Eclectic mid-week collection of positive news nuggets to perk up the day.
Space History
An 18-year-old student and her mother are about to travel into space, becoming the first mother and daughter to do so. Anastatia Mayers and her mum Keisha Schahaff won a place on Virgin Galactic’s second commercial flight in a prize draw. “I filled out this sweepstake”, said Schahaff and then “months later” she was told she had won. “Suddenly, who's walking into my yard? Richard Branson.” The pair will take off from New Mexico tomorrow.
Dramatic Comeback
The golden lion tamarin has made a dramatic comeback in the Brazilian rainforest. In the 1970s, there were only about 200 in the wild, and now it's estimated there are 4,800, according to a new study by the conservation nonprofit Golden Lion Tamarin Association. Golden lion tamarins are small monkeys only found in Brazil's Atlantic Forest.
Yields Up
Turns out we don’t need fossil fuel fertilisers as much as people thought. New data from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed that UK crop yields rose last year, despite a sharp decline in fertiliser use. According to Defra, wheat, barley, oilseed rape and sugar beet yields rose by 2.4 percent in 2022, while fertiliser use fell by a reported 27 percent.
Don't Dig For Climate Victory: First there was the debate about the pros and cons (and profitability) of organic versus intensive farming (organic won by a landslide), and now the focus has moved on to regenerative versus intensive farming. More...
New Record
American swimmer Katie Ledecky now holds the record for most individual gold medals won at the world swimming championships. Winning six gold medals, she surpassed Michael Phelps’ previous record, and also notched her 16th individual world title - and remains the world record holder in both the 800 and 1,500.
Maine Event
Back in 2019, Maine set a goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps by 2025. Recently, the state’s governor announced that they beat that goal by two years in homes and businesses installations. So, they have announced a new goal: installing 175,000 more by 2027. Electric heat pumps are basically like reversible air conditioners and can be up to four times as efficient as gas furnaces. They’re essential in removing fossil fuels from heating buildings and Maine is setting the standard for the rest of the country, which needs widespread adoption of heat pumps (aided by incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act) in order to reach net zero by 2050.
Analysis: IRA’s Impact on US Emissions and Energy. The Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark climate legislation passed in the United States in 2022, is bigger and more far-reaching than you think. All in a good way! Here's a quick summary...
PLATO Mission
In 2026, the European Space Agency will launch PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars (PLATO), an exoplanet-hunting mission that will investigate over 245,000 stars to look for planets similar to Earth. The mission is expected to find tens of thousands of potentially habitable planets.
The Boring Company
Vegas Loop, the only operational version of Elon Musk's underground transportation solution, has now been approved to be expanded to a 68 mile (109 km) tunnel network, Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Some years ago, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority approved an expenditure of $48.6 million to build a 2.2 mile (3.5 km) loop underneath the convention center, and it opened to the public in 2021 and currently has three stations. The facility is managed by TBC, which claims to have successfully transported 1.15 million passengers up to this point. Recently, neighboring Clark County, where the extended Loop will comprise 18 stations, gave the necessary approvals.
Midlife people-centered leaders, having work you love is within reach. Wishingwell Coaching offers coaching and therapy tools, mindset hacks and career expertise to get you where you want to go in your career. Join career coach and therapist Jessica Sweet as she guides you through career chaos to career happiness.
"The trick in life is learning how to deal with it." Dame Helen Mirren
On this Day
9 August 1173: Construction began on a bell tower that became internationally famous as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Huge 3,000 year old chalk figure on a hill in England's Berkshire Downs is to receive some much needed titivation. Fattening up...
A new material, inspired by butterfly wings, can produce vibrant colours while reflecting all of the light that hits them, to keep them cooler. Cooling colours...
Mood Booster
Get ready to burst out laughing as the one and only Rowan Atkinson takes on the role of a bumbling and tongue-tied priest in the 1994 hit film Four Weddings and a Funeral.