Tuesday's eclectic global selection of uplifting news stories.
"A sliver of a moon rises out of noctilucent clouds and appears to look towards the horizon awaiting the imminent sunrise." NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick launched to the International Space Station in March, serving as a flight engineer, conducting science experiments, and maintaining the station. But he’s also taken up a hobby while in space: photography. Dominick has been sharing his stunning (and creative) photos of the cosmos on social media, with the moon shot above garnering more than 250,000 views.
Hilarious Misunderstanding
While canvassing in east Yorkshire at the recent UK general election, Labour candidate Karl Turner was able to win back a voter by clearing up a simple misunderstanding. "We met a guy who said he was going to vote Labour but wouldn't now, because he had just heard that we were taxing condoms," he recalled. "I said, 'Condoms?' 'Yeah,' he said. 'I just heard on that [pointing to the TV] that you are taxing condoms, and I'm not having it.'" Turner was baffled, until an aide worked it out. "We're taxing non-doms, not condoms," Turner explained. "Oh," the man replied, and shouted into his house: "Margaret: they're taxing non-doms, not condoms."
Green Tree Frog?
An amphibian has not lived up to its name, swapping out its usual green colouring for bright blue, in the first-ever record of a magnificent tree frog with this appearance. It's stunned scientists, who know they're unlikely to see this again. “Very occasionally, a green frog is missing yellow pigment in its skin, and it results in an entirely or mostly blue frog,” said Jodi Rowley, Curator of Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology at the Australian Museum. “I’ve seen tens of thousands of frogs over the years, and only seen one blue frog." This incredibly rare species is found exclusively in an Australian wildlife sanctuary, demonstrating the importance of these protected areas for wildlife conservation.
Caligula's Garden
Construction workers in Italy have discovered a 2,000-year-old garden that once belonged to a Roman emperor. The travertine walls of the garden overlook the banks of the Tiber, a river that cuts through Rome and sits east of Vatican City. As archaeologists removed debris, they found a lead water pipe with the following inscription: "C(ai) Cæsaris Aug(usti) Germanici." Researchers determined that the engraving referred to Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula (aka "little boot," a childhood nickname given to him by his father's soldiers).
Most Joyful Museum
A museum that promotes creativity in children while engaging with one of London’s most deprived communities has been crowned the UK’s ‘museum of the year’. As well as bragging rights, the Young V&A won £120,000, which is the single biggest museum prize in the world.
The award is run by the charity Art Fund. Its director Jenny Waldman described the Young V&A as “the world’s most joyful museum”, and said it had “completely reimagined” the museum concept.
'Bejeweled Ring'
An intriguing new image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope shows a quasar sparkling in the cosmos - six billion light-years from Earth. Quasars are the blazing centers of active galaxies, and are powered by supermassive black holes feeding on titanic quantities of gas. Astronomers were able to observe the quasar, known by the snappy and easily memorable name RX J1131-1231, thanks to gravitational lensing - which cleverly magnifies distant astronomical objects, letting astronomers study objects that would otherwise be too faint or far away. The image was named the Webb Telescope’s ‘Picture of the Month’, and was described by the European Space Agency as a “bejeweled ring”.
"And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.'" Kurt Vonnegut
On This Day
16 July 1969: Apollo 11 lifted off from NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and four days later two of its astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, became the first humans to set foot on the Moon.
Today's Articles
3D Reuleaux Triangle: Mathematicians have constructed a new shape that rolls like a ball in all dimensions.
Mood Boosting Video
Hilarious Interview: Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford lose it during riotous interview about 'Blade Runner 2049'