Today's smorgasbord of tasty positive news nuggets.
Movie theaters were looking for a messiah and Dune: Part Two is delivering on the promise. Armed with sandworms, big screen spectacle, and the star power of Timothée Chalamet, Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction epic stormed the North American box office this weekend earning $81.5 million in ticket sales. It’s the first major hit of 2024, and one that was sorely needed by exhibitors. Premium large format screens like IMAX and 70mm accounted for 48 percent of the opening weekend business. It marked a March record for IMAX, which made up $18.5 million of the overall take.
Remarkable Stench
Long queues formed outside the California Academy of Sciences last week as people waited to get a whiff of a stinking plant that only blossoms for between one to three days, every seven to 10 years. Some people have described the pungent aroma of the corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum) as similar to that of rotting flesh, food, sweaty socks or garlic, Sky News said. A San Francisco resident told the broadcaster she had taken her child out of school to get a sniff of the plant, which she described as not dissimilar to her child's "shin guards after soccer".
Is That a Penguin?
Data from NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have been combined to show this image of distant interacting galaxies in light that spans the visible and infrared parts of the spectrum. Known collectively as Arp 142, these interacting galaxies bear an uncanny resemblance to a penguin guarding an egg.
Stat of The Day
According to the International Energy Agency, 1 in 5 new car sales globally were EVs in 2023.
UK's Green Economy
Net zero sceptics routinely claim that going green is a drag on the economy, but new figures provide further evidence to the contrary. According to a report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and the Confederation of British Industry, while the UK economy grew by just 0.1 percent in 2023, its burgeoning ‘net zero economy’ grew by 9 percent. The analysis found that companies operating in the low-carbon sector - including renewables, battery storage and green finance - added £74bn to the UK economy. What’s more, green jobs were found to be better paid, with the average ‘net zero salary’ coming in at £44,600, compared to the UK average of £35,400 (approx. $44,880).
Record Breaker
Singer-songwriter Raye just made history, winning six of the seven prizes she was nominated for at the BRIT Awards 2024. She beats the likes of Blur, Adele and Harry Styles in terms of wins at a single ceremony. The British singer-songwriter led the nominations with a record-breaking seven, and made history by winning a record number of six trophies, including Artist Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year.
Asteroid Sample
The official visitor center for NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, has become only the second place (after the Smithsonian) in the world where the public can see a sample of the asteroid Bennu as collected and brought back to Earth by the space agency's OSIRIS-REx mission. The 0.15 gram pebble represents just 0.1 percent of the total material that was collected from asteroid Bennu in October 2020 and returned to Earth in September 2023. Held within a small stainless steel bottle in a pure-nitrogen environment, the black rock with white speckles is displayed under a magnifying glass, given its diminutive size.
"At the moment of truth, there are either reasons or results." Chuck Yeager
On This Day
5 March 1853: Piano company Steinway & Sons founded by Heinrich Steinweg (later Henry Steinway) in New York City.
New method for recovering gold from discarded electronics is paying back $50 for every dollar spent, thanks to cheese making. Whey...
The age of one of Earth's largest and most complex types of sand dune has been calculated for the first time. Luminescence...
Mood Booster
Hilarious Sketch: Be careful which button you press!