Today's Good News
What better way to start the day than with a global round up of good news nuggets?
You’ve Got Mail II
Warner Bros. is rebooting the classic 1998 rom-com You’ve Got Mail, reports Variety, but plot details remain under wraps. Nora Ephron’s original starred Tom Hanks as major bookstore capitalist Joe Fox, who threatens to put Meg Ryan's Kathleen Kelly, an independent children’s bookstore owner, out of business with his new location. While their in-person rapport is naturally confrontational, over the now-defunct AOL Messenger, they spark an anonymous romance. The film was a major box office success following a Christmas-time release, earning $250 million against a budget of about $65 million.
Conservation Success
Thanks to a remarkable conservation effort, sandwich terns have recovered to create a colony along England’s south coast (between Brighton and Southampton) after they were wiped out by avian flu three years ago. Now, in what feels like a miracle, the bird population has risen from zero to 756. “It’s taken several years of dedicated conservation action, but the situation began to ‘tern’ around last year, and the site is now thriving with record-breaking populations using it.”
Bloomin' Marvellous
Chile’s Atacama Desert, the world’s driest non-polar desert, is experiencing its biggest bloom in decades - possibly ever. A vast swathe of the desert is now a patchwork of pinks, yellows, lilacs and purples stretching across the craggy desert floor as far as the eye can see. Heavy rain in July and August has enabled the rainwater to penetrate deeper into the parched ground than it has since at least the 1950s, allowing millions of seeds, bulbs and tubers to sprout above the surface. Many had lain dormant for half a century under the sand.
Love From Mrs. Johnson
When retired kindergarten teacher Tricia Johnson was cleaning out her attic, she stumbled upon a collection of photo albums, yearbooks, and student work. Instead of throwing them away, she decided to make personalized care packages for 176 former students (and counting), many of whom are now in their 40s and 50s. Each package features a Xerox copy of how they wrote their names as kindergarteners, their yearbook picture, and a poem she wrote. “My goal is to find them all before I retire and go to heaven,” Johnson said.
Reunited
The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge near Hawaii has welcomed back a special couple: George and Geraldine, two short-tailed albatrosses. The birds have officially found each other for nesting season on the Midway Atoll for the 10th straight year in a row. Every fall, the remote group of islands becomes a temporary home to the world’s largest albatross colony. Albatrosses are a group of large migratory seabird species, including the wandering albatross, which has the largest wingspan of any current bird species. One Laysan albatross, on the other hand, claims the title of oldest known banded wild bird - the famous Wisdom, who is about 75 years old and has flown an estimated 3.5 million miles in her lifetime - roughly seven round trips to the Moon.
4 minute video: What You Probably Don't Know About Albatrosses
Phallic Forest
A Scottish woodland known as the “Cock of the North” is being chopped down. The forest in South Lanarkshire is one of the first sights Scots see when driving back from England along the M74, with many seeing it as a landmark to signal they are almost home. But Scottish Forestry said the woodland, originally planted in the late 1800s, will have to be felled because it had “reached the end of its natural lifecycle” and that “significant windblow” had left trees unstable. Initial news of the felling left many fearing it could be the end for the “beloved penis woods”. But the good news is that Scottish Forestry has now given assurances the area would be replanted, so a petition launched last year to save the woodland has shifted its focus to supporting replanting efforts.
"Unprecedented Scale"
Wildlife habitats are being restored at the fastest rate ever recorded, according to a new UN report, which estimates that ecosystems equivalent in size to Kazakhstan - the planet’s ninth-largest country - are being revitalised. The report estimates that 252m hectares (623m acres) of land, marine and freshwater habitats across 149 countries are under active restoration, supporting more than a million green jobs in the process.
V&A East
The Victoria and Albert Museum gives visitors unprecedented access to its vast collection through the V&A East Storehouse. Located in East London, the unique cultural destination brings museum storage into the public eye. Opened in May 2025 in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, it invites visitors to explore thousands of objects spanning art, fashion, design, and performance. Many rarely appear in traditional galleries. Now, the Storehouse is gaining recognition of its own. It has earned a place on TIME’s 2026 list of the World’s Greatest Places.
“November comes, and November goes. With the last red berries and the first white snows. With night coming early and dawn coming late, and ice in the bucket and frost by the gate. The fires burn, and the kettles sing, and earth sinks to rest until next spring.” Clyde Watson
On This Day
13 November 1966: Buzz Aldrin takes the first "space selfie," a photo of himself performing extravehicular activity in space during the Gemini 12 mission.
Today's Articles
Expert's Advice: Harvard scientist's daily habits recommendations for brain health and making sure you age well.
Naming Ceremony: Once seemingly doomed, mountain gorillas are starting to thrive again thanks to a clever cultural initiative.
Mood Boosting Video
Everest at Dawn: the summit of Mount Everest coming alive at sunrise in this spectacular timelapse.
