Just Good News Monday

Editor OGN Daily
Jul 7
4 min read

What better way to start the week than with an eclectic global round up of positive news stories?

Lemurs on a rocky cliff glowing gold in the late evening light. — Credit: Zhou Donglin | 2025 BigPicture Photography Competition

Leap of Faith

Lemurs are remarkably lithe creatures. With long tails providing balance and powerful, slender limbs outfitted with opposable thumbs and toes, they move with ease through the craggy limestone spires of western Madagascar’s Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. Still, leaping over a 30-meter (100-foot) ravine with a baby clinging to your back seems like a daring choice. To capture this scene, photographer Zhou Donglin had to do some mountaineering of her own. Setting out before sunrise, Donglin spent an hour scrambling to the top of a rocky peak, praying that the elusive brown lemurs would show. After a day of disappointingly distant sightings, Donglin finally found some luck as a small troop descended through a forest of stone, glowing gold in the late evening light. No wonder her image scooped the top prize in the 2025 BigPicture Photography Competition.

Astronaut outside the ISS with Earth visible below — Credit: NASA

NASA/Netflix

Netflix is reaching for the stars. The streaming giant has announced that it "is teaming up with NASA to bring space a little closer to home" by streaming live launches into subscribers’ homes later this summer. Netflix thinks “the next giant leap for humankind might just start with you pressing play,” according to an article on its editorial site, Tudum. NASA is hoping that it can tap in some of Netflix's 700 million+ subscribers and generate even more interest in space exploration. Detailed schedules are expected to be shared shortly.

Bivalve Boogie

Using LED lights to get scallops to jump into pots is "changing the game" for the fishing industry, said The Times of London. Dubbed the "disco scallops" method, this new "cruelty-free" approach to catching the bivalve mollusks eliminates the need for "destructive" bottom trawling that damages the ocean floor. The underwater LEDs appear to "highlight" phytoplankton, the main food source of scallops, encouraging them to "dance" into the trap.

River Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the distance — River Seine

Happy Parisians

The River Seine in Paris has reopened publicly to swimmers for the first time since 1923 after a century-long ban. The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is viewed as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters - after a $1.6 billion clean up. There are three designated areas for public swimming in the Seine - one near the Eiffel Tower, another close to Notre Dame Cathedral and a third in eastern Paris. Zones have lifeguards, changing rooms, showers, and beach-style furniture, which allow for up to 300 people to lay out their towels.

Map of the world's ocean divided into small squares — Credit: MiCO / University of Queensland

Vital Intel

A new map has launched to assist in the conservation of migratory marine animals. Developed by the University of Queensland’s (UQ), the first-of-its kind map, known as MiCO, reveals how more than 100 species traverse the world’s oceans – vital intel as nations draw up plans to conserve the seas. Each square on the MiCO map contains information on the species which move through that part of the ocean. “Covering 109 species including birds, mammals, turtles and fish, MiCO brings together thousands of records from more than 1,300 sources to map how marine animals traverse the world’s oceans,” said UQ’s Dr Lily Bentley. The hope is that the model can be used to inform joined-up conservation policies such as the high seas treaty and 30 x 30, a global initiative to safeguard 30 percent of Earth’s oceans and land by 2030.

Whale Superhighways: In a breakthrough for marine conservation, a global coalition has launched a cutting-edge digital platform that maps whale migration routes, or ‘blue corridors’, for the first time using over 30 years of tracking data.

Credit: Lever For Change

Call to Action

If you know someone (or, indeed, you are someone) between the ages of 15 and 35 who has a climate solution, listen up: A philanthropic collaborative is giving away $25 million to young people at the forefront of climate action, and there’s an open call for applicants ready to bring their big ideas to life. The Emerging Climate Champions Award will provide multi-year grants of $1 million to 25 community organizations led by individuals in the 15-35 age range. “Our aim with this open call is to invite young leaders from all around the world to share their lived experiences and put their innovative ideas into action.” Learn more about how to apply - from now until September.

Sold For $18 Million

A handwritten copy of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution signed by Abraham Lincoln has sold at auction for a record $13.7 million. It’s the highest price ever paid for a document signed by the nation’s 16th president, reports the Wall Street Journal. The buyer intends to loan the document, which abolished slavery when it was ratified in 1865, to an American institution, according to Sotheby’s, the auction house that organized the sale. The buyer also purchased a rare copy of the Emancipation Proclamation for $4.4 million, setting a new record for the 1863 edict that freed enslaved people living in the Confederate states.

“Great dreams aren’t just visions; they’re visions coupled to strategies.” Astro Teller

On This Day

7 July 1928: In Chillicothe, Missouri, pre-sliced bread first went on sale; the loaves, baked by a local company, were cut using a machine designed by Otto Rohwedder. Sliced bread wasn’t just a success, it was a revolution. Read the fully story here.