Ensuring the week gets off to an optimistic start with a global round up of good news nuggets.
Hummingbirds
Among the different species of birds, hummingbirds are among the most remarkable. These unique creatures hover unlike most birds and are the only ones that can fly backwards for any length of time. And now they have been recognised as being special in yet another way: they have the most wide-ranging colors in their plumage of all other birds. A recent study from Yale University published in Communications Biology showed that hummingbirds, in fact, exceed the color diversity of all other bird species combined.
Breast Cancer Vanishes
Jasmin David was given months to live after being diagnosed with cancer. Then she took part in a two-year clinical trial, using an experimental medicine combined with an immunotherapy drug, at The Christie hospital in northern England. What happened next was beyond everyone's wildest expectations. When the trial ended, scans showed no measurable cancer cells in her body and she was deemed completely cancer-free. The successful experiment brings hope to millions suffering from breast cancer, although further research is required to determine its validity.
Brazil's World-First
Brazil’s Supreme Court has become the first in the world to recognise the Paris Agreement as a human rights treaty, whilst ordering the Brazilian government to fully reactivate its national climate fund. “Treaties on environmental law are a type of human rights treaty and, for that reason, enjoy supranational status. There is therefore no legally valid option to simply omit to combat climate change,” the ruling said. Brazil is the world’s fifth largest carbon emitter and deforestation is its largest source of emissions. The court recognised the climate fund as the main tool available to cut Brazil’s emissions. Not using it was therefore a breach “by omission” of the national constitution, which requires the state to protect the environment for current and future generations.
How Fast is Fast?
A newly-discovered star, (which has now been named S4716), is traveling around the black hole at the center of our galaxy (the Milky Way) at a fairly rapid 5,000 miles (8,000 km) per second. That's a whopping 18 million miles an hour! It's the fastest known star in the universe.
Random Fun Fact
Otters “hold hands” while sleeping, so they don’t float away from each other. And it’s super-cute.
10 Percent
Researchers say that if Americans reduced their personal driving by 10 percent, 110 million fewer metric tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted each year: the equivalent of taking 28 coal-fired power plants offline.
Officially Extinct?
An elusive butterfly that has been officially extinct in Britain for more than half a century has been discovered breeding on the rewilded estate of Knepp in West Sussex. The large tortoiseshell mysteriously vanished more than 50 years ago but male and female butterflies have been spotted at Knepp for the first time. Isabella Tree, who began rewilding Knepp with her husband 20 years ago, said: “We always think we’ve got to intervene and bring things back but again and again we see that it’s just about habitat and providing the space for nature and many species can come back on their own.”
Weekend Exercise
Some good news for people who struggle to exercise regularly: a weekend bout of brisk activity was found to be as effective as frequent running. That’s according to a US study published in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal. It tracked 350,000 people over a decade to see how so-called ‘weekend warriors’ fared versus those who broke a sweat daily. Its verdict? That the type and total weekly amount of exercise is more important than frequency. At least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise – or 75 minutes of vigorous activity – is recommended each week. Participants who achieved that, whether during the whole week or just at the weekend, had lower a death risk than those who did not.
Quote of the Day
“O, Sunlight! The most precious gold to be found on Earth.” Roman Payne
On this Day
11 July 1960: American author Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was published and became a classic, noted for its sensitive treatment of a child's awakening to racism and prejudice in the South.
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Mood Booster
Tribal Fusion Dance: 'Goddess of the Lotus Temple'