Today's collection of good news nuggets.
Stunning drone photo of the centre of Lucca, Italy. It's eerily empty for obvious reasons, but everybody's looking forward to it being busy again in the not too distant future.
A four-year-old girl just found a dinosaur footprint on a Welsh beach, and it's being described as the “finest found in a decade” by experts. Lily Wilder and her family were walking their dog in Barry when she spotted the fossilised footprint in the rocks. It's believed to be around 220 million years old. It's wonderful to think that you could mix the everyday (a walk on the beach) with such an incredible find.
World's most expensive flights: Axiom Space announces first ISS private passengers paying $55m for a trip.
Good news for the EU as BioNTech and Pfizer said yesterday that they will increase their coronavirus vaccine deliveries to the bloc, pledging to send up to 75m extra doses to the EU this spring after making production improvements including modifying Pfizer’s Belgian plant.
A Madrid mural honouring the lives and achievements of 15 pioneering women, including Nina Simone, Rosa Parks and Frida Kahlo, has been saved from destruction after city councillors stepped in to thwart far-right attempts to have it removed. The 60-metre (197ft) mural, emblazoned with the slogan: “Your ability doesn’t depend on your gender”, was commissioned by the local council in the Ciudad Lineal neighbourhood and painted on a sports centre wall in 2018.
Biden's being bold on climate: The rapid pace of Biden's climate action sounds death knell for era of denialism.
The US’s Madison Square Garden Company - which owns the New York concert and sports venue - is planning to upstage the O2 Arena in London with a globe-shaped structure called the MSG Sphere. The project is awaiting planning approval for a site in Stratford, just north of the O2. The enormous building, measuring over 90m high and 120m wide, would contain a nightclub, bars, restaurants and shops, as well as a concert hall, which could welcome 21,500 people. This would make the Sphere bigger than any of the UK’s current concert venues, including the 21,000-capacity Manchester Arena, and the O2 Arena itself, which can hold 20,000.
Anaesthetist Dr. Rob Hackett of Sydney, Australia, witnessed frequent communication issues during surgeries resulting in mistakes and loss of precious time. So he came up with the idea of writing his name and title on his scrub cap. Thanks to his #TheatreCapChallenge online campaign, his simple but effective idea is now being applied in hospitals all over the world.
Can sustainable farming feed the UK? A recently released report by the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission debunks the myth that sustainable farming can’t feed the UK.
World’s first biofuel rocket takes flight for the first time. Maine-based bluShift Aerospace developed fuel for the rocket using farm waste and hopes their rockets will become the 'Uber for space'.
Estonia’s first female prime minister has promised to implement changes in both style and substance in the governance of the Baltic nation, as she takes charge after two years in which a far-right party was in the ruling coalition. Kaja Kallas, a 43-year-old lawyer and head of Estonia’s Reform Party, was sworn into office last week, and said: “We will have a very clear change in policies when it comes to issues like climate policy.” The new coalition government has vowed to develop plans to stop the production of oil shale power in the country by 2035 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
Fed up with Netflix? This new musical revue, conceived by Peter Polycarpou, was one of the productions forced to close by England’s second lockdown. It has now been reimagined as a digital production, starring Polycarpou and Sally Ann Triplett, weaving together tunes from Charlie Chaplin, Irving Berlin, Arthur Freed and more through the tale of a lost songbook discovered in an antique shop. Available from stream.theatre, 1-14 February.
Armchair Thrills: Fancy a vicarious adrenaline rush? Watch this incredible video of two men in wing suits leaping off a mountain and catching a ride home in an airplane.