top of page
Search

Monday's Upbeat News

  • Editor OGN Daily
  • Jan 16, 2023
  • 3 min read

Updated: Jan 25, 2023

An eclectic bundle of upbeat news nuggets to help get the week off to a bright start.


Pepperoni pizza
Free Pizza

Marc Wilkinson, owner of a pizza place in Edinburgh, has a big plan: he is offering free pizza to everyone who lives in Edinburgh during the month of January. "I'm very happy with my plan because it's a win, win, win for everyone," he said. "The customers benefit, the suppliers benefit and my team of chefs benefit as it gives them more hours of work." He estimates that his plan will cost him about £12,000 ($14,600). And he hopes that those who accept the offer will pay it forward in their own way.


Landfill Solar

The largest US landfill solar farm project is being built in New Jersey. The farm contains 56,000 panels and is projected to power more than 4,000 households, and is an example of what the more than 10,000 closed landfills in the U.S. could also become.


Section of a log showing its age tree rings
'Wooden' Batteries

With more and more people buying electric cars and storing energy at home, the search is on for sustainable battery materials that are more widely available. A few years ago, Stora Enso, a major paper producer in Finland noticed that demand for paper was starting to decline. The company hired engineers to look into the possibility of using lignin, a polymer found in trees, to produce batteries for electric vehicles. They found that they can extract lignin from waste pulp already being produced and then turn the lignin into a carbon anode material. The resulting carbon structure is irregular, which will help in making a battery that can be charged quickly. The firm is partnering with Swedish company Northvolt and plans to manufacture batteries as early as 2025.


Pocket map book showing the USA
A Dog's Life

Sandra O'Neill lives in California and her dog, Zeppelin, a German shepherd mix, would sometimes take off to a nearby construction site but he would usually return home. Until one day he didn't. That was 14 months ago and since then Zeppelin has been missing. 1,600 miles away in Kansas a women found a dog on her property and took him to the local Veterinary Clinic. After scanning the dog's microchip, the dog was identified as Zeppelin. As luck would have it, the clinic found a volunteer who was driving back to California from Kansas. Remarkably, Zeppelin is now back with his family.


Zeen Mobility

For those with lower levels of mobility, typically their only options are walkers and wheelchairs. Seeing a need for something in between those options, inventor Garrett Brown got to work on a solution. He's the inventor of the Steadicam, a lightweight, hand-held stabilizing device that gives video camera operators a steady hand when capturing shots with a lot of motion. He applied that same technology to help people with disabilities move more smoothly, too. One of his Zeen chairs was even requested by the Vatican to reportedly help Pope Francis get around more smoothly.


Parkinson's Trial

Large clinical trial to test cough medicine as Parkinson's treatment. A clinical trial is beginning in the UK, testing whether a common cough medicine can be used to treat Parkinson's. Early studies indicate the 50-year-old drug can cross into the brain and help clear out the toxic proteins known to cause the disease.

We hope that you're enjoying OGN Daily. Please spread the good news in 2023 by telling friends and family.

"Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."

Miles Kington

On this Day

16 January 1979: BBC landmark nature series "Life on Earth" written and presented by David Attenborough first shown on BBC One.








Mood Booster

Numerous Hollywood movie dance scenes artfully synced to Footloose.




bottom of page