An eclectic global round up of positive news stories.
Carey's Christmas
Her voice is the sound of Christmas the world over, but this Yuletide it won’t just be Mariah Carey’s hit track that will have fans tuning into the radio. Instead, the pop superstar will mark the 30th anniversary of her 1994 song All I Want For Christmas Is You by hosting a show on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day for an hour from 7pm. In what will be her radio presenting debut, Carey will thank listeners for their support over the years as she plays Christmas classics from artists who have inspired her, including Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Whitney Houston.
America's Tallest
The aptly named Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado contains the tallest dunes in North America - a landscape that’s rife for stunning photos like this one. The tallest sand dune is 750 feet (230m) tall and the park's dunes cover an area of about 30 square miles. For more stunning shots, follow USinterior on Instagram.
Raising Successful Kids
Every generation, new philosophies emerge to help parents raise well-adjusted children, from authoritative parenting in the 1960s to attachment parenting in the ’90s and the more recent gentle parenting, practiced by scores of millennial moms and dads. But according to a significant body of research - conducted by the Harvard Grant Study since 1938 - there’s one aspect of child-rearing that truly sets kids up for success in adulthood: assigning them chores. That’s right - to reach the top of the ladder later in life, youngsters should start by scrubbing the dishes and taking out the trash.
Double Eagle
Avid coin collectors jumped at the chance to get their hands on a rare $20 'double eagle' gold coin at a Southern California auction house, but only one walked away victorious after paying a hefty price. The gold piece - minted in Carson City, Nevada, in 1870 - was sold for by Stack's Bowers Galleries. Only 3,789 of them were produced and an estimated 40 to 50 remain, according to John Kraljevich, who specializes in coin history at the auction house. Prior to 1849, the highest denomination for a gold coin was $10, known as the eagle. The $20 double eagle was authorized after the California Gold Rush brought an abundance of gold supply.
Einstein Passes Test
The mathematics Albert Einstein devised to describe the gravitational workings of the physical Universe in the early 20th century is still holding strong. In one of the biggest tests of general relativity to date, a huge team of astronomers has mapped the distribution of nearly 6 million galaxies across 11 billion years of the Universe's history, reports ScienceAlert. The way gravity clumps these galaxies together along strands of the cosmic web against the outward pull of the expansion of the Universe, and the way that web evolves over time, is exactly consistent with predictions made by Einstein's famous theory. It is, perhaps, the largest test of general relativity to date, spanning most of the 13.8-billion-year history of the Universe - meaning that the theory holds up at the biggest scales as well as the smallest.
Dance For Coffee
Typically, one feels the urge to groove after one has consumed copious cups of coffee. It's a different story when the price of a coffee is a dance move. The Coffee Milano Cafe in Middleborough, Massachusetts, promised customers that if they entered the store dancing for at least five seconds, they'd walk out with a free cup of coffee. And dance they did! Coffee lovers streamed in to show off their moves, and the promotion was a win for the cafe, too: The viral dance moves boosted its online profile and convinced more customers to come check out their java - as long as they've brushed up on their steps.
“It’s only by jumping that you will be able to fly.” Nancy Levin
On This Day
26 November 1942: Set in occupied Morocco during World War II, and starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca premiered this day in 1942 and became one of Hollywood's most-revered films.
Today's Articles
Remarkable New Study: Discarded coffee pulp super-charges tree growth in deforested areas - four times faster.
Mood Boosting Video
Flying Visit: Collection of breathtakingly beautiful clips of Venezuela.