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Good News Monday

Updated: Oct 21, 2023

Kick-starting the week with an eclectic raft of upbeat news nuggets.


A rare early medieval brooch found in England
Credit: South West Heritage Trust
1,000 Year Old Brooch

A rare early medieval brooch will go on display at the Museum of Somerset in Taunton, England, later this month. Known as the Cheddar brooch, the 9 cm (roughly 4.5-inch) silver and copper artifact dates to between 800 and 900 C.E and clearly depicts a dragon-like creature known as a wyvern, one of the symbols of Wessex. The 1,000 year old brooch came from “a turning point in English history,” says the South West Heritage Trust. “In 878, Alfred the Great rallied his forces in Somerset and defeated the invading Danish army. Wessex was secure, and the foundations had been laid for the creation of a unified English kingdom.”


Prada and Axiom Space announcement image
Credit: Axiom Space
Space Fashion

In a historic collaboration, Prada, the Italian luxury fashion house, has teamed up with Axiom Space, the company behind the world's first commercial space station, to design spacesuits for NASA's Artemis III mission. This mission, scheduled for 2025, will mark the first human landing on the Moon since 1972 and the first ever by a woman - and the first ever designed to make a fashion statement? OGN will let you know when the new spacesuits are revealed.


Piggly cuddler advert

Piggy Cuddlers

An animal sanctuary in Leesville, South Carolina, is asking for Piggy Cuddlers in order to help socialize their neglected pigs. Cotton Branch Farm Animal Sanctuary is a safe haven for abandoned, abused, neglected, and elderly pigs. "While there are many shelters and rescue organizations for animal companions such as cats and dogs, and wildlife, there is a lack of sanctuary for pigs. We exist to help those animals," the nonprofit says. Cotton Branch recently posted a Facebook advertisement in search of "piggy cuddlers" to help socialize their pigs in order to help them get adopted.


Ginsburg Honored

The legacy of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of gender and racial equality who became an American pop culture icon, will be honored with a U.S. commemorative postage stamp in a first day of issue ceremony in Washington today. The ceremony, which comes as the Supreme Court starts its new term, will be held at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.


Carter's Final Wish

The Carter Center is just six cases away from reaching its goal of eradicating Guinea worm. Former President Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter founded the Carter Center in 1982 and the eradication program in 1985, when there were about 3.5 million Guinea worm cases in Africa and Asia. As of this month, there are just six human cases worldwide, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. People typically get the disease by consuming water fleas found in contaminated water. The Carter Center has funded projects to distribute filters able to remove larvae from water, and educates people on prevention. Carter, who recently turned 99, said in 2015 that his wish is for "the last Guinea worm to die before I do."


Angel Shark in the Mediterranean
Angel Shark | Wikipedia
Ocean eDNA

Scientists are using eDNA to better understand what's under the sea and come up with conservation policies that work. Also referred to as environmental DNA, eDNA "originates from cellular material shed by organisms into aquatic or terrestrial environments that can be sampled and monitored using new molecular methods," the U.S. Geological Survey explained. Scientists gather water samples and test them for animal DNA to determine if there are any invasive pests in the area and track migrations. In France, researchers used eDNA to confirm the presence of rare angel sharks in the Mediterranean Sea, and now ocean managers are taking steps to protect the species. Scientist Stéphanie Manel, a professor at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, told The Washington Post her goal is to use eDNA to create "a map of the biodiversity in the Mediterranean."

 

"We must move beyond the mentality of appearing to be concerned but not having the courage needed to produce substantial changes." Pope Francis

 
On this Day

9 October 1888: Built between 1848 and 1884 and dedicated in 1885, the Washington Monument - a marble-faced granite obelisk that honours the first U.S. president, George Washington - opened to the public in Washington, D.C.

 





 
Mood Booster

Clubbing in the Wild: Hilarious Sir David Attenborough nature documentary parody.



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