Ensuring the week gets off to an upbeat start with a selection of good news nuggets.
Not So Cat-Like
This image is the overall winner of the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards 2022. The photographer, Jennifer Hadley from the USA, says: “This 3 month old cub and his sibling were in a tree. The other lionesses were in other trees and on the ground. He wanted to get down and walked all over the branches looking for the right spot and finally just went for it. It was probably his first time in a tree and his descent didn't go so well. He was just fine though after landing on the ground. He got up and ran off with some other cubs.” Want to see some more? Here's a selection of OGN's favourite finalists in this year's Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
Community Kindness
A baker in England is serving up Christmas spirit to his community using his favourite tool: the oven. After one of his customer's was shocked at the price of the ingredients needed for fruit cake, which is commonly gifted during the holiday season and takes hours to bake, he had the idea of offering his bakery oven free of charge to his community. And he had another kind idea - the bakery oven is running all day long and produces a lot of heat, which warms a sitting room right above it. So the bakery owner offers the space as a free sitting room for people to come in from the cold, free of charge, to enjoy a cup of tea, read a book or just relax in the warmth.
Oldest Narrative Art
Archaeologists working in Göbeklitepe, in modern day Turkey - considered by many to be “the place where history began” - has now discovered what they believe to be the oldest narrative art in history. The carving is thought that a depiction of a man holding his penis, flanked by leopards, and dates back to approximately 11,000 years ago. The image of the man is approx. 2.5 to 3 feet (0.7m to 0.9m) tall and the complete carving is 12 feet (3.7m) long. He is holding what is thought to be a snake or a rattle in his other hand.
World’s Oldest Animal Art: 45,500 years or perhaps, even further back in time, ancient humans ventured into a cave and painted the life-sized picture of a wild wart pig using dark red ochre pigment on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Read on...
World's First
Virgin Atlantic will fly a historic net zero London-New York flight in 2023. Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines will power the airline's flagship Boeing 787s as it flies green. However, this will not be a typical commercial airline flight; rather, it will be the first passenger trans-atlantic flight in the history of commercial aviation that uses only sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) - mostly made from used cooking oil and other waste oils and fats. Compared to conventional fossil jet fuel, SAF can reduce lifecycle carbon emissions by nearly 70 percent when entirely replacing aviation kerosene.
Skin Cancer Vaccine
The first results from a trial testing mRNA technology against cancer reveal 44 percent of patients fared better than those on conventional treatments. The announcement from Moderna also says that Phase 3 trials for its mRNA skin cancer vaccine will commence next year.
Slim Solar
MIT's slimmed-down solar cells would add only 20 kg to a rooftop. Solar cells that are thin and flexible hold unique promise, as they could be applied to all kinds of irregular or otherwise unsuitable surfaces. Thinner than a human hair, a new lightweight solar cell continues to push the envelope in this space.
"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." Lao-Tze
On this Day
19 December 1843: English author Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, which became one of the outstanding Christmas stories of modern literature.
Unusual words you may need at Christmas, or any festive time of year where people gather and tend to over-indulge. Read on...
Momentum is growing for establishing Rolls-Royce's mini-nuclear reactors that promise half price power. Read on...
Mood Booster
Metaphysic brings Elvis Presley back to life with this unbelievable performance!