Today's eclectic global round up of positive news stories.
Conservation Victory
There's been another big Indigenous conservation victory in Canada after the Inuvialuit signed a new agreement to safeguard almost 850,000 hectares (3,282 sq. miles) of the Yukon’s northeast coast. The Aullaviat/Anguniarvik Traditional Conservation Area will protect wildlife like the Porcupine caribou herd, polar bears, and migratory birds while preserving Inuvialuit traditional activities.
Bionic Breakthrough
A bionic device developed at MIT allows people to control a leg prosthetic with their minds, according to a new study. The device can yield a more natural gait and reduce phantom limb pain, among other benefits. The study has the potential to change the standard of care for hundreds of thousands of Americans who live with the loss of a leg. Researchers hope to make the bionic prosthetic commercially available within five years.
Never Hold in Sneezes
A look at the medical literature suggests that sneeze suppression may be a surprisingly bad idea. A case study from a hospital in the Belgian city of Liège is a cautionary tale. During the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic - when loud sneezing did not go down well in public - a 38 year old man reported pain and swelling in his face after holding back a sneeze. A scan revealed he had fractured his sinus. “By suppressing a sneeze, you can cause some medical issues such as nose bleeds,” says Mas Takashima, the chair of the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery at Houston Methodist Academic Institute. “You can force air up the Eustachian tube, possibly causing issues with your eardrum.” Adding: “There are times where you don’t want to make a scene or you want to try to keep it as quiet as possible. Keeping your mouth closed as you sneeze can definitely do that.”
If it Bleeds, it Leads
US homicide rates in 2024 are on track to fall to their lowest level since the Beatles did their first tour of America. According to multiple data sources, there's a lower chance of being murdered today than in almost any time in the last 60 years. There's no pointing fingers and saying this is due to under-reporting, either; homicide rates are pretty unequivocal. It's great news! The media are going to go nuts over this, right? Violent crime consistently ranks as one of the country's main concerns, so everyone - from both the left and the right - has reason to celebrate.
Remarkable 9 Year Old
A nine-year-old chess prodigy has made history as the youngest player to ever represent England internationally for any sport. Bodhana Sivanandan will become the newest member of England's women's chess team, when she makes her debut at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest in September. Bodhana began playing chess at just five years old, during the pandemic and says she wants to become a grand master, England's youngest Olympic gold medallist and to eventually win a world title. The nine-year-old is more than a decade younger than her youngest team mate, whilst her other teammates are all in their thirties and forties.
Viva España
Spain generated almost 60 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources in the first half of 2024, helped by new solar capacity and more output from hydropower plants - up from 51 percent of the total a year earlier, says Reuters. Its main non-renewable source of electricity is nuclear, which produced just under a fifth of its electricity in the first half of 2024, meaning close to 80 percent of Spain's power was carbon-free. Spain aims to generate an impressive four-fifths of its electricity from renewables by 2030.
Vanuatu Leads The Way
Plastic pollution is a massive global issue, but there’s a heartening story of change from a small Pacific island nation. Vanuatu, facing mounting plastic waste, took a bold step in 2018 by banning single-use plastics. This decision, among the first of its kind globally, has made a real difference in reducing waste across the country, home to about 325,000 people living on 83 islands. “They were passing on a really strong message that Vanuatu needed to save turtles and fish and not have plastics flying around,” Christelle Thieffry, a French immigrant who played a pivotal role in gathering support for the ban by starting a grassroots campaign, told The Guardian. Since the ban, the positive changes are hard to miss. The lagoon is slowly regaining its former beauty, and innovative solutions like biodegradable planters and reusable products are gaining popularity, offering a promising glimpse into a more environmentally friendly future.
"If I had my way, I’d remove January from the calendar altogether and have an extra July instead." Roald Dahl
On This Day
4 July 1884: The Statue of Liberty was presented to the United States by the French in Paris. it was then disassembled and shipped to the United States aboard the French Navy ship, Isère. The Statue arrived in New York Harbor on 17 June 1885, and was met with great fanfare.
Today's Articles
Daguerreotype: Earliest known photo of an American first lady acquired by US National Portrait Gallery.
Mood Boosting Video
Amusing Yarns: Ronald Reagan being a stand up comedian.