OGN Monday

Editor OGN Daily
Sep 15
4 min read

Ensuring the week gets off to a bright start with today's global collection of positive news nuggets.

Bluff Collection

A trove of avant-garde art - including Man Ray’s iconic reimagining of his lover’s lower back as a violin - has been gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Manhattan cultural institution has announced. Gifted by billionaire Met trustee John Pritzker, the collection includes 188 works by 37 prominent figures in Dada and Surrealism. Dubbed the Bluff Collection, the donation includes collages, paintings, photographs and more by artists like Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, as well as rare catalogues and publications on the two art movements. The collection is “remarkable” and “truly unparalleled,” says Max Hollein, the museum’s CEO, in a statement. “It enhances our ability to offer a profound, more comprehensive view of these outstanding artists and enigmatic trailblazers of modernism, whose bold and influential experimentation across media continues to fascinate and inspire.”

Women's Health

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates has announced a new partnership that will commit $100 million to accelerate women's health research, focusing on areas of women's health with the highest rates of mortality. "We are really going to go after women's diseases we haven't looked at, things like cardiovascular disease, menopause, chronic illnesses," French Gates said. "We really can do a lot more research in these areas - and I'm talking in years, not decades - to change women's lives."

New Ocean Reserve

An “extraordinary and unique” marine ecosystem off the coast of Western Australia is to be designated a protected ocean reserve. Encompassing coral reefs and mangroves, the Exmouth Gulf - a 1,000 sq. mile (2,600 sq. km) expanse of water - is home to Australia’s largest concentration of dugongs and is a vital stop-off point for migrating humpback whales.

School Phone Ban Study

Grades are better in schools with smartphone bans, according to a landmark study led by the University of Pennsylvania which “puts hard evidence behind what teachers and parents have long seen”. In a first-of-its-kind trial involving nearly 17,000 students in India, pupils were split between classrooms where smartphones were prohibited and classrooms where they were permitted. Students in the former achieved markedly better grades than those in the latter, the study found, especially students who were struggling academically.

Zoox Robotaxi

After over a decade of research, development, and testing, Amazon's Zoox has kicked off its commercial robotaxi service - beginning with the Las Vegas Strip and several surrounding attractions. And for the moment, rides are free. Offering free rides in a tourist hotspot is a great way to familiarize people with the brand as it eyes more cities to roll out in, as well as get comfortable with the company's unique vehicles that don't even have a driver's seat. That's unlike Waymo and Tesla's autonomous taxi services that currently use regular-looking cars.

Cheaper Renewables

According to a new study by independent energy think-tank Ember, Chinese factories now produce 60 percent of the world’s wind turbines and 80 percent of its solar panels - making the cost of renewables more competitive globally. This has resulted in 91 percent of newly commissioned wind and solar projects being cheaper than their fossil fuel equivalents. “China has opened the door to a new energy future by building electro-technologies at vast scale, slashing costs and raising the ceiling of possibility,” said Sam Butler-Sloss, Ember’s research manager. “The consequences reach far beyond its borders.” Ember's report comes amid growing optimism that China’s emissions may have peaked.

Global Public Health

In a big win for public health access, the WHO has added 39 medicines to its global essential list, including breakthrough treatments for lung cancer, melanoma, multiple myeloma and type 2 diabetes. Being on the list means countries are more likely to buy the medicine in bulk, copycat versions get made faster, and prices come down quicker. Several of the drugs are already WHO-prequalified, allowing countries to begin large-scale purchasing immediately.

"When you start a new trail equipped with courage, strength, and conviction, the only thing that can stop you is you." Ruby Bridges

On This Day

15 September 1835: HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, reaches the Galápagos Islands. After returning to England, Darwin began developing his ideas about evolution. He married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839, and they had ten children. Darwin worked on his theory for over 20 years, gathering evidence to support it. On the Origin of Species was published in 1859.