Upbeat News Saturday
- Editor OGN Daily
- Jul 11
- 3 min read
Ensuring it's a sunny Saturday with today's selection of upbeat news nuggets from around the world.
Tree of Life
'Dragon Tree Trails' by Benjamin Barakat, is one of the shortlisted entries for the Royal Observatory Greenwich, ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. The image shows a solitary dragon tree standing tall in the heart of Socotra’s Dragon Blood Tree forest in Yemen and the photograph is composed of 300 individual exposures. Now in its 17th year, in 2025 the competition received a record number of entries, with just over 5,880 photographs submitted from 68 different countries. Winners will be announced in September and OGN looks forward to featuring those images then.
Ocean Conservation
Spain has emerged as a global leader in ocean conservation, announcing sweeping marine protection initiatives as the country accelerates towards its ambitious 2030 sustainability goals. These new designations will protect an impressive 3,180,883 hectares (12,281 square miles) - significantly expanding the country’s protected ocean territories and helping to achieve just under 26 percent coverage of marine protected areas in Spanish waters, advancing towards the 30 percent target by 2030.
“Unprecedented Plan”
Twelve regional mayors in England signed a joint pledge to “work together to improve our streets for everyone, for the benefit of the health, wellbeing and connectedness of our communities” by creating a “national active travel network.” The first phase of the plan focuses on helping children walk, bike, or scoot to school through the creation of a combined 3,500 miles of routes linking schools to homes, town and city centres, and transport hubs. It’s also part of larger efforts with Active Travel England, and is backed by the country’s chief medical officer, who said it could “significantly improve” public health for an estimated 20 million people because research shows that active travel makes people happier and healthier.
By the Numbers
0: The number of hens now kept in cages in Sweden. It is the first country to go cage-free for egg-laying chickens without a legal ban in place; the change occurred solely through grassroots activism and public pressure.
50.4: The percent decline in the United Kingdom’s emissions since 1990, according to the government's Climate Change Committee.
$593 billion: The total Americans spent on charitable giving in 2024 - the second highest on record, after adjusting for inflation, says the Giving USA Foundation.
€1.4 billion: Thanks to the cleanup project linked to the Olympics, Parisians are now allowed to swim in the Seine River. The last time Parisians could legally take a dip in the heart of their city was 100 years ago.
Meet Melody
Realbotix has announced a major advancement for its AI-powered humanoid robot, which can now speak 15 languages fluently and access 147 languages and dialects through cloud-based support. The company says that this multilingual capability allows the robot to “connect with people across a wide range of industries and cultural contexts.” The lifelike humanoid is designed for various people-centric industries such as travel, tourism, and health care. A report by Research and Markets anticipates that the global market for humanoid robots will grow from USD 2.93 billion in 2025 to USD 243.40 billion by 2035. Industries will integrate humanoids into the workforce in the next ten years with a price tag of $20k to $175k per robot.
Strange But True
More than 300 people donned inflatable dinosaur costumes and took to the track at Emerald Downs in Washington for the annual T-Rex World Championship Races. The yearly event at the Auburn racetrack began when TriGuard Pest Control held it as a team-building exercise in 2017, and the race quickly gained popularity online and opened to the public the next year. Houston man Andrew Stuber was crowned the top Tyrannosaurus in this year's race.
“The best work ethic requires a good rest ethic.” Kevin Kelly
On This Day
12 July 1984: Democratic presidential candidate Walter F. Mondale put forward Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate on this day in 1984, making her the first woman ever nominated for vice president by a major U.S. political party.
Today's Articles
10 x Estimate: Jane Birkin's original Hermès Birkin becomes the world's most expensive after bidding war.
Manhattanhenge: Social media's favourite sunset: This evening, the sun will line up perfectly with Manhattan’s grid, turning the streets into glowing corridors of light.
"Miracle" Breakthrough: Concrete and steel production are major sources of CO2 emissions, but a new solution could recycle both at the same time.
Beautiful Unusual Words: Are you a logophile (a lover of words)? Do you believe in epeolatry (the worship of words)? Then you’re in the right place.
Mood Boosting Video
Earliest Ever: Fossils found in Morocco re-write the origins of our species.
