Thursday's Positive News
- 14 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Today's global collection of upbeat news stories.
And The Winner Is...
The Society of Photographers has just announced the winners of its prestigious Photographer of the Year awards. Photographer Therese Asplund earned the top honour of Photographer of the Year for this delightfully characterful image of young birds on a branch. “Demonstrating outstanding skill, narrative depth, and execution, this bold and distinctive image emerged as a clear standout and generated animated discussion among the judges.” More than 5,000 images were submitted across 28 categories. The full list of winners can be seen on The Society of Photographers website.
First to Three
With one last chance to break an Olympic hoodoo stretching back a remarkable eight years, Mikaela Shiffrin delivered in style. The 30-year-old American surged to victory in the women’s slalom on a sun-splashed Wednesday in the Dolomites with a two-run time of 1min 39.10sec, becoming the first US skier to win three Olympic gold medals.
Healthy Herds
Herds are returning to the great grasslands. Saiga antelope on Central Asia's Golden Steppe grew from just 30,000 in 2006 to nearly 4 million today. The 39 Milu deer reintroduced into China's Dafeng Milu Reserve in 1986 now number 8,500. European bison up from 54 in the 1920s to 10,000 roaming today.
Romania's Bison: Research shows that a herd of 170 bison roaming Romania’s Țarcu mountains have such a positive environmental impact, that it's equivalent to taking almost two million cars off the road for a year.
2,000 Year Old Coins
A history professor with a passion for metal detecting has uncovered a hoard of 18 Iron Age gold coins. The coins are the largest known find from the reign of Iron Age king Dubnovellaunos, who ruled the Trinovantes tribe in England in what is now mostly Essex and Suffolk, between 25BC and AD10. Prof Tom Licence, 46, from the University of East Anglia, says he has family history in Bury St Edmunds and likes to "imagine that the coins were buried by one of my ancestors". Among the find were 16 coins known as staters and one quarter-stater.
Against The Odds
You’re looking at the world’s rarest primate: the Hainan gibbon. Back in 2003, there were just 13 of these tree-dwelling apes living on the island of Hainan in the South China Sea due to deforestation and hunting. (For context, roughly 2,000 roamed the island in the 1950s.) But against the odds, the species has more than tripled its population to 42 individuals. Not only that, but scientists have found the primates are in surprisingly good genetic health given how close they came to extinction, as low numbers can lead to inbreeding and harmful mutations.
The Sun is King
Renewables are winning as a team, but solar is definitely king. We are now putting up 1GW of solar panels every 15 hours (roughly the same GW as one coal-fired plant). In 2004, it took a full year to install 1 GW. By 2023, the world was adding that amount in a single day, and in 2025, this rate has accelerated to over 1 GW per day, reaching 1 GW in as little as 15 hours.
Cleaning Up
The 10th annual Clean Jobs America report released in late 2025, shows that clean energy roles accounted for 82 percent of all new American energy jobs in 2024. These positions grew more than three times faster than the overall U.S. workforce, adding nearly 100,000 new jobs and bringing the total number of clean energy workers to over 3.5 million.
"If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito." Dalai Lama
On This Day
19 February 1906: Will Keith Kellogg joins Charles D. Bolin in founding the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, now the multinational food manufacturer Kellogg's, after falling out with his brother over development credit and wanting to add sugar to cereal.
Today's Articles
Discovery: 2,200-year-old bone could be the first direct evidence of Hannibal’s legendary war elephants.
Topless Drinking: Not as bold as it sounds - but it provides a more enjoyable way to have a drink than simply imbibing through a small hole in a can.
Handwritten List: Dan Pelzer kept a record of all 3,599 books he had read since 1962. His daughter shared it at his funeral.
Mood Boosting Video
Vocal Tour: One woman demonstrates 17 British accents.
