OGN Tuesday
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jul 8
- 4 min read
Some tasty bite-sized chunks of upbeat news to brighten the day.
V&A Bowie Centre
From the Thierry Mugler suit he got married in to his costumes from the Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane era, David Bowie’s most iconic looks will be available for fans to see up close as London's V&A museum opens its David Bowie Centre on 13 September. Part of the V&A’s wider archival project, the V&A East Storehouse, the Bowie archive comprises more than 90,000 items - which won’t all be on display at once. Instead, in details revealed today, visitors will be able to order up items to look at closely, while V&A archivists and star curators will make selections to go on display in a series of rotating showcases. Tickets will be free. The V&A first acquired Bowie’s archive in 2023, with director Tristram Hunt promising the David Bowie Centre would be a “new sourcebook for the Bowies of tomorrow”.
Is That a Firework?
No, it’s Halitrephes maasi. The deep-sea species is often called the firework jellyfish because of its resemblance to the sparkly spectacles. It came into view at 1,225m in the Revillagigedo Archipelago off Baja California, Mexico. Radial canals that move nutrients through the jelly's bell form a starburst pattern that reflects the lights of a deep-sea submersible (ROV Hercules) with bright splashes of yellow and pink - but without the ROV's lights this gelatinous beauty drifts unseen in the dark.
Biodegradable Plastic
Japanese scientists have created a supramolecular plastic that completely dissolves in saltwater within 8.5 hours. This saltwater biodegradable plastic matches conventional plastics in strength while featuring innovative "salt bridge" bonds that break down when exposed to seawater, potentially addressing the global microplastics crisis.
Dinos Roar Back
Jurassic World Rebirth came in well ahead of expectations at the Fourth of July box office to hatch a new era for the Steven Spielberg-created franchise, says Hollywood Reporter. In North America, the holiday tentpole is reporting an estimated five-day domestic opening of $147.3 million, including $91.5 million for the three-day weekend. Jurassic World Rebirth, starring Scarlet Johansson and the seventh title in the series, is roaring even louder overseas, where it opened to an estimated $171 million from more than 80 markets. That puts the film’s global start at $318.3 million - the second-best launch of the franchise, and the biggest worldwide opening of the year to date, after passing up A Minecraft Movie. No one saw that coming.
Regular Visitor
After finding an orphaned juvenile wild Eurasian crow, Otto’s mom and dad were not able to find anyone in the area to rehabilitate him, so while nursing him back to health, and then into its fledging stage, the crow grew to trust the family - now the bird, which they named Russell, has become part of their family. The crow will come and visit all of them, including the dog and the cats, but it’s for the little boy Otto whom Russell reserves the vast majority of his love - and their friendship is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. Russell is no caged corvid. He disappears from the family’s property in Denmark often. However, whether it’s pecking at the door, flying through the window onto the couch, or waiting for Otto on top of the house when he gets home from Kindergarten, the bird is never far away.
People Power
In a win for people power, the US Supreme Court has denied oil giant ExxonMobil’s bid to overturn a civil penalty imposed on it for violations of the Clean Air Act at a Texas refinery -
potentially setting an important precedent. The corporation had been fined $14.25m - a record amount for a citizen-led public interest lawsuit. “The Supreme Court’s action allows citizens to continue to use the Clean Air Act in court to fight illegal polluters,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas. “Citizens need all the tools Congress provided so they can stand up to big corporations who are breaking environmental laws.”
Bright Idea
A Swiss firm is on track to solve the conundrum of where to site solar farms, by turning railways into power plants. Switzerland needs to boost solar output seven-fold by 2035 to meet climate goals, but a scarcity of land available for large-scale PV plants poses a serious hurdle to scaling up. Now bright sparks at solar developer Sun-Ways have found a solution that exploits some of Switzerland’s 5,000km (3,100 miles) of railway line: panels that slot between the tracks. A trial of the technology is now underway.
“Freedom is something that dies unless it’s used.” Hunter S. Thompson
On This Day
8 July 1497: Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon with a fleet of four vessels, and he ultimately opened a sea route from western Europe to Asia by way of the Cape of Good Hope, ushering in a new era in world history. During this voyage, he carried padrões (stone pillars) as marks of discovery. He erected one on an island near Mossel Bay, South Africa, two in Mozambique, and one in Calicut, India, to prove that his fleet - two three-masted sailing ships, a 50-ton caravel, and a 200-ton storeship - had been there.
Today's Articles
Want to be a Millionaire? Research shows that doing this simple household chore every day makes it twice as likely.
Ancient Idea: Thousands of years ago, the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon accidentally invented a powerful climate solution.
Mood Boosting Video
Colville River, Alaska: A pair of rough-legged hawks work together to raise their chicks.
