Wednesday's Upbeat News
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jun 25, 2025
- 4 min read
A tasty smorgasbord of positive news nuggets from all around the globe.
America’s Sweethearts
After decades of performing for one of the NFL’s most valuable franchises while earning less-than-glamorous wages, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have secured a 400 percent pay raise. The wage increase is revealed at the conclusion of the second season of America’s Sweethearts, the hit Netflix docuseries that follows the team of dancers from auditions to the end of the NFL season. Jada McLean, who retired from the squad after having led the effort to secure higher pay, told The New York Times that she made $15 an hour and $500 for each appearance last year. After the pay raise, she said, veteran cheerleaders could soon make more than $75 an hour.
‘Milestone’ Treatment
A newly approved drug combination is showing strong results against chronic lymphocytic leukaemia - even in patients resistant to previous therapies. In clinical trials, nearly 80 percent of patients receiving the combination achieved remission within one year. Furthermore, researchers found that after five years, 94 percent of patients who received ibrutinib plus venetoclax were alive with no disease progression, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The results, if sustained, could mark one of the biggest shifts in leukaemia treatment in decades.
First Ever Images
Solar Orbiter has sent back first images of the Sun’s uncharted south pole. ESA’s Solar Orbiter, now tilted 17° below the Sun’s equator, has sent back humanity’s first close-up images of the Sun’s south pole. The images reveal swirling magnetic chaos during solar maximum, offering fresh clues into how the Sun’s field flips roughly every 11 years. It doesn't stop there - later this year, we'll get our first images of the sun’s north pole too. “We didn’t know what exactly to expect from these first observations – the sun’s poles are literally terra incognita,” said Prof Sami Solanki, of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany.
Navigating by Starlight
An Australian moth follows the stars during its yearly migration, using the night sky as a guiding compass, according to a new study published in Nature. When temperatures heat up, nocturnal Bogong moths fly about 620 miles (1,000 km) to cool down in caves by the Australian Alps, reports AP. They later return home to breed. Birds routinely navigate by starlight, but the moths are the first known invertebrates (creatures without a backbone) to find their way across such long distances using the stars.
"Tiny Mystery"
An endangered flower one scientist called a “tiny mystery” has cropped up in astonishing numbers in San Luis Obispo County, California. Scientists were stunned this spring to find 16,000 Camatta Canyon amoles at Las Piletas Ranch, about 50 miles inland from San Luis Obispo. The flower was previously thought to have a worldwide population of 10,000 plants. The Camatta Canyon amole had only been known to grow in two locations within a 90-acre area of the Los Padres National Forest. The rare flower is protected under the state and federal Endangered Species acts, but this discovery by scientists from the Nature Conservancy and the California Native Plant Society could challenge that status.
Psychedelic Research
In a historic and bipartisan move, the State of Texas has approved $50 million in state funding for drug development trials for ibogaine, a powerful, naturally occurring medicine showing extraordinary promise as a breakthrough treatment for substance use disorder, trauma-related conditions, and traumatic brain injury. With the passage of House Bill 3717, Texas now leads the country - and the world - in psychedelic research investment.
Kraft Goes Natural
Kraft Heinz says it will remove all artificial food, drug, and cosmetic dyes from its US products by the end of 2027, becoming the first major food company to commit to the shift since the Food and Drug Administration announced plans to phase out synthetic food colorings. The company, whose brands include Jell-O, Capri Sun, and Kool-Aid, said nearly 90 percent of its US products by sales volume are already dye-free, and it will stop launching new products containing petroleum-based additives, effective immediately.
"Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you." Saint Augustine
On This Day
25 June 1678: Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is awarded a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Padua, the first woman to receive an academic degree and a PhD degree from a university.
Today's Articles
'Nobody Thought it Possible': In a breakthrough for human communication, scientists have achieved quantum teleportation.
Mood Boosting Video
Cleverly Synced: Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth dancing to Led Zeppelin.
