The Good News Monday

Cities around the world are becoming more bicycle friendly

The recent pandemic has had world’s cities’ officials rethink the way the population commutes, many trying to not return to pre-coronavirus traffic and pollution levels. Here are a few things some cities have done to encourage safer and healthier means of transportation.

Berlin has introduced 22 kilometres of new bike lanes in just a couple of days.

In Greece officials announced to allocate 50,000 square meters of their cities for cyclists and pedestrians.

Budapest has temporarily added 19 km of temporary bike lanes.

Paris has already setup 32 km of temporary bike lanes and is planning to add another 48 km. Also Parisians receive 50 euros to encourage repair service of old bikes.

In Milan authorities announced that 35 km of street will be transformed from a space for cars to cycling and walking.

Rome has already approved 150 km for permanent and temporary bike lanes and in addition to that people from cities with population over 50,000 can apply towards a 500euro voucher for a new bike, scooter, electric bike or Segway.

Bogota who has a cycling enthusiast as a mayor, Claudia Lopez, will add extra 80 km to its already existing 482 km bike lanes in the city.

Many other cities have reported changes such as Sidney, Brussels, New York, which can only make us hopeful to a greener and safer future.

Beating Heart made out of drones in the sky

Studio Drift, a design company from Amsterdam has debuted a new amazing drone light show as part of a tribute to healthcare workers.

The 300-drone dynamic aerial sculpture has put on a 15-minute live show which culminated in a spectacular red 3D pulsating heart  in the sky.

We recommend you take a 15 minute break to watch the entire video, but if you want to see the beating heart moment head over to minute 5:30 in the video. 

The Kindness Awards

The skincare brand Simple has created a new (much needed) award, the Kindness Awards, in the hopes that it will bring attention to organizations that are spreading kindness in the world. The first organization to receive this award is Clowns Without Borders UK. They were declared winners by public vote and will receive 7,000 pounds as donation.

Clowns Without Borders UK create unique shows, together with professional artists, to help and encourage children who are living through a crisis. They use laughing, dancing and playing as a form of psychological relief for vulnerable children.

Most recently they have worked with the children in Moira refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, where 20,000 refugees were living in very hard conditions. Unfortunately, the recent pandemic has forced ‘clowns without borders’ to put a hold on performances with the public. The prize money from the award will allow the team to start performances as soon as lock down restrictions ease.

Cats with Nukege Hats

Look, you can’t have good news on the internet without cats. It’s a fact!

There is a Japanese couple, photographer Ryo Yamazaki and his wife, who use their cats’ shedding fur to make detailed and whimsical hats for their cats.

They use a felting technique to start creating what they now call Nukege Hats, nukege being the Japanese word for shed fur or hair. you can see all their creations on their instagram feed and explore our favorite in the gallery above.

First complete map of the Moon

Our favorite national agency, NASA, in collaboration with the United Stated Geological Survey and the Lunar Planetary Institute have created the first ever complete and uniformly classified map of our only moon.

The blueprint of the moon is called the Unified Geologic Map of the Moon and will service future human missions, the international scientific community and the public. This next part is really exciting because the lunar map is available in digital form online and it shows an incredible detail (1:5000000 scale) the moon’s geology.

For its creation, information from 6 Apollo era regional maps and information from recent satellite missions to the moon have been used. The map is a result of a decades long project and unifies a description of the stratigraphy (the rock layers) of the moon.