At such a busy time of year, scrolling through the news doesn’t always seem to make things better. A 2018 study reported that over half of Americans find that the news causes them stress, anxiety, fatigue and sleep loss. Although it is important to stay informed, particularly on news stories that require urgent and collective action, sometimes a bit of good news is what we need.
This inspired Emily Coxhead to create ‘The Happy Newspaper’, an online and print publication to ‘share positive news and wonderful people’. Her newspapers are released quarterly and can be delivered or picked up in several locations across the UK. Previous Happy News stories include research that cuddling can help wounds heal faster, the story of how a trash man has built a free library from books found in bins and numerous reports of animals who are no longer deemed endangered.
‘The Happy Newspaper’ has motivated me to make a collection of a few happy stories from Imperial College, to hopefully brighten up your day!
A Fantasy Writer in Our Midst
Tasha Suri, Imperial’s Senior Library Assistant, published her Indian-inspired fantasy novel ‘Empire of Sand’ last November which featured on the TIME magazine’s ‘top 10 fantasy books of 2018’ list. With plans to release its sequel this November, read this interview with Tasha about her job, her books and some advice for budding novelists.
Ooho at Mile 23
The London Marathon, which took place last weekend (28th April), saw the largest ever trial of Ooho – edible liquid capsules made from seaweed produced by a sustainable packaging start-up founded by Imperial alunmi. At mile 23, runners were greeted by over 30,000 Oohoo seaweed capsules filled with Lucozade Sport to try and cut down plastic waste at this year’s marathon. Find out more about the capsules in Imperial’s press release of the trial.
Science Meets Art for Climate Change Exhibition
Last weekend at Imperial College, the winning entires of the Grantham Art Prize were displayed for all to see. Produced by teams of contemporary art students and Imperial climate and environmental researchers, the pieces were designed to help stimulate and facilitate conversations about climate change. They will be shown again at the Great Exhibition Road festival on 29th-30th June, but if you can’t wait that long to see them you can take a sneak peak of them here.
