Some tasty bite-sized chunks of positive news to perk up the day.
Pot Hole Phallus
How do you got your local authority to fix the scourge of pot holes if you don't have Arnold Schwarzenegger as a neighbour? Well, fed up road users in East Sussex (southern England) have drawn attention to irritating potholes by painting rude shapes on them. Locals appear to have lost patience waiting for the holey highway to be repaired - and the resulting crude phallus drawings spurred authorities into action, with a work crew arriving on the scene within days. Well, now we all know how to get speedier results!
Complete Surprise
While swimming in cold, deep waters, scalloped hammerhead sharks have an unusual way of keeping warm: They close their gills and hold their breath. This unusual behaviour, documented in Science, has never been recorded in any other fish. “This was a complete surprise,” says Mark Royer, a researcher with the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology's Shark Research Group. “It was unexpected for sharks to hold their breath to hunt like a diving marine mammal. It is an extraordinary behavior from an incredible animal.”
War on Deforestation
Did you know that Indonesia, home to the third-highest amount of original forest in the world, is slowly winning its war on deforestation? According to the Washington Post, its rate of primary forest loss has declined every year since 2016 and is now at its lowest level since at least 2002. Meanwhile, in Brazil, data shows that deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has seen a 64 percent decline compared to deforestation in April 2022. The findings represent a major shift under Brazil’s newly elected President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, who campaigned on promises to end deforestation in the country.
Mother's Day
This year, Americans are projected to have spent nearly $36 billion on Mother’s Day gifts, a $4 billion increase over 2022, according to the National Retail Federation. Over half of the respondents to an NRF survey said they would take their moms on a “special outing” as opposed to giving traditional gifts. Mother’s Day sees a 37 percent uptick in phone calls, making it the busiest calling day of the year. There’s no wrong way to honor Mom!
Just a Little Jog
Russell Cook, a 26-year-old runner from the UK, is attempting to run the length of Africa in just 240 days. Starting at the most southerly point in South Africa, Cook is aiming to pass through 16 countries and reach the most northerly point in Tunisia by Christmas - the equivalent of running about 360 marathons in 240 days. Why? As a teenager, Cook struggled to find purpose or meaning in his life. During one such low point, he decided to run home, and for some reason, the experience stuck with him. So he started to do it more. For fun, even. “For the first time in a long time, I felt confident,” says Cook. “That whole process of achieving something that previously seemed like I couldn’t do or that marathons are for crazy fit people. That could never be me. I’m not that guy. But then I became that guy.” That guy, indeed, in the best way.
US Power Shift
AES, one of the biggest power companies in America, just announced it's planning to triple its renewables capacity by 2030 and will exit coal altogether by 2025; and in New Mexico, the largest wind project in the Western Hemisphere just started construction, a 3.5 GW monster attached to an 600 mile high voltage line.
Electric Buses
Canada just announced the largest electric bus project in North America, the United States has more than 5,500 committed electric school buses, over a quarter of all buses in the Netherlands are electric, and a Chinese company just signed a deal to supply 12,000 electric buses to Nigeria.
"When a man opens a car door for his wife, it's either a new car or a new wife." Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
On this Day
18 May 1953: American aviator Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour will be one of the highest-grossing tours of all time, but its impact reaches beyond tickets and merch, as fans splurge on travel, lodging, clothes and makeup to attend. Ripple effect...
Here's how a brilliant Dutch whiz kid is stopping thousands of tons of plastic trash entering the world's oceans. Huge success...
How The Zebra Got Its Stripes: Researchers believe they have found out why zebra fur is thinly striped and sharply outlined. Natural selection...
Mood Booster
Spectacular Cirque Du Soleil Juggler: The incredible Bernard Hazen demonstrating his skills.