Mid-week collection of all the day's positive news stories from around the world.
Animal Behaviour
A team of scientists have begun exploring whether dogs, goats and other farmyard animals are able to predict natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. They have enrolled thousands of animals for a programme that uses tiny transmitters fitted to mammals, birds and insects to monitor their movements from a satellite in space. A previous study in Sicily on the slopes of Mount Etna, an active volcano, found that sensors showed the goats became nervous before an eruption and refused to move to higher pastures. “They know beforehand what is coming. We don’t know how they do it, but they do,” the project leader, Martin Wikelski, of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Germany, told The Guardian. The International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (Icarus) satellite is due to launch next year to begin work on the project.
Boy's Neanderthal Axe
A boy who found a shiny rock while playing at a beach has been told the item is a Neanderthal hand axe that could be 60,000 years old. Ben discovered the axe at Shoreham Beach on England's south coast when he was only six years old, and kept it in his room for three years. It was only when the boy, now aged nine, went to nearby Worthing Museum three weeks ago and saw the Stone Age exhibition that he realised he had a similar looking item at home. The museum, which is now exhibiting the hand axe, said it was "almost certainly made by a Neanderthal" between 40,000 to 60,000 years ago. Ben said: “I was looking around and I saw this shiny flint rock. I just thought it looked different to all the other different pebbles and stones."
Sombrero Galaxy
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the Sombrero Galaxy with its MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), resolving the clumpy nature of the dust along the galaxy’s outer ring. The mid-infrared light highlights the gas and dust that are part of star formation taking place within the Sombrero Galaxy’s outer disk. The galaxy is around 30 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.
'That Christmas'
Weaving together the plots of three children’s books by Richard Curtis, this studiedly British but bubbly animation is set in a tight-knit Suffolk coastal town just before Christmas. Shy newcomer Danny pines for nice, studious Sam; however, her twin sister – and budding lord of misrule – Charlie is in danger of missing out on pressies when Santa (Brian Cox) flies by. But after a blizzard strands most of the adults out of town, the home-alone kids have the chance to break with tradition, learn those inevitable life lessons and find inventive uses for the brussels sprouts. There’s something for everyone – snowball fights, runaway turkeys, an Ed Sheeran song – in a film destined for repeat viewings. Premiers today on Netflix.
Folding Battery
Samsung is reportedly preparing to release its first tri-fold smartphone as early as next year. To support this creative design, the company is investigating cutting-edge technologies, says IE. According to a new patent, Samsung has developed a first-of-its-kind folding battery designed to suit the distinctive form factor of a tri-fold gadget. Samsung appears to be examining the feasibility of a multi-hinge battery design that allows it to fold alongside the screen.
Mayo Drink
You know how there are some words or concepts that just don’t sound right together – or shouldn’t be thought of in the same sentence? Alcohol and driving, for example. Religion and government, could be another. You get the general idea. Well, Japan has launched a new drink that should probably join the list of unwise combinations. It’s called Nomu Mayo, and you’ve probably guessed what the main ingredient is. Yes, it’s a drinkable form of mayonnaise. Maybe it's delicious...
"Somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world." Roald Dahl, from Matilda
On This Day
4 December 1996: The unmanned space vehicle Mars Pathfinder was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in order to explore the surface of Mars. It landed on the planet's surface in July 1997.
Today's Articles
Mood Boosting Video
Leap of Faith: Baby Siberian flying squirrel takes to the air for the first time.