This Day
23 March 1840: Dr. John William Draper, a chemistry professor at New York University, captured the first successful photograph of the Moon, utilizing the daguerreotype process from his rooftop observatory in New York City. Using a 5-inch telescope, the 20-minute exposure produced a roughly 1-inch, silver-plated copper image, which, while partially degraded, marked a seminal moment in astronomical photography. While French photographer Louis Daguerre made earlier, unclear attempts, Draper's image is recognized as the earliest surviving successful photograph of the Moon.
Today's Articles
Hot Stuff: Europe is sitting on a huge energy power source - yet it currently barely registers on the continent’s grid.
Exclusive Club: Steven Spielberg has become the 21st person to achieve hallowed EGOT status. Who else?
Mood Boosting Video
It's Spring! So, here's some gorgeous time-lapse videos of flowers bursting into life.