Positive News Tuesday

Editor OGN Daily
2 days ago
4 min read

Some tasty bite-sized chunks of positive news stories from around the world.

Blue Supermoon rising over NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center — Credit: Michael DeMocker | NASA

NASA Photo Awards

The winners of NASA’s seventh annual Photographer of the Year awards are in. The out-of-this-world images all offer scenes of the space agency’s activities captured by staff photographers on Earth in 2024. The winner in the Places category is the striking shot above, titled Blue Supermoon Rises Over the ‘Rocket City.’ It was taken by NASA photographer Michael DeMocker in Huntsville, Alabama, which is nicknamed the 'Rocket City' as it houses NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The image depicts a moon that’s both a supermoon, meaning it’s one of the largest and brightest full moons of the year, and a seasonal blue moon, i.e. the third full moon in a season with four.

Bookshop Boom

Earlier this year, Barnes & Noble announced that it is opening 60 new stores. But it isn’t the only book business making a comeback - independent bookshops are also gaining steam, thanks to a new wave of literature lovers opening pop-up shops and brick-and-mortar locations in their neighborhoods. Allison Hill, CEO of the American Booksellers Association told the Associated Press. “I don’t think any of us would have predicted this a few years ago.” Since 2016, the trade group has grown from 1,244 members at 1,749 locations to 2,863 members at 3,281 locations, with more than 200 additional stores currently in the process of opening their doors. According to the latest research this heartening trend isn't just confined to the US, but continues around the world, with half of all retail book sales, whether in Germany, India, or Britain, coming from local bookshops.

Novel Approach: In a delightful show of community spirit, the small town of Chelsea, Michigan, pulled off a literary feat worthy of its own story.

mistle thrush feeding a juvenile blackbird — Credit: Andrew Fusek-Peters

Maternal Empathy

Birds of a feather usually flock together, but a lucky blackbird was ‘adopted’ by a mistle thrush who took the juvenile ‘under her wing’ in a rare case of inter-species feeding in Shropshire, England. Photographer Andrew Fusek-Peters captured the rare phenomenon (it may even be the first time it has ever been captured on camera) in close-up photos that show the female adult thrush diligently feeding her own chicks before offering a worm to a baby blackbird. Andrew watched as the fluffy fledgling ruffled its feathers, waiting its turn before gobbling down the worm from the thrush’s beak. He believed it was likely the blackbird chick was abandoned by its mother or its mother died leaving it an orphan. “When the chick opens its mouth, it triggers a maternal response in nearby female birds.”

Fjord surrounding by high cliffs in Norway — Trolltunga, Norway

Norway Leads World

Norway is making history as it races toward a future without petrol and diesel cars. In 2024, a staggering 88.9 percent of all new cars sold were fully electric, up from 82.4 percent the previous year. So, how did Norway get so far ahead of the rest of the world? Instead of outright banning gas-powered cars, the country made EVs the more attractive, affordable, and practical choice. High taxes on fossil fuel vehicles and generous incentives for EV buyers have created a market where electric cars dominate. Another important reason for Norway’s zero-carbon transport success is its lack of a major car manufacturing industry. Unlike countries where automakers have a strong political influence, Norway had the freedom to push aggressive EV policies without industry pushback.

EV Affordability: Remarkable geographical differences in prices around the world.

Hats Off to Portugal

Portugal's renewable energy domination continues with 83 percent of electricity generated from clean sources between January and April 2025, leaving fossil fuels to provide just 8 percent of electricity, reports APREN. This remarkable transformation is driven primarily by wind and water, and a growing share of solar.

Digital Healthcare

India is putting its money where its mouth is: this year's budget promises broadband for all rural schools and primary healthcare centres. And India's free telemedicine service, eSanjeevani, now provides 300,000 telehealth consultations a day, and has served 330 million patients. Also in India...

Green Infrastructure

Delhi has created seven biodiversity parks spanning 820 hectares by rehabilitating severely degraded lands, including abandoned mining pits now transformed into orchid and butterfly conservatories. These parks function as essential green infrastructure, providing carbon sequestration and flood mitigation, and reducing pollution. Mongabay reports that the model has proven so successful that India's Environment Ministry has launched a nationwide program to replicate it in other cities.

"Within National Parks is room - glorious room - in which to find ourselves, in which to think and hope, to dream and plan, to rest and resolve." Enos Mills

On This Day

27 May 1937: Golden Gate Bridge opens. Around 200,000 people showed up to marvel at San Francisco’s now-iconic landmark the day it opened to foot traffic. The 4,200-foot-long suspension bridge, the world’s longest at the time, had taken over four years to complete, and city residents were eager to walk across it. At 6 a.m., with thousands already lined up, foghorns blasted and the 25-cent toll gates opened. A number of those first pedestrians were determined to cross the bridge in a memorable manner and set a record in the process: That day saw the first tap dancers to cross, the first person to walk back and forth on stilts, the first person to play a tuba on it, and the first to ride a unicycle over it. The following day, the bridge began allowing vehicular traffic. Take a look at footage from opening day below.