Celebrating the start of the weekend with a collection of concise, upbeat news stories.
Wife-Carrying Contest
While its origins are not exactly politically correct - more than 30 couples competed in last weekend's North American Wife Carrying Championship in Maine in front of cheering crowds. The event sees competitors splash through water, leap over logs and trudge through mud - all while carrying their partner like a sack of potatoes. It is believed to be based on a 19th century Finnish legend involving a man known as "Ronkainen the Robber", whose gang was known to pillage villages and carry away the women.
Night Sky Entertainment
Between the aurora borealis, the comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, the Draconid meteors and the full Hunter’s Moon, October has already been an exciting month for skygazers in the Northern Hemisphere. Now, you can add the Orionid meteor shower to that list. The Orionids fill the night sky each fall from late September to mid-November. This year, they’re expected to peak before dawn on Sunday and Monday, October 20 and October 21, and they should be visible from both hemispheres, says NASA. Light from the moon - which will be in its waning gibbous phase - will likely overpower many of the meteors. But the Orionids are known for being especially bright, so if you’re lucky, you’ll still spot a few.
Medical Breakthroughs
Doctors are hailing 'amazing' trial results that show a new drug combination stops the advance of lung cancer for over 40 percent longer than the standard treatment, as well as a 'remarkable' new treatment regime for cervical cancer that reduces the risk of dying by 40 percent, the biggest advance against the disease in 25 years.
Diamond Shift
The volume share of lab-grown diamonds sold in US jewelry stores is now 46 percent, compared to natural diamonds’ 54 percent. Lab-grown diamonds are growing more popular because they’re cheaper and clear of the labor abuses associated with mining - and, to the naked eye, you can't tell the difference.
Eliminating Trachoma
India has now officially eliminated the blindness disease. Globally, India joins 19 other countries that have been confirmed by WHO as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem.
EV Sales Soar
Last month, a record-breaking 1.7 million all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars were sold globally, an increase of 30 percent year-on-year and 150,000 more compared to the previous record in December 2023, reports InsideEVs. The first nine months of this year have seen 11.5 million EVs sold globally, up 22 percent compared to the same period last year. So much for the 'slowdown' on a global basis. The good news will be when America and Europe start producing low priced electric vehicles too.
Top Award
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has named London's Elizabeth Line rail transport network as the winner of the 2024 Stirling Prize, the UK's most prestigious architecture award. The judges lauded its remarkable engineering achievement and passenger-focused design. Formerly named Crossrail but renamed in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the Elizabeth Line connects Reading and Heathrow in the west of London to Essex and South East London, accommodating 700,000 passengers each weekday.
"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different." J.B. Priestley
On This Day
19 October 1986: Australian cricketer Allan Border scores his one millionth run in all test cricket in a match against India in Bombay.
Today's Articles
Scottish Bolthole: World’s only book shop Airbnb gives literary-lovers the chance to experience the joys of having their very own shop by the sea.
Healthiest Vegetable: New research shows that there’s one vegetable that’s particularly good for you.
Mood Boosting Video
Monument to Love: We all know what the Taj Mahal looks like, but this gorgeous film also takes you inside this remarkable building complex.
Comments