Celebrating the start of another long weekend with a global round up of positive news nuggets.
Coral Carnival
In 2006, British artist Jason deCaires Taylor founded The Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park, a unique display of art that is submerged off the coast of the Caribbean island of Grenada. Recently, the underwater garden welcomed 27 new sculptures by Taylor and four by local artists, all of which are inspired by Grenada's annual Spicemas carnival. This new collection is titled The Coral Carnival, and features an array of figurative works embodying characters from the carnival, some of which are even rendered in color. The site is now listed as one of National Geographic’s 25 Wonders of the World. The 75 works cover an area of 800 square metres and are located in a series of sand patches and gullies between natural rock formations at depths of 5-8 metres.
Devotion to Detail
Restorers are re-arranging medieval stained-glass panels in one of Canterbury Cathedral's 'Miracle Windows' which depict the healing miracles attributed to St. Thomas Becket. They're doing it because recent research revealed that the panels were muddled up during restoration about 350 years ago.
PNG's New MPAs
Papua New Guinea has created two massive new Marine Protected Areas. Together they cover more than 6,200 square miles, tripling the country’s marine area under protection, and are the country’s first to be co-managed by Indigenous communities, reports Mongabay. The process of establishing the MPAs involved consultation with more than 9,000 people in more than 100 Indigenous communities.
Tallest Wood Turbine
What is made from the same wood as a Christmas tree, held together by glue and manufactured in a Swedish factory for assembly later? If that calls to mind flat-pack furniture and meatballs, you're wrong. If you answered "a wooden wind turbine", you could be a visionary. According to Modvion, the Swedish start-up that has just built the world's tallest wooden turbine tower, using wood for wind power is the future. "It's got great potential," says Otto Lundman, the company's chief executive. It's 150m (492ft) to the tip of the highest blade and is located a short drive outside Gothenburg. The 2 megawatt generator on top has just started supplying electricity to the Swedish grid, providing power for about 400 homes. The dream of Lundman and Modvion is to take the wood and wind much higher.
Seahorse Reintroduction
Australia continues to rehabilitate its populations of White’s seahorse, an “Australian icon” and the only such creature on the nation’s endangered list. In May, OGN reported that hundreds of White’s seahorses were released into the waters north of Newcastle into specially-made “hotels” as part of the largest release of captive-bred seahorses in history. Now, as part of another reintroduction, a tide pool north of Sydney Harbour will become the latest release site for these tiny sea creatures. “We really want to reverse that trend and get them re-established. They’re our seahorses, this is an Australian icon.”
Lift Off
Tampa International Airport has held an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle test flight, which was a first for a major U.S. airport. The test flight was for the German company Volocopter, which flew its air taxi that looks like a huge drone. Flying taxis could completely change how we travel, with the ability to carry passengers across cities in just minutes - with clean energy. While these test flights are just the beginning, the next step for eVTOL companies is to get FAA approval, which could start as soon as next year.
"Luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it." Denzel Washington
On This Day
30 December 1902: A new southing record was set by Robert Falcon Scott, in company with Ernest Henry Shackleton and E.A. Wilson, as they reached the Ross Ice Shelf at the head of the Ross Sea in Antarctica.
It might not look comfortable to the modern eye, but this wooden Mongolian saddle was once state-of-the-art. Riding tech...
Mood Booster
André Rieu and Dorona Alberti performing I Will Survive live in Maastricht.