Today's bite-sized chunks of positive news.
Just in Time
Paris' famed Moulin Rouge just got its iconic red windmill back after it collapsed earlier this year. The cabaret venue scrambled to repair the damage before the Olympic torch relay passes through the area on 15 July. A special ceremony that featured can-can dancing on the plaza outside marked the restoration of the windmill - an emblem of the surrounding Montmartre neighbourhood. The windmill was first illuminated on 6 October 1889 at the opening of the Moulin Rouge, becoming known as the birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance.
First Edition
The only privately-owned first edition of Mary Shelley's pioneering horror novel Frankenstein was auctioned for a hair-raising sum of $843,750. The 1818 first edition, published anonymously in three pink-boarded volumes, was sold by Heritage Auctions. The copy of Frankenstein is one of only three pink boarded first editions known to still exist, and the only one in private hands. The other two reside in the Pforzheimer and Berg Collections at the New York Public Library.
British Parliament
As of July 2024 there are 263 women in the House of Commons, the highest ever. This is an all-time high at 40 percent and compares to the 29 percent in the House of Lords.
New National Park
Spanning 68,180 hectares (263 sq. miles), Colombia's new National Natural Park Serranía de Manacacías will safeguard a vital wildlife corridor that connects the Orinoquía, the second-largest tropical savanna in the continent, to the Amazon. The park includes six unique ecosystems and is home to a quarter of all the bird species known to live in Colombia.
Mars Simulation
Four NASA astronauts emerged from a yearlong Earth-based mission over the weekend, having been sequestered in a habitat simulating life inside a base on Mars. The effort is designed to uncover potential unforeseen challenges involved in an eventual crewed voyage to the red planet. Taking place inside a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed installation at Houston's Johnson Space Center, the group spent time growing self-sustainable crops, simulating walks on the Martian surface, and more. The effect of the relative isolation on the crew was also studied. At an average of 140 million miles from Earth, a one-way trip to Mars could take around nine months each way.
Conservation Success
Pacific bluefin tuna rebounds a decade ahead of schedule. The species has exceeded international targets - reversing decades of overfishing - thanks to significant international cooperation between fisheries and scientists. Efforts to rebuild the stock started in 2011, after the population hit near-historic lows, but it has rebounded much faster than expected. 'This is an amazingly resilient fish, and the new assessment is showing us that,' says NOAA Fisheries.
First Since The Beatles
It's been a great week for Sabrina Carpenter, the US singer behind two of this summer's biggest songs - and has now broken a UK chart record, according to the Official Charts Company. The Pennsylvania-born star has become the first female artist to hold both the number one and number two positions on the singles chart for three consecutive weeks. Please Please Please remained in the top spot on this week's chart, while her previous single Espresso held on at number two. The Beatles achieved the same feat in the 1960s, scoring the chart double on two separate occasions.
"Take your heart to work and ask the most and best of everybody else, too." Meryl Streep
On This Day
9 July 1955: Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the first rock-and-roll single to hit number one on Billboard's pop charts.
Today's Articles
Aphra Behn: The first Englishwoman to earn a living from her writing - it's time to for her accomplishments to be better known.
Crisp and White? Study shows that the famous 2,500-year-old Parthenon marble sculptures were actually painted.
Mood Boosting Video
Earth's Great Seasons: Incredible swarm of 100 million butterflies.
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