Keeping an upbeat outlook to 2025 with today's eclectic round up of positive news stories.
Orca's Salmon Hats
What was the biggest fashion trend of 2024? Forget leopard print jeans or “Brat” green. For orcas living off the west coast of North America, it was salmon hats. Around 40 years ago, orcas in this area took to wearing dead salmon on their heads. The trend died out, but in 2024 it reared its head again, with photographers spotting salmon-sporting whales in November. Researchers are starting to puzzle out what is driving this unusual behaviour, reports New Scientist.
Study of Happiness
The Harvard Study of Adult Development has tracked thousands of people over the course of 85 years. It's the longest study of human life that’s ever been done, covering the same people going through their entire adult lives. What is it that they found that really contributes to well-being? There were two big items over 85 years: one is taking care of our health. The author says that the "part that surprised us was that the people who were happiest, who stayed healthiest as they grew old, and who lived the longest were the people who had the warmest connections with other people. In fact, good relationships were the strongest predictor of who was going to be happy and healthy as they grew old."
First Celestial Show
If you’re filling in your celestial calendar for 2025, we’ve got good news for you. There are plenty of stellar events to look forward to - all you have to do is get out, look above, and maybe stay awhile. First up is the Quadrantid meteor shower, which is expected to peak in the pre-dawn hours on Friday. Considered one of the best annual meteor showers, the Quadrantids peak for only a few hours, a smaller window than most meteors, making it arguably all the more special to witness. Look to the north-northeast. The Quadrantid shower is one of four major meteor showers each year with a sharp peak (the other three are the Lyrids, Leonids, and Ursids).
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Disposable Vapes
Belgium has become the EU first country to ban the sale of disposable vapes in an effort to stop young people from becoming addicted to nicotine and to protect the environment. Belgium’s health minister described electronic cigarettes as an “extremely harmful” product that damages society and the environment. He says Belgium is “playing a pioneering role in Europe to weaken the tobacco lobby” and called for an update of EU law.
What in Tarnation?
There are plenty of ways to convey incredulity and confusion in just a few words, such as 'what the heck?' But when it comes to sounding like a pistol-toting, Stetson-wearing outlaw, none of those options can compete with 'What in tarnation?' So, what exactly is tarnation? Well, it's basically just a gentler version of damnation, much like heck is to hell and darn is to damn. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, tarnation grew out of two terms: darnation, a natural variant of damnation; and tarnal, a pronunciation of eternal that was used as a mild curse. You might say “That tarnal cat!” in the same way that you’d say “That darn cat!” You could even say “That tarnation cat!,” as tarnation also works as an adjective and adverb.
Eve of Christmas Eve
Just a day before Santa makes his way around the globe, over 300 dentists in America have their own whirlwind day of giving. Every year on 23 December, Comfort Dental’s 180 locations offer free dental care to anyone needing care in their community. With locations in 10 states, Comfort Dental offices saw over 3,500 patients in 2023, totaling in over $1.4 million in dental services - all given away for free. The tradition started in 1984 and now includes more than 300 dentists and 1,300 team members giving away their services for free on the “eve of Christmas Eve.”
"Our humanity rests upon a series of learned behaviors, woven together into patterns that are infinitely fragile and never directly inherited." Margaret Mead
On This Day
2 January 2004: NASA's spacecraft Stardust collected dust grains from the comet Wild 2, and the cometary material was later revealed to contain the amino acid glycine, an essential building block of life.
Today's Articles
Radical Innovation: Better fuel efficiency to cut emissions means the shape of passenger planes is about to change.
New Trading Route: Europe’s answer to the Suez Canal breaks ground - for cheaper, faster and less polluting river trade.
Mood Boosting Video
Friluftsliv: How to tackle winter like a Scandinavian.