Eclectic global round up of positive news stories.
Wimbledon Prize Pot
Wimbledon’s total prize money fund will rise to a record £50 million (about $64m), with the singles champions each earning £2.7 million ($3.45m), All England Club officials have announced - ahead of the tournament's start date on 1 July. The prize money is 12 percent more than last year. Ticket demand “has never been greater” than it was this year, said Deborah Jevans, the new chair of the All England Club. The Wimbledon Championships is a tournament that is heavily embedded in tradition. Dating all the way back to 1877, one of the most distinctive features of the esteemed sporting competition is the very strict dress code imposed on the players who take part. Here's Why Wimbledon has White Attire Rules.
Washington's Cellar
The story of a six-year-old George Washington chopping down a cherry tree may be a myth, but archeologists excavating Mount Vernon, the home of the United States’ first president, made the very real discovery of 35 glass bottles filled with cherries and berries. The bottles were found in five storage pits in the mansion’s cellar, with 29 of them intact and containing “perfectly preserved cherries and berries, likely gooseberries or currants,” according to a news release from George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Crews unearthed the 18th-century bottles during the ongoing $40 million revitalization project launched last year.
Universal Donor
In a newly published study - and a medical breakthrough 40 years in the making - researchers shared the findings of a new technique taking the world one step closer to making blood types universal. Using enzymes produced by bacteria (that almost all of us have in our guts already), the scientists were able to strip red blood cells of antigens and sugars that create distinctions between blood types. The blood types of donors and recipients need to match because the recipient’s immune system might attack and destroy the new blood cells, which could be fatal.
Wiki Women
Wikipedia is one of the most comprehensive resources that exists but it is, famously, not infallible. The online encyclopedia has a significant gender balance issue with its content. A number of organisations have sprung up to try to close this gap, one being Wikiesfera, a Spain-based editing group that started over a decade ago. Now, dozens of women attend workshops to create and translate Wikipedia entries about women, as well as editing existing articles that might focus on a woman’s appearance instead of her achievements.
Golfing Goats
The caddies at Silvies Valley Ranch in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon are ... well, they're a little short. And not too talkative, unless you count all of the bleating. The resort employs a rigorously trained team of goats to caddy for golfers on their seven-hole challenge course; a practical decision since the rugged terrain doesn't allow for safe crossing by golf cart. The caddies are whittled down from the thousands of grazers on the ranch's land, and only ones who are healthy, friendly and willing enough are put to the test. If they're comfortable, they're fitted for a custom-made golf bag that's empty for training. Once they're fully vested caddies, the bags can contain six clubs, extra balls and tees, six drink cans and their daily wage: a few dozen peanuts.
Devils Hole Pupfish
In a glimmer of hope for one of the world’s rarest fish, scientists have counted 191 Devils Hole pupfish this spring in their tiny desert habitat - the highest spring count for the critically endangered species in more than two decades. The fish is found only in the upper reaches of a single deep limestone cave in the Mojave Desert in the western U.S. state of Nevada - the smallest known range of any vertebrate species on the planet. Scientists are cautiously optimistic about this latest count, especially since they counted just 35 pupfish in 2013, leading to fears that the species could wink out of existence.
US Medical Debts
In a sweeping change that could improve millions of Americans' ability to own a home or buy a car, the Biden administration proposed a rule to ban medical debt from credit reports. The rule, announced by Vice President Kamala Harris and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra, comes as President Joe Biden beefs up his efforts to persuade Americans his administration is lowering costs, a chief concern for voters in the upcoming election.
“I believe in sunshine, fresh air, friendship, calm sleep, beautiful thoughts.” Elbert Hubbard
On This Day
18 June 1928: American aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, landing at Burry Port, Wales.
Today's Articles
The Wollemi Pine: Trees thought extinct for 2 million years discovered, and treated as a top-secret national treasure for 30 years.
Mood Boosting Video
Ronald Reagan telling his three-legged chicken joke.