The day in your ears · 22 September 2026

Welcome to Positive Times, for the twenty-second of September, twenty twenty-six. A few minutes to understand four stories and take one little discovery away with you. This is a synthetic voice, generated by artificial intelligence. The script draws on the newspaper’s articles, keeping their sources and their limits. Let’s begin with a space finding a useful new purpose.

An abandoned school site becomes a place to play

We’re in Casalnuovo, near Naples. On the twenty-first of September, the town opened Campania’s first Sport Illumina space, as reported by ANSA. According to La Repubblica, an abandoned nursery school’s outdoor area has been transformed. Entry is free, and Sport e Salute has committed to maintaining it. The official programme lists a basketball court and a climbing wall. It is a place to play sport, and also to meet. Our reading is simple: bringing a space back into use is a practical step. To know whether it works over time, though, we will need to see how people use it and how it is cared for. Opening day starts the story; it does not finish it.

• Sport e Salute · Inaugurazione Illumina Casalnuovo di Napoli
• ANSA · Da luogo di degrado a piazza di vita: a Casalnuovo il primo Illumina campano
• la Repubblica · Dall’asilo abbandonato al playground, Casalnuovo ritrova uno spazio per lo sport

Mars rocks preserve more than one encounter with water

Now to Mars, where rocks hold clues to the past. A study published on the twenty-first of September reconstructs at least three episodes in which water changed rocks in a part of Jezero crater called the Margin Unit. The origins of that water remain uncertain. And there is an important distinction: knowing the order of the changes does not mean knowing their dates. NASA makes that distinction clear. The study does not demonstrate that life existed on Mars. The Perseverance robot also uses SuperCam, an instrument that studies materials from a distance through light and lasers. Here is the idea to remember: the colour of a rock, on its own, is not enough to tell its story.

• NASA/JPL · NASA Discovery Reveals Complex Water Systems on Early Mars
• Communications Earth & Environment · Lake- and groundwater-associated alteration of the olivine-rich Margin unit in Jezero crater, Mars
• NASA · Perseverance Science Instruments

Pisa brings the faces of research into its squares

Back on Earth, in Pisa. From the eighteenth to the twenty-fifth of September, Bright Urban Science brings eighteen large photographic portraits into the city’s streets. The Italian National Research Council describes these photographs, taken by Irene Taddei, of people working in research. The exhibition is in Piazza Chiara Gambacorti, Largo Cavallotti and Via Oberdan. It covers science and also the humanities, subjects such as history and culture. Our suggestion is to pause in front of a portrait and imagine a question you would ask that person. A photograph can be a starting point. By itself, it does not tell us how many people have actually become more interested in research.

• CNR–IFC · Bright Urban Science: il racconto della ricerca attraverso i volti della ricerca nelle strade di Pisa
• BRIGHT-NIGHT · Bright Urban Science – Pisa città della scienza

Lebanon’s libraries rebuild skills as well as spaces

In Lebanon, we’re looking at the people who make libraries work. On the seventeenth of September, UNESCO reported on four training days, held on the first, second, eighth and ninth of September. Fifty-two professionals from thirty-four libraries took part, working on services and relationships with communities. This is part of a project that also covers buildings and equipment. Work continues: these courses do not mean that every library building has been rebuilt. The public library manifesto from IFLA and UNESCO describes libraries’ role in education, culture and information. Restoring a space and preparing the people who help readers are two parts of the same effort.

• UNESCO · Stronger Libraries, Stronger Communities: Building Lebanon’s Public Library Network
• UNESCO · The Ministry of Culture, in partnership with UNESCO, launches a project to rehabilitate public libraries in Lebanon
• IFLA · The IFLA-UNESCO Public Library Manifesto 2022

A sunflower changes as it grows

Let’s finish with a little discovery, drawn from research published in earlier years. Does a sunflower always follow the Sun? It depends on its age. In young sunflowers studied at the University of California, Davis, the two sides of the stem grow differently. The head tracks the Sun during the day and returns east at night. An internal rhythm of about twenty-four hours helps drive that movement. As the head matures, movement decreases and its direction settles towards the east. In experiments described in twenty twenty-one, east-facing heads warmed earlier in the morning and attracted more bees. Our suggestion: if you can observe a sunflower without touching it, note the time, its direction and whether it is still a bud. Record what you see, not what you expected. A better question can be a discovery too.

• University of California, Davis · Sunflowers Move by the Clock
• University of California, Davis · Why Sunflowers Face East

That was Positive Times, for the twenty-second of September, twenty twenty-six. You can find the articles, transcript and sources on the episode page. Thank you for listening. Take one question with you: what small change deserves your attention today?