Congratulations, you've made it through the week!

Have a Happy Thought:    Your hair looks fine. Trust me. Juvenile Waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorate), image Andrés Cruz . You can read more about this amazing bird, here: https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/wildlife/waved-albatross/ Thanks to the Charles Darwin Foundation, @DarwinFound , carrying out research for conservation in the Galapagos Islands since 1959.

Have a Happy Thought:  Australian mammals are even weirder and more wonderful than you thought. (Like, it feels like I learn about yet another stupefyingly cute or incredible marsupial once a week)   There are so many of these, that there is an annual “Australian Mammal of the Year” competition (similar to New Zealand’s Bird of the Year competition).   But let’s be honest, this week you’re mostly here for cute pictures. So here you go. (If you’re here for facts not just fur, click the links beneath each photo for a whole article about each animal, this is also where I got the photos and Superpower information)   Numbats (Myrmecobius fasciatus). Superpower : Numbats are true sun-loving West Aussies! They have specialised fur that traps heat from the sun, giving them the highest solar heat gain of any mammal. https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/numbat-iconic-sun-seeker-termite-eater/   Torresian striped possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata). Superpo...

Have a Happy Thought:  Everywhere we look (in the sky), there's galaxies everywhere . - NASA's Jane Rigby, the operations project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope, earlier this week.   If you know me at all, and you have paid any attention to science news this week, you already knew what this week’s email was going to be about.   The first images have been released from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST to save my poor fingers). [Long-time readers may remember that I wrote about the JWST a couple of years ago. Click here to refresh your memory.] A quick reminder, though: This telescope replaces Hubble, which has opened up the universe to us. JWST sees further, and in more detail. After its long-delayed launch on Christmas day, 2021, and problem-free unfolding , NASA released the first images earlier this week, and…   Stunning doesn’t even do these justice!   Here’s a couple of the highlights.   You see the arcs, or...

Have a Happy Thought:   No matter how late you are delivering a project for work, or getting something done at home, you’re still likely better than the James Webb Space Telescope. This incredibly complex, fiddly piece of **absolutely amazing** technology has suffered from just about every possible thing that could delay it. Originally scheduled to launch in 2007, it’s now scheduled (fingers crossed!) for later this year. Astronomers and astrophysicists, who cannot. wait. for this telescope, regularly joke about it seemingly being cursed. Check out the table below to see just how many times the launch date has been… re-calculated. The latest thing that’s been identified that could delay the launch? Pirates. Yep, that’s right – there is a fear that pirates will hijack the boat and hold it for ransom(this actually happened to the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope* on its way to Hawaii). But pirate attacks are not the only thing that can shut down an observatory. Much scari...

Have a Happy Thought:  Children and cats are notoriously picky eaters. That goes without saying. (For those not living with me right now… our cat has recently gotten SUUUPER picky about his food. <sigh>) But we don’t often think about other animals being picky eaters. Apparently, penguins and otters can fall into this category. (Ha! Cat-egory) Due to rising costs of food, an aquarium in Japan recently changed the type of fish they are buying. And let’s just say that the penguins were… not impressed. The otters also turned their noses up at this sub-par snack – you can see this otter starting to walk away from this obviously inferior food, which it has dropped just to its right. The best thing though is to go watch the video of these animals just straight-up refusing to eat! (the two screenshots above are both from this video) https://youtu.be/gCl16qi58UI Don’t worry about these picky eaters, though – the aquarium is still buying enough of their old (yummie...

Have a Happy Thought:    Actually, just have some photos of baby birds. And a wonderful weekend 😃   Pileated Woodpecker chicks. Photo: Carolyn Kotarski/Audubon Photography Awards   Bank Swallow chicks. Photo: Ryan Sanderson/Audubon Photography Awards   Limpkin  chicks. Photo: Lesley Stokes/Audubon Photography Awards   Common Loon- adult and chick. Photo: Zachary Webster/Audubon Photography Awards   Cape robin-chat adult (right) feeding a red-chested cuckoo chick (left)  (yes those ‘left’ and ‘right’ are correct!) ALANDMANSON/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS (CC BY-SA 4.0)     Last thing, for New-Zealand-based readers: You have two days left to give yourself the perfect excuse to sit still for an hour, and feel like you’re contributing to society. Just click this link and count the birds. It’s for science!     All of the photos above, except for the cuckoo, brought to you by the 2017 Aud...