OGN Wednesday

Editor OGN Daily
1 minute ago
4 min read

Mid-week collection of upbeat news stories to brighten the day.

Cover of The Eagles' 1976 album 'Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975' — Original band members

Quadruple Diamond

Take it easy ... and go quadruple diamond. The Eagles' 1976 album Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 is the bestselling album of all time in the U.S and has officially sold over 40 million units - the first ever to surpass that figure. That's according to new certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. It was also announced that the band's 1976 record Hotel California maintained its position as the third bestselling album in the U.S. The second? That's Michael Jackson's Thriller. Meanwhile, the UK charts company recently announced that The Beatles' record of the most number one albums to top the charts in the UK (at 15) has just been surpassed by Robbie Williams with 16.

White stork on her nest with 3 chicks — Could soon be a normal sight in London

First Time in 500 Years

In a "bold and historic moment," white storks are set to be reintroduced to London for the first time in 500 years, after plans were approved by council leaders in east London. A purpose-built aviary with grassland areas will be established to house the reintroduced white storks. The resulting chicks born there will eventually be released to help establish a new breeding population in the area. "This is a once-in-a-generation chance to witness nature's comeback into your own backyard," said the council.

Green Investment

Investment in the energy transition grew by 8 percent to a record $2.3 trillion in 2025, reports Bloomberg. It says the new figures from BloombergNEF show growth has “defied fears that the shifting political landscape and economic uncertainty would halt the world’s clean-energy progress”.

The Ring Nebula with a strange bar-shaped clump of iron atoms within it — Credit: Roger Wesson et al. | MNRAS

Mystery Iron Bar

Humans have been eyeing the colourful Ring Nebula for nearly 250 years, but testing out a new telescope tool led to a perplexing finding. The Ring Nebula - a glowing gas cloud that looks like a series of colourful rings, first observed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1779 - has a strange bar-shaped clump of iron atoms within it, data from a new telescope instrument in Spain suggests. “It is exciting to see that even a very familiar object - much studied over many decades - can throw up a new surprise when observed in a new way,” Roger Wesson, an astronomer at Cardiff University in Wales, tells Reuters. The research team currently has two hypotheses for how the iron bar arose. It may represent a previously unknown aspect of how a dying star expels its layers, or it might be the remnants of a rocky planet that got vaporized during the layer-shedding process.

Sony's PS-LX5BT turntable — Credit: Sony

Sony Turntables

If you've been getting back into vinyl records lately, or need to upgrade your basic setup, there's good news. Sony's returning to the turntable business with its first new models since 2019. The PS-LX3BT and the higher-end PS-LX5BT both keep things simple, with a minimalist rectangular black one-piece chassis and a transparent, removable dust cover. An automated playback feature moves and lowers the tonearm on to your record and fires up the turntable platter, all at the press of a button. They support 33⅓ and 45 RPM playback, and deliver wired and hi-res wireless output. From €299/£299 (about US$350).

The SleeveFace Craze: The fun trend from a couple of years ago where people artfully blend in with vinyl record covers.

EV Overtakes

Sales of battery electric vehicles (EVs) overtook petrol cars for the first time in the EU in December, reports Reuters, citing figures from industry group ACEA. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that global EV sales grew by 30 percent year-on-year in 2025, accounting for roughly a fifth of the overall market. But did you know there were electric taxis in New York City in 1894?

TeraWave

Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, says it will launch more than 5,400 satellites to create a new communications network. Named TeraWave, it will offer continuous internet access around the world, with the ability to move large amounts of data much more quickly than rival services - such as Elon Musk's Starlink, which currently dominates the satellite internet market. Blue Origin said its network, at its fastest, would allow upload and download speeds of as much as 6 terabits per second, much faster than rival commercial satellite services currently offer.

"Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert." Kahlil Gibran

On This Day

Godtfred Kirk Christiansen talking on the telephone

28 January 1958: Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, whose father founded the company LEGO in Denmark, filed for a Danish patent (later granted) for a toy building block that became hugely popular around the world.