Collection of uplifting, positive news snippets.
For many years, the International Space Station has watched Earth from above. Part of its mission is to “share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about the environment, Earth systems, and climate that emerge from NASA research.” This includes some seriously stunning satellite images. So stunning, that over the last few weeks NASA asked humans to pick their favorite photo. 56,000 people voted and it turns out Ocean Sand (above) is everyone’s favourite view of our home planet. The image is of the sands and seaweed in the Bahamas. Intrigued? Why not sign up to Earth Observatory and receive a photo of Earth from space everyday...
Ad free internet: This is the year that advertising will start to lose its grip on the internet as companies finally realise that people are willing to pay for an internet that is utterly ad-free, says a former Big Cheese at Google Ads.
Ha ha: In a clear sign that American democracy remains in rude health social media company Facebook has banned Donald Trump from its website. Believed to be harshest punishment available to the US judiciary system for a white or orange person, the ban came after a large mob stormed Capitol Hill in Washington DC, seeking to stop the certification of the presidential election results before freely strolling back home.
A third vaccine was approved yesterday for the UK. It's made by Moderna and is similar to the Pfizer one. UK has ordered 17m doses for delivery in the Spring. And, in potentially better news, there's yet another one on its way: a single-shot jab developed by US company, Johnson & Johnson, may be approved in time to begin vaccinating millions of people in the UK by next month, scientists and Whitehall officials believe. Ministers hope the drug, which uses similar technology to the Oxford vaccine, will be granted emergency authorisation very shortly. The UK has already ordered 30 million doses of the Janssen vaccine, with the option of 22 million more.
World's cheapest electric car: No wonder it's selling like hot cakes on a cold winter day.
Good news for safer air travel as Boeing is fined $2.5bn by the US justice department after being charged with fraud and conspiracy in connection with two fatal crashes of its 737 Max airliner.
Most online presentations of Machu Picchu are only slightly better than the panoramas amateur photographers take. But You Visit’s virtual guide is high-res and beautifully lit by Andean sunlight. Offering overviews, closeups, cliff-edge views and, crucially, some cute alpacas browsing beside the stone walls - it will whet the appetite or prompt fond memories.
Elon Musk, the maverick boss of Tesla, has overtaken Amazon’s Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest person, after shares in the electric car company he co-founded soared on hopes that a Democrat-controlled US Senate will usher in a new green agenda.
Indian man opens Rice ATM: Ramu Dosapati spent his entire life savings supporting those in need.
The military commander behind the lightning-fast construction of the NHS Nightingale hospitals is now leading the bid to speed up the UK's coronavirus vaccine roll-out. Brigadier Phil Prosser of the Royal Logistics Corps has been embedded for weeks at the NHS headquarters in South London, working alongside the head of the jab task force. Taking a central role in the programme’s delivery, he's preparing to dispatch military “surge teams” to ensure the mass jab roll-out runs to timetable.
2020 cast a spotlight on immunity with lots of discussion around vitamins, but very little on immune boosting quercetin.
The press is full of bright ideas at the moment about how to organise your life. Here's a novel approach from an OGN reader. 'Life Hack: When too tired to do all the things on your To Do list, try a To Don’t list. Simply write all the things you’re not going to do and then... don’t do them. Huge sense of achievement with none of the effort.'
Ibex climbs vertical dam wall: 4 minute video showing the spectacular sight of mountain goats defying gravity on a vertical dam wall in Italy, and all because they are have a craving for some of Earth's elements essential to life.