Homes, distances and little spirals

Welcome to Positive Times for November twelfth, twenty twenty-six. Today we start in a courtyard in Rome, travel towards a very distant spacecraft, and return to laboratories and public service desks. We finish with a breakfast question: who coils the honey when the spoon stays still?

Tor Bella Monaca gains a renewed courtyard and 32 new homes

On November tenth, Rome inaugurated the central courtyard and the R five building on Via dell’Archeologia. The project includes twenty renovated homes and a new tower with thirty-two apartments. Outdoor spaces for play and sport have also been renewed. One detail about the dates: building work ended on June thirtieth. The inauguration came later. Total funding was forty-two million euros, from the recovery plan and city resources. Rooms intended for social activities and services have also been prepared, but the city describes bringing those services into operation as the next step. Our editorial comment: cutting a ribbon takes a moment. Quite reasonably, the neighbourhood wants to know what happens afterwards.

• Roma Capitale · Tor Bella Monaca, inaugurata la corte centrale dell’R5

Voyager 1 approaches one light-day from Earth

Now let us considerably widen the distance. On November tenth, NASA announced public activities for Voyager one. On November eighteenth, the spacecraft is expected to reach one light-day from Earth: about twenty-five point nine billion kilometres. A light-day is the distance light travels in twenty-four hours. It is not a light-year, and it does not mean that the spacecraft travelled for only a day. Voyager launched in nineteen seventy-seven. As of November twelfth, this milestone is still ahead. NASA has also announced a mission-team discussion for November nineteenth, available online, about the science and the challenges of keeping such long-lived spacecraft operating. Behind that distance is a long history of maintenance, too.

• NASA · NASA Invites Media, Public to Join Voyager 1 One-Light Day Activities
• NASA · Where are Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 Now?

WHO updates its map of tuberculosis drug resistance

Back on Earth, there is a new reference for laboratories. On November tenth, the World Health Organization published the third edition of its catalogue linking mutations in the tuberculosis bacterium with drug resistance. The evidence base includes more than seventy-one thousand clinical isolates from over seventy-five countries. Here, isolates means bacterial samples studied in laboratories: the number does not count people cured. The catalogue helps interpret molecular tests and sequencing results through updated classifications and interpretation rules. Evidence for new and repurposed medicines has also expanded. The result is a reference supporting diagnostics, surveillance and research. It is not a new medicine, and it does not show that treatment already reaches everyone who needs it.

• World Health Organization · WHO updates global catalogue for interpreting tuberculosis drug-resistance mutations
• World Health Organization · Catalogue of mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and their association with drug resistance, 3rd ed.

Equality in public services: UNDP recognises 21 institutions

Our fourth story concerns public services. On November eleventh, the United Nations Development Programme recognised twenty-one institutions in thirteen countries with the Gender Equality Seal. Their certifications were achieved between June twenty twenty-five and October twenty twenty-six. The programme assesses equality in planning, resources, working conditions and services. The recognition concerns changes assessed in particular institutions. It does not declare that every inequality across their countries has been resolved. Our editorial observation is simple: equality becomes more tangible when it reaches the service desk, too.

• UNDP · UNDP Honours 21 Public Institutions from 13 countries with Gender Equality Seal for transformative reforms
• UNDP – Gender Equality Seal · The Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions

Who coils the thread of honey?

And now, the spoon. A thread of honey can form little spirals even when your hand stays still. The phenomenon is called liquid rope coiling. When the honey meets the plate, or honey already accumulated there, it slows down. More keeps arriving from above: under suitable conditions, the thread bends and turns. The pattern depends on viscosity, meaning resistance to deformation and flow, as well as the height and the amount arriving. Different honeys need not make the same pattern. A study published in twenty eighteen measured coiling with high-speed recordings. Next time you normally use a little honey, watch the landing point: straight, bent or coiled? There is no need to heat it or use extra. No spirals is an observation, too.

• Frank Austin Mier et al. / Fluids · Experimental Measurement of Steady and Transient Liquid Coiling with High-Speed Video and Digital Image Processing
• Andrzej Herczyński e Maciej Lisicki / arXiv · Coiling instability in the kitchen — arXiv:2501.08307v1

That was Positive Times. You can find the full stories, pictures and sources in the November twelfth edition on our website. Thank you for listening, and see you at the next discovery.