- Feb 14, 2022

Monday's Good News

Updated: Mar 14, 2022

Getting the week off to a bright start with global round up of good news nuggets.

The number of countries that permit commercial whaling will soon drop from three to two, as Iceland declares there are no longer social nor economic gains to be had from the controversial practice. The country’s fisheries minister has announced that no new licences will be granted for whaling once existing authorisations expire next year.

Empowering Women

The pioneering team at an all-women, news organisation in northern India that empowers rural women, say they are ecstatic after a documentary film on their crusading reporting, especially around the hardships faced by lower caste communities, won an Oscar nomination last week. Writing with Fire, a film about the women behind the online news outlet Khabar Lahariya - meaning News Waves in Hindi - was nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category for this year's Academy Awards. Let's see what happens on 27 March!

Chimp Medicine

Back in 2019, scientists in the west African nation of Gabon noticed a female chimpanzee applying a squashed insect to a wound on the foot of her teenage son. This intriguing behaviour was observed 19 more times over the next 15 months, adding fuel to the theory that animals are capable of selfless acts. The scientists aren’t sure what type of insect the chimpanzees use for healing in this way but some bugs are known to contain soothing, anti-inflammatory substances. Simone Pika, co-author of the study published in Current Biology, says: “It takes lot of trust to put an insect in an open wound. They seem to understand that if you do this to me with this insect, then my wound gets better. It’s amazing.”

Never Miss

You probably know that yesterday was the 56th Super Bowl, but may not know that the three men pictured hold one of the only Super Bowl-related achievements to rival actually playing in the game. They've been to EVERY. SINGLE. ONE! Tom Henschel, 80, Gregory Eaton, 82, and Don Crisman, 85 were all at the first Super Bowl (called the First World Championship Game) in 1967, and met by chance through the years. The "Never Miss a Super Bowl" club was formed, and while the members have waxed and waned, the trio is all that officially remains.

As it's Valentine's Day today, it gives us a good excuse to show you this gorgeous heart shaped reef in Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Beam Me Up, Scotty

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry died in 1991, then six years later some of his ashes were launched into deep space by an outer-spatial funerary company called Celestis in what most people found a fitting end for the science-fiction titan. Now his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who passed away in 2008, will join her husband’s ashes floating around space when hers are launched aboard a “Vulcan” rocket. Celestis’ Enterprise Mission reflects most of what’s great about the modern space industry, and science-fiction fans. As well as being sent up to space with the ashes of Star Trek actor, James “Scotty” Doohan (pictured) and those of other die-hard Trekkies, the mission will also be sporting a state-of-the-art moon lander designed by Astrobotics for payload missions to the moon.

US Charging Network

A nationwide EV charging network could be a reality in the US in short order. The Biden administration has announced the $5 billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI), which makes money available to each state to start building out a network of its own. Whilst electric vehicles accounted for 9 percent of new vehicles worldwide in 2021, it was only 3 percent in the US. One possible reason for this? Range anxiety. Charging your car is still nowhere near as easy as fueling up, especially when compared to Europe. It's hoped that NEVI will begin to change this. Industry analysts and experts expected a Biden presidency to be good for EVs. And after little more than a year in office, that is certainly looking to be the case.