OGN Wednesday
- Editor OGN Daily
- Aug 20
- 4 min read
Mid-week collection of tasty bite-sized chunks of upbeat news.
'Eye of Sauron'
Billions of light-years away, a cosmic jet bearing a striking resemblance to the 'Eye of Sauron' from the Lord of the Rings is swirling at the heart of a very active galaxy. The unique cosmic body was spotted thanks to 15 years of observations using the Earth-based Very Long Baseline Ar-ray and is helping scientists better understand the anatomy of cosmic jets, powerful beams of plasma and energy that come from black holes, neutron stars, and other celestial bodies. The unique attributes of this 'Eye of Sauron' cosmic jet is detailed in a study published this month in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. “When we reconstructed the image, it looked absolutely stunning,” Yuri Kovalev, study co-author and astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, said in a statement. “We have never seen anything quite like it - a near-perfect toroidal [doughnut shaped] magnetic field with a jet, pointing straight at us.”
Elephants Have Names
Elephants know your name (if you’re an elephant). A decades-long study in Kenya has found African elephants invent and use unique “names” for one another, making them, along with humans, the only known species to do so. The BBC reports that researchers analysed 36 years of recordings from Samburu and Amboseli elephants to identify 469 distinct calls, then played them back to test reactions. Elephants responded energetically when hearing their own name, but ignored others, hinting at a sophisticated social language that could one day help humans communicate with pachyderms.
Male Elephants Harmonise Rumbles to Say "Let's Go": A fascinating new insight into elephant communication has been discovered.
‘Rising Sun’ Coins
Archaeologists analyzing coins dating back to the first millennium CE found that some of these pieces of silver indicate extensive economic connections in Southeast Asia at the time. A coin found in present-day Bangladesh and one discovered about 1,000 miles away in Vietnam were likely minted by the same person. As early as the second century CE, Chinese records indicate that government policies and trade networks facilitated extensive trade across the region. These routes stretched thousands of miles from the eastern Mediterranean and northern parts of Africa to China. Archeological evidence supports these documents. Excavations throughout Southeast Asia have uncovered Indian jewelery, Roman glassware, and ceramics from Persia, China, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Time For a New Start
The Prince and Princess of Wales are to move into a new home in Windsor as they seek a fresh start after a “brutal” few years. The couple and their children will relocate later this year to Forest Lodge, an eight-bedroomed Grade II-listed building, just a short drive from their current home, Adelaide Cottage, in Windsor Great Park. The three-storey red-brick property will be their “forever home”, it is hoped, where they intend to remain after Prince William becomes King. The couple, along with their children, Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, are due to move into their new home before Christmas.
Rise of 'Greenhushing'
The Economist reports that a study published by PwC found that of the 4,000-odd firms that reported climate commitments last year to the CDP - a global non-profit that runs the world's only independent environmental disclosure system for companies - only 16 percent dialled back their goals, while 47 percent stood by them and 37 percent became more ambitious. The analysis also found that 67 percent of companies with targets were on track to meet them, a proportion which had inched up by three percentage points compared with 2023. Once firms were accused of “greenwashing”: making nonsense promises, and doing nothing to achieve them. Now they seem to be “greenhushing” - getting on with the job of decarbonisation, without making a fuss. The fact that many are quietly persevering with decarbonisation points to a comforting conclusion: that companies realise that taking action is beneficial to their bottom lines, no matter what politicians say or do.
Fun Fact: The word “strengths” is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel.
"Success is being excited to go to work and being excited to come home." Will Ahmed
On This Day
20 August 1920: At a meeting in Canton, Ohio, the National Football League was formed (as the American Professional Football Conference).
Today's Articles
The Divya: These off-grid washing machines are transforming lives around the world, particularly for women and girls.
Sex Reversal: Male birds can lay eggs - it may be more common than ornithologists originally believed.
Mood Boosting Video
Hilarious Bingo: An interview with a French job candidate becomes a game about his pronunciation mistakes.
