Wrapping up the week with a bundle of good news nuggets.
Dream on! An extra hour on Saturday and Sunday may be no substitute for a regular good night’s sleep – but according to new research it may have an important benefit. According to a study published in Sleep Medicine, people who catch up on missed sleep at weekends have lower rates of depression than those who don’t.
China is endeavouring to redraw the world energy map by investing in a vast new 400-gigawatt wind and solar project that could add as much renewable capacity as all of Europe, reports Bloomberg.
Mexico's Supreme Court has decriminalized abortion. The ruling also paves the way for thousands of women who ended their pregnancies to get prior criminal charges leveled against them dropped.
Britain's biggest supermarket group Tesco has launched a trial that allows customers to buy food, drink, household and beauty products in reusable packaging, part of its strategy to cut plastic waste.
Is this the future of urban housing developments? On a busy street in the Silicon Valley town of Santa Clara, a new mixed-income housing complex will come with an unusual amenity: its own working 1.5 acre farm, which can grow up to 20,000 pounds of produce each year. A specialist farming company will manage the farm and offer the organically-grown, hyper-local produce to residents to buy each week at a deep discount. Some residents in the affordable housing complex will also have access to community garden plots.
Hats off to 97-year-old Leonid Stanislavskyi: He was 30 when a colleague introduced him to amateur tennis and today he still practices on the court three times a week in his hometown of Kharkiv, Ukraine. The Guinness World Record holder as the oldest tennis player is now training for the 2021 Super-Seniors World Tennis Championship. This year the competition will take place in Mallorca, Spain. And it's the first time tennis players aged 90 and over will take part in the tournament after Stanislavskyi submitted a written request for that.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has launched a space company called Privateer Space. It's nothing like what Bezos, Musk and Branson are up to. Wozniak's new company aims to "keep space safe and accessible to all humankind," according to a promo video. "It's up to us to work together to do what is right and what is good," the video says. "So here's to taking care of what we have so the next generation can be better together."
Following the good news that Oxford Circus is to be transformed into pedestrian piazzas, one of London’s most famous thoroughfares - The Strand - is being reclaimed from cars and buses as part of plans to create a “green oasis” in the heart of the city. Those behind the project, dubbed Strand Aldwych, want to create a car-free cultural space where art is “made and displayed”, and pedestrians can amble. The road, with a pretty little church in the centre of it, is a gateway to the West End’s theatres.
Hitachi, the Japanese industrial giant, aims to reach net-zero emissions for its entire supply chain by 2050, widely in line with rivals. The new goal comes as investors and policy makers call for more action by corporations to reduce their carbon footprint.
Fun Fact: Much like the rings of a tree can tell you its age and provide clues about the life it has lived, so too does the long tusk of the narwhal. Recent research led by a bioscience professor at Denmark's Aarhus University has shown that this peculiar arctic whale adds a layer to its distinctive tusk each year. And not only do these layers offer insight into the age of the narwhal (they've been known to live up to 50 years) but the conditions in which they lived - such as level of pollution, temperature levels, and even what their diet consisted of. You are what you eat!
Dive in Deeper
Lucky Yellow Marble
Set to the tune of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, this plucky yellow marble would give Lara Croft or Harrison Ford a run for their money! Brilliant...