The day in your ears · 23 September 2026

Welcome to Positive Times, for the twenty-third of September, twenty twenty-six. Today we start with drawings that explain science, meet printers finding a useful second life and visit a runway where people can play. Then we look at practical support in Haiti and a surprising plant. This is a synthetic voice, generated by artificial intelligence. Our script draws on the newspaper’s articles, keeping their sources and their limits.

Florence students give scientific research a visual voice

How do you draw a piece of research? In Florence, around forty students tried, working with five teachers and thirty researchers. Between January and May, they turned scientific subjects into images: for example, plastic recycling and the light that makes the night sky too bright. The project is called Illustra la Scienza. The organisers’ programme lists a free exhibition at Palazzo Bastogi from the twenty-third to the twenty-fifth of September. The drawings grew out of discussions with researchers. We know how the project was organised; we do not have measurements of how much it improved learning. A thought from our editors: this time, drawing during the explanation was exactly the assignment.

• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche · Mostra “Illustra la scienza”
• CNR — Istituto di Informatica Giuridica e Sistemi Giudiziari · Illustra la Scienza: un percorso su immagini, scienza ed editoria
• BRIGHT-NIGHT · Illustra la Scienza

Sixteen 3D printers find a second life in LA schools

Now to Los Angeles. A three-dimensional printer makes objects from a design on a computer. UCLA had upgraded its equipment, but some of the older machines still worked. In its report published on the twenty-second of September, the university describes ten printers donated to schools during the winter of twenty twenty-six, and six more in spring. These are sixteen donations already made, not deliveries that all happened yesterday. University students accompanied the machines with two-hour practical workshops, tools and spare parts. That is the documented result: equipment and training made available to schools. We do not yet know how much they changed pupils’ school results. Our reading: reuse also means teaching people how to use and repair things.

• UCLA Samueli Newsroom · UCLA Engineering Makerspace donates 3D printers to LA schools, runs training workshops

Rome turns an old runway into a place to play

In Rome, an old runway is finding a new job. On the twenty-second of September, new sports spaces and a green square opened in Centocelle Park. The former airport runway now has places for basketball, volleyball and table tennis. A former car park has become a square of around four thousand five hundred square metres, with benches, planting and water features that recirculate their water. This completes one stage of the restoration, not all the work. Further projects remain, including the new entrance from Via Papiria. The municipal plan aims to connect the park more closely to nearby neighbourhoods. For our editors, the practical step is returning space to everyday encounters; looking after it will still matter.

• Agenzia Nova · Festa a Centocelle, al posto degli sfasciacarrozze un parco giochi e la piazza
• Corriere Roma · A Centocelle inaugurato il playground più grande d’Europa: campi da volley e da basket sulla pista dell’ex aeroporto
• Roma per il Clima — Roma Capitale · Parco di Centocelle

In Haiti, emergency aid also supports the next planting

In Haiti, we are talking about families facing a serious food emergency. FAO, the United Nations organisation working on food and agriculture, reported on the seventeenth of September that agricultural support was under way for about thirteen thousand households, approximately sixty-five thousand people, across ten municipalities. These figures come from the organisation running the project. The idea is also to help people restart local food production. Further help, including more than one hundred and sixty thousand small farm animals, is planned for a later phase: those deliveries are not complete. Violence, economic instability and supply difficulties continue to take a toll. This support does not mean the crisis is over, and it does not guarantee future harvests.

• FAO · FAO emergency food production support helps vulnerable Haitian families produce food and meet urgent needs

Drosera: when the dew is actually a trap

Today’s little discovery is Drosera capensis, a plant native to South Africa’s Cape region. Tiny droplets shine on its long, narrow leaves. They look like dew, but they are a sticky substance made by glands, small structures on the leaf. They can hold insects. Kew describes the general mechanism of sundews like this: after capture, substances called enzymes break down the prey, making nutrients available for the plant to absorb. The part that catches prey is the specialised leaf, not the pink flower. There is no mouth with teeth. This is established botanical knowledge, not a scientific discovery announced today. Our suggestion: when you look at a picture, separate what you can see from what you have learnt by reading. You can see the droplets; understanding how they work takes investigation.

• Royal Horticultural Society · Drosera capensis — Cape sundew
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew · Plants of the World Online · Drosera capensis L.
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew · Carnivorous plants explained: Venus flytraps, pitcher plants & more

That was Positive Times, for the twenty-third of September, twenty twenty-six. The episode page has the full transcript, articles and sources. Thank you for listening. Take a question with you: what thing that seemed to have finished its job could find a second life?