Good News Monday
Ensuring the week gets off to a bright start with today's global collection of upbeat news nuggets.
Good Timing
Last week, Lady Liberty got a picture-perfect backdrop of a 10 percent illuminated waxing crescent moon, or, in less scientific terms, a banana moon. Happily, the photographer was in the right place at the right time to capture the moment.
Good Quick Hits
Germany has nearly halved its use of fossil fuels for electricity in the past eight years. Almost 60 percent of German electricity is now produced by renewables.
Scientists have sequenced the DNA of the world’s oldest known land animal, a 194-year-old tortoise named Jonathan. They hope to uncover new knowledge about aging or longevity.
The first treaty to govern activity across the high seas is nearing universal ratification. The treaty will protect ocean life in international waters that make up two-thirds of the ocean.
Full battery EVs accounted for 1 in 3 new cars in September in France and Germany; half of new cars in Portugal and Belgium were fully electric.
Art World is Buzzing
Excitement in the art world is building over a rare viewing and upcoming auction of a Vincent van Gogh painting that has not been on public display for more than 60 years. Hundreds of people have been lining up in Hong Kong to catch a fleeting glimpse of Châtaigniers en fleurs, or Chestnut Trees in Blossom, in advance of its auction next month in New York. It is expected to sell for around $180 million - a potential record for a van Gogh work at auction. The painting is just one of an "almost mythical" Argentinian private art collection of twelve Impressionist and modern masterpieces.
World's Oldest
The world's oldest shipwreck has been discovered off the coast of Turkey, archaeologists say. They have dated it to between 4,400 and 4,700 years old, which is the Early Bronze Age, and is around the same time that the Great Pyramid was being built. The ship's wooden structure has not survived, but the ceramic storage pots it was carrying were lying on the sea floor and, remarkably, some still contain traces of what they held inside. The archaeologists who found the ship say it was about 10m in length and was a trade vessel carrying cargo across the Mediterranean Sea. "The shipwreck is a time capsule at the bottom of the sea," said Prof Hakan Öniz, from Akdeniz University in Turkey, who led the Mediterranean Archaeology Association expedition. One jar in particular stood out to researchers. Featuring nine different markings and two holes, it’s thought to have been used for churning butter or making cheese, suggesting that sailors produced their own food during long journeys at sea.
New Sunscreen
For the first time in more than a quarter-century, Americans have a new option when shopping for sunscreen: a skin-protecting chemical that’s long been a go-to option in Europe and other parts of the world. The Food and Drug Administration approved bemotrizinol - sometimes called BEMT - in June. The first sunscreens containing it are now hitting U.S. store shelves, including formulas from Neutrogena and other manufacturers.
Words to Baz Luhrmann's 'Sunscreen' Are Worth Reading: The Sunscreen Song, officially titled Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen), was released as a single in 1999. Here are the great lyrics...
First Time in 100 Years
This is the 9-carat pink diamond that went missing in October 1926 after a pair of thieves robbed a historic castle, the Château de Chantilly, outside of Paris. Not pictured is the apple the diamond was hidden inside - that is, until a hotel chambermaid took a bite out of it while cleaning a room just two months after the heist and inadvertently solved the crime. Fast-forward 100 years, and the Grand Condé diamond is on display beginning today at the Château de Chantilly. It’s the first time in a century it will be shown to the public. Mathieu Deldicque, the chief heritage curator and director of the castle’s Musée Condé, told CNN he’s declined to put a price on the piece, but noted that “pink diamonds are the rarest and most expensive on the market.”
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both." Dwight D. Eisenhower
On This Day
19 October 1847: Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre is published by Smith, Elder & Co. of London under her pen name Currer Bell. Originally issued in three volumes with an initial print run of about 500 copies.
Today's Articles
Embrace Hygge: As the cold weather arrives, the Danish concept of comfort and cosiness are increasingly appealing.
Mood Boosting Video
The Magician's Nephew: Greta Gerwig brings C. S. Lewis’ beloved Narnia story to the big screen for the first time.
