Making sure the weekend gets off to a bright start with a global round up of positive news.
Strange But True
The U.S. Secret Service has been forced to apologize to a Massachusetts salon owner after using her building's bathroom without permission ahead of a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris last week. The salon owner, Alicia Powers, says Secret Service agents put duct tape over her security cameras and broke into her building by picking the lock. They then allowed various people to use the salon's bathroom over a two-hour period. Powers told Business Insider that she was aware she had to close her salon but was not informed about the Secret Service's other plans.
Moor Power
The world’s first wind-powered electric ship-charging station just debuted in the Belgian North Sea. Alongside innovations like hydrogen ferries and innovative sail systems, bringing clean energy to the seas is no longer a pipe dream, and it comes with seemingly endless benefits.
Molten Mayonnaise
The "creamy condiment" could help scientists learn more about nuclear fusion technology, said Live Science. A research team applied mayonnaise, which behaves "a lot like" molten metal at lower temperatures, to a "churning wheel" to see what would make it flow – a process which "could help elucidate the physics that occur at ultra-high temperatures and pressures inside nuclear fusion reactors". Whether the findings can be translated into real conditions "remains to be seen".
From the Perseid meteor shower to aurora sightings, there’s been plenty of space news lately. Also in the mix is this mesmerizing new image of Messier 106, a nearby spiral galaxy, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. At the heart of the galaxy is a “particularly active” black hole, according to the European Space Agency.
Kenya Tree App
In an effort to restore the country’s tree cover, Kenyans are using an app to help plant 15 million new trees. The Jazamati app helps locals select and plant trees based on their ecological zones, it’s part of a 10-year effort to achieve 30 percent tree cover by 2032.
Children in Education
The number of children not attending school globally has declined by nearly 40 percent since 2000 according to the most recent data from UNESCO. Additionally, the global population of children has gone up in that same time period, so this decline is even more encouraging and significant.
"What can be better than to get out a book on Saturday afternoon and thrust all mundane considerations away till next week." C. S. Lewis
On This Day
17 August 1945: English author George Orwell published Animal Farm, an anti-utopian satire that became a classic.
Today's Articles
No Trees Cut Down: Releaf Paper takes fallen dead leaves from city streets and parks and turns them into paper.
Smart Insulin: Scientists are developing a new generation of ‘smart’ insulins that could transform the way people with type 1 diabetes manage their condition.
Comedy Wildlife: A selection of hilarious winning photos since the start of the Comedy Wildlife Photography competition in 2015.
Mood Boosting Video
Stunning Timelapse: NASA astronaut just shared a video of the moon setting into streams of red and green aurora.