March 7, 2025 • 11 mins
On today's good news podcast, we discuss the First Nations tennis greats being honoured in Barbie form this International Women's Day, the history-making victories from this year's Oscars, and two scientific breakthroughs involving prosthetics and plastics.
Hosts: Billi FitzSimons and Sam Koslowski
Producer: Orla Maher
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS.
Oh now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to
the Daily OS. It's Saturday, the eighth of March.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Billy, I'm Sam, and it is that time of
week again where we take you through some of our
favorite recent good news stories. And Billy, we're going to
start off today with two Ozzy sporting legends.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We are there's something that you've missed saying to.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Me, Happy International Women's Day.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Thank you, What a day. What a day. Eighth of March.
Every single year it is International Women's Day. Happy International
Women's Day. To all the women listening.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
To my mum, to my wife, to you, Billy, thank
you amazing powerful women around me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
That is very kind, Sam. And this year's theme from
You and Women is for all women and girls writes equality, empowerment,
and so today the story that we are focusing on
for this podcast is that to celebrate Mattel, who you'll
be familiar with as the toy manufacturer behind Barbie also
in that very famous movie. They are honoring legendary female
(01:13):
friendship duos across different backgrounds, professions and parts of the
world this International Women's Day, and so One of the
friendships that they are focusing on is the tennis greats
Evon Gulagong Cauli and Ashbarti in barbiefm Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Two tennis players, unbelievable stars of their sport from two
different generations coming together in Barbie form.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah. And if you watched Ashbarti's last few matches before
she retired, Ivon Gulagong Callie was often there at the
match watching and it was always such a beautiful moment
watching them, you know, hug each other after and celebrate
Ashbarti's wins, so they share a really close bond and Nagarigo.
Woman Barti said that she never thought should be sharing
(01:59):
her very own Barbie quote alongside my mentor Evon, celebrating
our friendship.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Barbie Barty, Barbi.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Bardi I lover. And she also added, I am a
believer in what you see you can be. Evon showed
me what was possible when I was young, and I
hope to inspire girls in the same way.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And there is lots of research that shows the power
of toys and the role models that they set. I mean,
I remember us doing as a good news story years ago.
The spike in women and girls showing interest and rolling
in STEM courses after Mattel released their first scientist Barbie
Doll in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, crazy, how much influence they have and then we're
Adjurie women. Gulagong Collie also spoke of the need to
provide young First Nations girls with role models. She said,
quote to hear our stories of how we got there
and how rough the road can be. We're trying to
celebrate a natural pathway for black kids to find their
dreams and to achieve their dream.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And it wasn't just Australia where we saw some honors
being handed out. There was not quite Barbie dolls being
handed out of the Academy Awards. There was almost, you know,
another type of doll, figurine kind of figure. They always
look a bit weird, those gold statues. You're talking about
oscars To be clear, yes, I mean I wouldn't say
no to one if one was sent my way. The
ninety seventh Academy Awards took place in la on Sunday.
(03:23):
We streamed it here in the office on Monday afternoon
and there was plenty of history making moments. I want
to start with Anora and Anora took out five awards,
including Best Picture and Best Director. Now, this is a
story of a young sex worker who impulsively marries the
son of a Russian oligarch. This film was made on
a budget of six million US dollars and to put
(03:45):
that into context, that is, you know, as much as
the catering budget of other films that would have been nominated.
But it still won the Academy Award for Best Picture,
and in doing so, it was one of the lowest
budget films to ever win. That wow, and the film's director,
Sean Baker, thanks the Academy for celebrating a truly independent film.
And in a world of big budget productions and the
(04:06):
growing influence of streaming and the streaming giants, Honora's success
at the Oscars was seen as this massive moment for
independent cinema.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
We love independent productions. It reminds me of the daily os.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I mean, we are, we're hiring budget of other media
companies and we're winning Academy Awards.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Not quite but one day, one day. Never rule it out.
And then the Oscars also made history sam when Zoe
Saldana won Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Amelia
Perez Saldana is the first Dominican American to receive an Oscar,
and she thanks the Academy for recognizing the quiet heroism
(04:44):
and the power in women and then rounding out our
oscars rap. Paul Taswell became the first black man to
win the Oscar for Best Costume Design for his work
on Wicked. During his acceptance speech, Taswell said he was
so proud of the historic achievement and he was met
with a well deserved standing ovation for both of those winds.
(05:05):
Both as always Heeldana and Paul Taswell, they acknowledge the
historic nature of their wins, and it was truly an
inspiring moment watching it and just seeing how much those
awards and the milestones meant to both of them.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
They're definitely seen as kind of these moments that you
look back on and a bit of a microcosm for
how progress in whider society is traveling.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, you feel like you're literally just watching history because
you are.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
They're kind of, you know, some would say they're defying gravity.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Thank you very much. I see what you did there, Billy.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Let's stay in the US, and I want to turn
to a science story now because researchers have developed a
pioneering prosthetic hand. So a team at John Hopkins University
have created this bionic hand that can conform and adjust
its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.
And that means the prosthetic actually knows what it's touching,
(05:58):
and that takes up a step closer to it closely
replicating the physical and sensory capabilities of the human hand.
