Heaven on Earth

A video captured at Kings College Hospital in London shows a woman playing a violin whilst surgeons remove her brain tumour. 53-year-old Dagmar Turner had done this to protect areas of the brain that allows her to play the violin. The tumour had affected the part of her brain that involves delicate hand movements, in the right frontal lobe. These areas are incredibly close to the area that helps her play the violin, some parts of the tumour being as far away as a slither of a bank card.  Turner had a seizure during a performance, in 2013, and was diagnosed with a large grade 2 (slow growing) glioma. She had undergone biopsy and radiotherapy to reduce her tumour, but in 2019 it became apparent that the tumour had grown and become more aggressive. The violinist plays in the Isle of Wight Symphony Orchestra and explains, on an NHS news release , how, “The violin is my passion; I’ve been playing since I was 10 years old. The thought of losing my ability to play was h...

Dutch supermarket chain, Jumbo, has implemented a ‘chat checkout’ which allows shoppers to talk with a friendly server whilst they are paying for their groceries. This coincides with their ‘All Together Coffee Corner’, where shoppers can sit and have a coffee together. These features are an attempt to beat the epidemic of loneliness that has swept many nations. According to Ouderenfonds , In the Netherlands ¼ of elderly people feel lonely. Part of their ‘All Together Coffee Corner’ includes being able to talk to volunteers the "Alles voor Mekaar" Foundation. This is a foundation aiming to tackle loneliness by making contact between volunteers and elderly people, who live locally to each other, where they can spend time together or run errands.  Self-service checkouts have become a usual sight in supermarkets around the UK, with global numbers of 191,000 units in 2013 and 325,000 units in 2019. Although there are many advantages to self-service checkouts f...

Photographer, Sam Rowley, pictured the two rodents after spending a week in the London Underground trying to get the perfect picture of the rats that are oh-so-familiar to commuters in London. This opportunity has landed Rowley Wildlife Photographer of the Year LUMIX People's Choice award. According to BBC 28,000 people voted for the squabbling mice picture as the People’s Choice award. One night, Rowley came across the two rodents fighting over a piece of food. He remembers only seeing them fight for a split second before one of them grabbed a crumb and ran away. "I usually take a burst of photos and I got lucky with this shot, but then I had spent five days lying on a platform so it was probably going to happen at some point," Sam said. Currently, Rowley is working as a researcher for the BBC 's natural history film-making unit and is dedicated to working for wildlife related issues. This is reflected in his work, as we can see that he has also produced...

A Greener Blue World Studies coordinated by NASA have shown that since the early 2000’s the world has become 5% more greener. They have used Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to detect these changes over the last 20 years. NASA have discovered that “There are now more than two million square miles of extra green leaf area per year, compared to the early 2000s,” leading to the 5% increase of vegetation cover on our planet. According to these studies China and India are the frontrunners for the global increase in the ‘greening’ of the planet. China, in particular, have started developing their “Forest Cities” with the Liuzhou, city in the Guangxi Province being currently under construction. These urban developments are meant to soak up 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, which is a remarkable feat and is revolutionary in the way we look at urban architecture.   We’ve also seen environmental efforts from individuals such as Jadav Payen...