Today's eclectic global collection of good news nuggets.
Trailblazer Award
Naomi Campbell has been honoured by a Cambridge college for her work as a trailblazer for black models in fashion. The supermodel addressed students at Homerton College as part of a gala dinner to mark Black History Month. Ms Campbell was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the college principal, Lord Simon Woolley. She told students: "Master your craft and the world will become your runway". Lord Woolley said: "If you want people to be leaders and heads of institutions aspiring to be the very best then you need to show them that, this is what it looks like."
Yellowstone
A conservation group called Greater Yellowstone Coalition has purchased 1,598 acres of land on the boundary of Yellowstone National Park to save it from gold mining, removing the last viable mining threat in the area, says the New York Times. The area is home to grizzly bears, bison, elk, mule deer, and bighorn sheep.
The End of Polio
The European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation just announced a $1.1 billion package for one final push on polio, reports Reuters. The funds will cover polio vaccinations for nearly 370 million children annually and deliver vital health services to children, along with the vaccinations. 'We are about to wipe polio off the face of the Earth.'
Polish Democracy
Thanks to young people, Poland's democratic opposition has won a majority of seats in both chambers of the country’s parliament. Within the next two months, they should be able to form a new coalition government (led by Donald Tusk, pictured), bringing to an end the eight-year rule of the current illiberal, misogynist and populist government, says Politico. With a sprinkle of hyperbole, Tusk says his election saved Polish democracy. His larger legacy could be to strengthen European security.
Cancer Breakthrough
Scientists have made a “tremendously exciting” breakthrough in treating prostate cancer.
In a clinical trial, researchers showed that blocking the signals that prostate cancer use to hijack white blood cells can resensitise advanced tumours to treatment - shrinking them or halting their growth. The research was led by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, which described it as a “major scientific advance”. Lead researcher Prof Johann de Bono said: “This is tremendously exciting, and suggests we have an entirely new way to treat prostate cancer on the horizon.” The study’s findings were published in the journal Nature.
The Flip of a Coin
It’s generally thought flipping a coin is a quick and fair way to settle random disputes. Someone calls heads or tails as a coin is flipped, offering 50/50 odds it will land on either side. But what if the chances aren’t even? A team of 48 researchers in Amsterdam spent days flipping coins (accumulating 350,757 coin flips) and discovered the results of this game of random chance may not be as random as most assume. “If you start heads-up, the coin is more likely to land heads-up and vice versa. How large is the bias? In our sample, the mean estimate is 50.8 percent".
Common Sense
It’s a blindingly obvious partial solution to the cost of living crisis in the UK: let people grow produce on unused council land. That’s what the English city of Hull has just done after it became the first to approve a ‘right to grow’ scheme. The move is a “severe outbreak of common sense”, according to Alex Robinson, CEO of the environmental charity Hubbub, a long-time supporter of the right to grow movement.
“To begin, begin.”
William Wordsworth
On This Day
23 October 2001: Apple introduced the iPod, its portable media player.
King Charles makes tackling food waste his first major personal project as monarch - to bridge the gap between food waste and food need. Royal initiative...
Mood Booster
Impressively law-abiding kangaroo stops at red, goes on green.