Saturday's Upbeat News

Editor OGN Daily
Jun 14
4 min read

Ensuring that it's a sunny Saturday with today's global collection of positive news stories.

One of the vast Nazca geoglyphs seen from the air

Relief

Peru’s government has reversed its controversial decision to shrink the protected area surrounding the Nazca Lines. The switch followed severe backlash after the government approved a 42 percent reduction in the zone - about 2,400  sq.km (926 sq. miles) - and to allow miners to seek formal permits in previously restricted areas. The area in question forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, home to the Nazca Lines - massive geoglyphs etched into the desert over 1,500 years ago - and one of Peru’s most fragile desert ecosystems.

First Time Ever

Mexico has become the first in modern history to elect its judges at all levels by popular vote. The first supreme court chief justice elected democratically on Earth is Hugo Aguilar, a noted indigenous rights defender of the highest esteem in Latin America who also acted as legal counsel to the Zapatista guerilla movement during their demilitarization. Despite a distinguished 30-year-career as a lawyer, Aguilar has never held the post of a judge before. Winning the popular vote by a margin of almost 400,000 votes over the second-place winner, the first-of-their-kind elections also saw five female justices elected to join Aguilar on the bench.

Kara Pod coffee machine — Credit: Kara Pod

Coffee From Thin Air

What if your drinking water didn't come from old, rusty apartment building pipes or from a plastic bottle that's going to end up in a landfill ... or in the ocean? What if your drinking water (and coffee?) literally just came out of thin air? That's what Kara Pod promises. It's a sleek little countertop device that sucks air in and spits water out. Of course, it UV-sterilizes, carbon-filters and mineralizes the water first, but in the end, you get pure drinking water, free of chlorine and fluoride ... or a tasty cup of coffee. Yep, it's basically like a machine (Nespresso-pod-compatible) that you never have to add water to. Kara Pod reportedly makes about a gallon of water on its own every single day, keeping its internal 0.85 gallon (3.2 liter) tank topped up. It even has a glowing LED water gauge to show you how much liquid magic it whipped up today. The Kara Pod is currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, where a pledge of US$499 will get you one of your own – assuming everything works out.

Phone Charger Delivers Full Battery in 2 Seconds: Simply drop your iPhone into the toaster-like Swippitt Hub and walk away with a fully charged battery almost instantly.

Artist's impression of a sauropod | Travis Tischler

"Belly of the Beast"

Since the late 1800s, experts have thought that the long-necked dinosaurs known as sauropods were herbivores. Given the flat shape of their small teeth and the giant size of their bodies - which were not equipped to chase around prey and would have required them to eat often - researchers assumed sauropods browsed from trees and other greenery. But now, paleontologists have the first direct evidence of the dinosaurs’ diets, thanks to a layer of plant that survived in a fossil’s gut for at least 94 million years. “It’s the smoking gun, or the steaming guts, as it were - the actual direct evidence in the belly of the beast,” says Stephen Poropat, a paleontologist at Curtin University in Australia. “It’s never been found before for a sauropod dinosaur.”

Meet Your Greens

A butternut squash likeness of Donald Trump and a papal "corn-clave" were among the stars of the vegetable sculpture contest at this year's Lambeth Country Show. Other highlights on display at southwest London's Brockwell Park included 'Cauli Parton' in a movie-inspired tableau titled '9 to Chive', said The Associated Press. "Every year, this is what we get so excited about," show regular Maddy Luxon told the news agency.

Finger-lickin' Fresh

The fast-food chain KFC has made a bold foray into the oral health market, by launching a "fried chicken flavoured" toothpaste. The paste, according to KFC, is "irresistible, coating your teeth in flavour before leaving your mouth feeling fresh and clean". Inspired by "KFC's 11 herbs and spices", the paste further promises to deliver "long-lasting oral health benefits". And plenty of customers appear to have been convinced: the limited edition paste, priced at $13 a tube, sold out in 48 hours.

"We might think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it’s our garden that is really nurturing us." Jenny Uglow