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Today's Positive News

Updated: Apr 15, 2024

Ensuring the week gets off to a sunny start with today's global collection of positive news nuggets.


Shells from Captain Cook’s third voyage
Shells from Captain Cook’s third voyage | Credit: Phil Wilkinson/English Heritage/PA
Shell Collection

An 18th century shell collection from Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage, thought lost for more than 40 years, has been returned to English Heritage after being saved from a skip in “nothing short of a miracle”. The collection, containing more than 200 specimens including an extinct species and several believed to have been sent back from Cook’s ill-fated voyage (1776 to 1780), has just gone on public display - at Chesters Roman Fort and Museum by Hadrian's Wall - for the first time in more than 100 years. The items had been thrown out by a university, but were rescued from the skip by a retired scientist.


World's largest blueberry
World's largest blueberry | Costa Berries
Bumper Blueberry

An Australian farm has smashed the record for the world's largest blueberry with a fruit the size of a ping-pong ball and verified by Guinness World Records. Picked in November and stashed in a freezer since, the monster was almost 4cm wide and weighed in at 20.4g - about 10 times the average blueberry. The title was previously held by a 16.2g berry grown in Western Australia. The specimen is of a new variety developed by the Costa Group, to meet consumer demands for larger berries. Brad Hocking says the Eterna breed consistently yields huge fruit, but recent growing conditions had spurned a bumper crop at their farm in New South Wales.


Philanthropy

Breaking the record as the highest single donation ever to the ALS Association, a philanthropist just donated $58 million. The gift was from the late Hugh Hoffman, as a way to help ensure other families don’t lose their loved ones to ALS. It’s donations and news like this that offer families solace and hope that their dream of an ALS cure may someday come true.

 
 
Part of the 1.5 mile High Line in NYC
Part of the 1.5 mile High Line in NYC | Wikipedia
Greening NYC

Following the success of the High Line and years of community advocacy, New York is poised for a unprecedented year of urban greening, with the opening of around 40 miles (60km) of citywide greenways. “This is a very notable year,” said Hunter Armstrong, the executive director of the nonprofit Brooklyn Greenways Initiative. “I don’t think there’s been a year like this, from a standpoint of greenways, and so much kind of focus and effort going into greenway planning.”


Asiatic lion in Gujurat, India
Asiatic lion | Wikipedia
Asiatic Lions

The Times of India reports a conservation milestone for the Indian state of Gujurat, home to the only population of Asiatic lions in the world. The IUCN just recategorized the species from endangered to vulnerable, and there may be even more good news coming, with the state forest department proposing a new 11,600 square mile (30,000 km2) sanctuary for the apex predator. The male Asiatic lion has a relatively short, sparse and darker mane compared to the fuller mane of the African lion. As a result, the male Asiatic lion's ears tend to remain visible at all times. The most distinguishing characteristic of the Asiatic lion is the longitudinal fold of skin that runs along its belly.


Clubbers dancing to techno
Ravers in Berlin | Unsplash
Ravers Rejoice

Berlin's techno scene has been added to a UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

Established in 2003, the intangible cultural heritage list is designed to support and preserve cultural lived traditions and expressions, including music, beliefs, crafts and community gatherings. The German capital city has long been known for its vibrant techno club scene, which originated in the early 90s and signified a resilience and return to optimism following the fall of the Berlin Wall. "In the years after reunification, one-third of East Berlin was empty," Tobias Rapp, a culture writer and author, told NPR. "There was nobody living there. It was a ghost town. So young people like me and others, we took spaces... And you have this huge space and you say, 'What can I do with this?' You make a party," he added. No matter the crisis, Berliners know that dancing is the answer.


Indigenous Celebrations

For nine years, the Gomeroi people of New South Wales in Australia have been campaigning to put a stop to Santos' A$3.6 billion fossil gas project on their traditional lands. ABC reports that they have just won an appeal to halt work, with a federal court ruling that climate change impacts had not been adequately considered. Traditional owner and Gomeroi woman, Suellyn Tighe, said the decision was groundbreaking. "It's time for change after the decision, which says these fossil fuel companies are impacting on climate change," she said. "It's a huge win and people should be celebrating."

 

“Candy is nature’s way of making up for Mondays.” Rebecca Gober

 
On This Day

18 March 1881: Barnum & Bailey Circus, traveling as "The Greatest Show on Earth", debuts at Madison Square Garden in New York City following the merger of two existing circus groups.

 





 
Mood Booster

Hilarious dog in a pub animated sketch.




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