OGN Wednesday

Editor OGN Daily
17 minutes ago
4 min read

Mid-week collection of positive news stories to perk up the day.

a single bird silhouetted against a setting sun — Credit: Asmund Keilen | Nature Photographer of the Year 2025

Sundance

The 2025 Nature Photographer of the Year is Asmund Keilen for his photo 'Sundance', which captures a single bird against a setting sun. The chairman of the judging committee describes the photograph: “At first glance, this mesmerizing image appears to depict leaves adrift in a cosmic sky - but on closer look, each shape reveals itself as a bird in graceful flight. The photographer’s impeccable timing captured a single bird aligned against the glowing summer sun, transforming the scene into a breathtaking moment of stillness and motion intertwined. With its ethereal colors, perfect balance, and otherworldly atmosphere, the image evokes a dreamlike sense of wonder that feels both universal and timeless!” See every winning photo from the competition.

Man holding a sausage dog — Credit: Reuters

Only in Paris

This petite saucisse was one of hundreds of sausage dogs - aka dachshunds - that participated in the sixth annual Paris Sausage Walk on Sunday. The pups and their owners paraded through the streets of the City of Light to help support a charity which rescues dachshunds without homes. If you think that's exotic, try this...

Australia's Annual Duck Fashion Show: Forget about New York Fashion Week, the Met Gala or the Milan runway. In Sydney, well-dressed ducks steal the scene.

Medical AI

In another example of the power of artificial intelligence in the medical field, the world’s deadliest infectious disease, tuberculosis, is now being fought with AI across more than 80 low- and middle-income countries. NPR reports that trained health workers use mobile x-ray units that send images to an AI program, which instantly analyses them and highlights possible signs of TB in vivid, heat map-like scans, filling a life-saving gap and catching cases that would otherwise go unseen.

Aerial view of Starfront Observatories in Texas — Starfront Observatories

Cosmic Venture

You might not be able to move away from light pollution, but you can move your telescope. That’s the idea behind Starfront Observatories, a telescope farm in a remote part of Texas that’s renowned for its exceptionally dark skies. From anywhere in the world, customers can ship their personal telescopes and then control them remotely. It’s like renting a parking spot, just for your telescope. Once the on-site staff set up the scopes, users can conduct remote observations, capture images of the cosmos, and participate in collaborative astronomy projects, even if they live in a big city where artificial lights abound (and get in the way of stargazing).

Sunrise over the ocean — World's biggest fishing nation ratifies treaty

China Says Yes

The world’s biggest fishing nation has ratified the High Seas Treaty. China, responsible for 44 percent of all global fishing activity, has finally said yes. The pact, which enters into force in January 2026, establishes a framework for creating marine protected areas, sharing genetic resources and curbing illegal fishing across two-thirds of the ocean. More than 60 countries have now ratified the accord. The high seas account for about two-thirds of the ocean and have long lacked a unified governance framework. The agreement is the first legally binding global legislation that protects marine life in such areas.

Filling The Void

With the Trump administration failing to send a representative, California Governor Gavin Newsom attended COP30 to represent the U.S., sign major deals, and project his state - one of the largest economies in the world - as a dependable clean-tech partner. Beijing and New Delhi did dispatch senior-level delegations for the two-week summit.

Court Blocks Gas

Court blocks offshore gas next to Italy’s Po Delta reserve. Environmental groups have won a legal challenge halting the Teodorico platform off the UNESCO-listed Po Delta, after judges found the state failed to assess impacts on adjacent protected areas. The decision shields wetlands covering around 200 sq. miles (500 sq. km) already stressed by salinisation and drought, and sets a constraint on new drilling in the northern Adriatic.

"Art and life are subjective. Not everybody’s gonna dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it." Whoopi Goldberg

On This Day

Jack Nicholson in 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'

19 November 1975: The dramatic film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was released in American theatres, and it became the first film since It Happened One Night (1934) to win the Academy Awards for best picture, director (Miloš Forman), lead actor (Jack Nicholson), lead actress (Louise Fletcher), and screenplay.