Ensuring the day gets off to a bright start with a global round up of positive news stories.
World Record Smashed
The world’s most grueling sailboat race has a winner - and a new world record. The Vendée Globe means racing 24/7 for nearly 70 days over 28,000 nautical miles across five stormy oceans. In the end, 40-year-old French sailor Charlie Dalin clinched the win in the early morning hours of January 14. First across the line, his global speed lap finished with a time of 64 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds, shaving an astonishing nine days and eight hours off the race record. Dalin is now the fastest solo sailor to race non-stop, unassisted, around the world.
Winning Snap
A bold parakeet defending its territory from a hungry monitor lizard won Hira Punjabi the SINWP Bird Photographer of the Year 2024 competition. Now in its seventh year, the contest is run by the Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers and showcases an extraordinary array of avian beauty. Punjabi took the image at Keoladeo National Park in the north Indian state of Rajasthan.
Plane Lands Safely
Not a headline you will ever see, but did you know that US commercial airlines have had no accidents since February 2009? That is equivalent to 13.3 trillion passenger miles, according to Our World in Data. The total flight distance without accidents equals 535 million trips around Earth or 28 million round trips to the Moon.
World's Best Mural?
Adorning an office building in Sheffield, England, is a 25-meter-tall mural depicting colourful birds, butterflies, and glimmering blue-green water - a piece so stunning it’s currently vying to be named “Best Mural in the World.” The artwork by Megan Russell - titled Reverie - was initially voted the Best of June 2024 in a contest by Street Art Cities, an online database celebrating urban art around the globe. It's now in the running for Best in the World 2024, alongside 50 other murals. She told the BBC that working on the nature-themed artwork was “the biggest highlight” of her career to date. “I had free reign to be as vibrant and bold as I wanted. It’s really refreshing when clients tell you that, it doesn’t happen often.”
All photos credit: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Royal Physician
The tomb of a “conjurer-doctor” has been found in ancient Saqqara. Dating back 4,100 years, the tomb is beautifully decorated with paintings and hieroglyphic inscriptions in vivid colours. In life, this individual was known as Tetinebefou, and was clearly an important man. He was the main physician at the royal court and his accompanying burial accolades include conjurer of the goddess Serket, director of medicinal plants, and chief dentist. “The tomb is adorned with stunning carvings and vibrant artwork, including a beautifully painted false door and scenes of funerary offerings,” the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on social media, adding that the discovery reveals “new aspects of the culture of daily life in the era of the Old Kingdom through texts and drawings found on the walls.”
Life Changing
A poor Indian farmer has seen his fortunes change in the blink of an eye after he found two diamonds worth almost $50,000 in his field. Ramnaresh Dubey had been sifting through dirt at a shallow depth for the past six months - and his luck finally paid off with the remarkable find in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where the average annual wage is just $1,655. Mr. Dubey took the diamonds - one weighs 0.94 carats, and the other is 8.30 carats - to be assessed by Indian government officials, who valued them together at $46,840. He intends to use the proceeds from the diamonds to buy land and open a shop, whilst continuing to hunt for more gems.
“Painting is poetry which is seen and not heard, and poetry is a painting which is heard but not seen.” Leonardo da Vinci
On This Day
16 January 1979: BBC landmark nature series Life on Earth presented by David Attenborough first shown on BBC One.
Today's Articles
Mood Boosting Video
'When Things Just Work': Remember this rather mesmerising TV car commercial from 2005?