Nice News is already in your inbox, and now it’s coming to your closet. We’ve partnered with apparel brand Because Weekend to create the first Nice News merch available to subscribers. Just like the newsletters you receive every day, each sunny piece has been thoughtfully designed with optimism in mind. Scroll down to get a peek at the collection and help us spread positivity beyond the digital world.
Ready for a change of scenery? You might want to put a Swiss city (or two) on your radar. The new Quality of Living City Ranking from global consulting firm Mercer analyzed 241 cities using a range of factors — including air quality, infrastructure, and socio-cultural environment — to determine the best spots for expats to set up a new home base. “In an era of digital nomads and flexible working, countries and cities are consistently working to attract international businesses, talent, and remote workers,” the Mercer report reads. “The most successful destinations today are those that blend flexible governance around mobile talent with a high quality of life and an affordable cost of living.” Zurich earned the top spot thanks to its low crime rates, rich cultural scene, public services, and commitment to sustainability. The finance hub also recently improved its airport connections, making it easier for travelers flying back and forth from other continents. Vienna claimed the No. 2 slot, while Geneva came in third. Check out the rest of the top 10 list.
Together With Frontieras
Santa’s Bringing Coal — And It’s a $2.1 Trillion Investment Opportunity
Coal in your stocking this year? That’s not a bad thing –– in fact, it’s turning out to be one of the hottest investment opportunities of the century. John D. Rockefeller made an enormous fortune commercializing oil refining technology. Innovators at Frontieras recently made a similar breakthrough in coal-processing technology, and developed a patented method for extracting trillions of dollars of valuable resources from coal without burning it. The best part? It’s environmentally friendly, sustainable, and early investors are rushing to capitalize on it this Christmas. The company’s building its first $850 million facility soon in West Virginia, followed by more facilities across North America. Frontieras’ game-changing tech is unleashing a $2.1 trillion opportunity into the markets –– become an early investor while you still can!
This is a paid advertisement for Frontieras Regulation CF Offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.frontieras.com/.
Science
What’s That Mysterious Quacking Under the Sea? We’re a Step Closer to Finding Out
Ross Chapman
What quacks like a duck, but doesn’t look or swim like one? (Hint: It’s probably not a duck.) That’s the enigma researchers have been mulling over since the 1960s, when submariners first reported a strange noise emanating from the Antarctic Ocean. Some two decades later, scientists recorded the unidentifiable sounds while conducting an experiment in the Pacific’s South Fiji Basin. And now we’re one step closer to solving the puzzle. On Nov. 21, New Zealand researchers announced they believe the source of those head-scratching noises, described as four short bursts resembling a quack, is definitely biological — and what’s more, the noisy creatures seem to be talking to each other. “We discovered that there were usually several different speakers at different places in the ocean, and all of them making these sounds,” University of Victoria researcher and underwater acoustic expert Ross Chapman said in a press release. “The most amazing thing was that when one speaker was talking, the others were quiet, as though they were listening. Then the first speaker would stop talking and listen to responses from others.” Hear the sounds.
Tech
New Device Helps Parents Monitor Pregnancies From Home
Nastasic/ iStock
The tech kit for parents-to-be seems to be ever-expanding. There are apps to track fertility windows and others to learn the size of a fetus in the womb compared to fruit. Still, getting answers about the health of a baby and mother during pregnancy can be a challenge, with income and racial disparities continuing to persist. That’s what Biorithm, a Singapore-based startup, hopes to help change with a device called Femom that monitors the maternal and fetal heart rate from home and can transmit information through a mobile app for clinicians to review. “This device answer[s] a very basic question of all parents: How well is my baby?” Dr. Thiam Chye Tan, a mentor at the startup, told CNBC. Designed to be as straightforward as possible, the Femom is placed on the navel for about 20 to 30 minutes, where it gathers health insights to reduce the risk of pregnancy complications, an especially timely mission as maternal and infant mortality rates continue to rise in the United States. “Women’s health [care] has been geared towards treating women who are sick and not keeping women well,” said Biorithm co-founder Amrish Nair. He added: “We’re trying to provide technology that puts power back into women’s hands.”
In Other News
New insights on a “hidden superpower” in the brain could pave the way for better math lessons (read more)
Tech stocks soared to an all-time high on Wednesday, topping the previous record in July (read more)
Five Hawaiian crows were released on Maui in hopes of repopulating the extinct-in-the-wild species (read more)
In EV news, the total network of public charging ports in the U.S. is now double what it was at the end of 2020(read more)
The world’s fastest swimming robot looks and moves like a manta ray (read more)
Because Weekend x Nice News
Spread the Nice News Philosophy With Your Wardrobe The Nice News community is tied together by one key thread: a desire to see the good in the world. And now you can spread that positive mindset beyond your email inbox with our apparel collaboration with Because Weekend. The collection is the first Nice News-branded merch available to readers. Each piece embodies our philosophy of optimism, as well as Because Weekend’s vision to make every day feel like the weekend. What you see in the photo above is just a taste — check out all the pieces below.
Kazuo Ishiguro Novels One of the best feelings is discovering an author you love — and then discovering that said author has a huge repertoire of other work to dive into. I don’t know what made me pick up Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1989 book Remains of the Day a few years back, but I’m glad I did. After finishing the Nobel-winning work, I quickly devoured everything up to his most recent release, Klara and the Sun. His prose is beautiful, and he often explores themes of memory and regret, making use of unreliable narrators on more than one occasion. — Rebekah Brandes, Assistant Editor
Some skateboarders in New York City aren’t just learning new tricks at the skate park, they’re also getting psychological first-aid training. That’s thanks to the Skate Mind Project: an initiative that seeks to meet young skaters right where they are, teaching them everything from how to identify when someone is in distress to how to talk about feeling overwhelmed.
Photo of the Day
Hubert Grimmig/Kultur- und Tourismus GmbH Gengenbach
Each December in the small German hamlet of Gengenbach, the town hall is transformed into a massive Advent calendar, with curtained windows serving as the “boxes” to be opened on each day of the month. “It’s quite spectacular because everything gets dark and then we have a spot on the window and then it’s like a little bit of a curtain that goes up,” Michael Foell, of Gengenbach’s tourism bureau, explained to NPR. “Everyone is just watching with big eyes and mouths open.”
Celebrate Vita Coco’s 12 Days of Treats-mas
Merry Treats-mas! Vita Coco is making it easy for consumers to treat themselves this busy holiday season with its all-pink “treats-mas” giveaway. Through Dec. 12, the coconut water brand is surprising fans with a prize of the day posted to the Vita Coco Instagram page. Prizes range from $1,000 to $60,000, bundled and themed by popular ways people treat themselves. One grand prize winner will take home the ultimate treat of the season: a pink SUV.