So for example, if it's holding a glass of water,
it'll treat that with a bit more sensitivity than say,
if it was holding a tennis racket and it needed
to grab that a bit sturdier. And the design is
the first of its kind, and it offers new hope
(06:20):
for amputees who've previously had limited prosthetic options. Researchers, when
they were focusing on this task, they said that they
wanted to give people with upper limb loss the ability
to safely and freely interact with their environment, to feel
and hold their loved ones without concern of hurting them.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Oh that's lovely.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It's a beautiful, beautiful story. An incredible example of science
and psychology and all of the kind of ways of
making people's lives better if they have a disability. Coming
together in innovation, I.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Wanted to round out today's good News with a fun
one out of New Orleans. So a team of researchers
at Louisiana State University has developed a sustainable alternative to
plastic Mardi Gras beads. So the beads are a popular
New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition, but it's estimated that several
tons of the colorful strands end up in landfill every year,
(07:12):
and now local scientists have developed an eco friendly recycling
solution to this problem. They are called the plant Me beads,
and they're made up of several biodegradable outer shells with
plant and flower seeds stored within each bead, and as
the discarded chains break down in soil, flowers will then
grow in their place.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, there you go, so lovely. I mean, the big
tradition in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras with the
beads is to actually throw them down the street to
other people. I'm not sure if them being biodegradable will
make that any less kind of painful if they bit Yeah, maybe, Billy.
We end every Good News episode with a recommendation. When
(07:55):
we walked into the studio to record this podcast, you
said to me, I have the best recommendation and I said, oh,
what is it? And you didn't give me the answer.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I know because I wanted to tell you on Mike
because it has been the thing that I've been recommending
to you in person every single day this week. Do
you know what it is? It is the interview that
The Diary of a CEO did with mister Beast. Now,
I have to say I was not super familiar with
the content of mister Beasts. Obviously, I knew that he
(08:26):
is the number one YouTuber in the world, but beyond that,
I had never really come across too many of his videos.
But I listened to this podcast episode. It was about
an hour and a half and I just thought it
was such a fascinating chat inside the mind of one
of the most successful content creators in the world, and
just hearing about how much effort he puts into every
(08:48):
single video and his mindset, and also just the impact
it has on his personal life, his travel schedule. It
was just so fascinating. Sam, I have been begging you
to listen to it all week, so that I had
someone to talk to about it. I just thought it
was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It feels like a good thing to listen to on
the Saturday after I listened to the good News podcast
from the Daily Lots. Yes, so I'll go for a
walk and I'll have a listen to it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
It's only slightly longer than this podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I'm sure that tends to be the way with those
big pods. My recommendations a bit weird, but I wanted
to acknowledge the fact that right now there's a major
portion of the country that is facing some really terrible
days ahead after Cyclone Alfred made landfall, and the good
News recommendation is actually something I've picked up by looking
(09:33):
at what people are searching online in Australia, and one
of the most common searches over the last seventy two
hours is cyclone Alfred how to help? And I think that,
you know, Google trends show us sometimes what's in the
minds of people all around the country. And if that
doesn't tell you the way that Australians come together when
(09:55):
there is natural disasters, and we're going to see lots
of unifying behavior over the next couple of days as
we all lend a hand, as we all would want
to should something like that happen to us. So it's
not good news that there's been a big weather event,
but it is good news that it.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Are Australians are wanting to help.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Exactly exactly and the little clue through a Google trend
could be the little bit of light on your Saturday.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So nice a great way to end this podcast. Like
Sam said, we are thinking of all of those who
are in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. We
hope you are staying safe during this massive weather event.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
The Daily os Our Good News podcast. We'll be back
on Monday with another deep dive, but until then, stay safe.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Kalguttin woman from Gadigol Country.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
The Daily os acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
the lands of the Gatigol people and pays respect to
all regional and torrest rate island and nations. We pay
our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both
past and present,
Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS.
Oh now it makes sense. Good morning, and welcome to
the Daily OS. It's Saturday, the eighth of March.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Billy, I'm Sam, and it is that time of
week again where we take you through some of our
favorite recent good news stories. And Billy, we're going to
start off today with two Ozzy sporting legends.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
We are there's something that you've missed saying to.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Me, Happy International Women's Day.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Thank you, What a day. What a day. Eighth of March.
Every single year it is International Women's Day. Happy International
Women's Day. To all the women listening.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
To my mum, to my wife, to you, Billy, thank
you amazing powerful women around me.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
That is very kind, Sam. And this year's theme from
You and Women is for all women and girls writes equality, empowerment,
and so today the story that we are focusing on
for this podcast is that to celebrate Mattel, who you'll
be familiar with as the toy manufacturer behind Barbie also
in that very famous movie. They are honoring legendary female
(01:13):
friendship duos across different backgrounds, professions and parts of the
world this International Women's Day, and so One of the
friendships that they are focusing on is the tennis greats
Evon Gulagong Cauli and Ashbarti in barbiefm Wow.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Two tennis players, unbelievable stars of their sport from two
different generations coming together in Barbie form.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Yeah. And if you watched Ashbarti's last few matches before
she retired, Ivon Gulagong Callie was often there at the
match watching and it was always such a beautiful moment
watching them, you know, hug each other after and celebrate
Ashbarti's wins, so they share a really close bond and Nagarigo.
Woman Barti said that she never thought should be sharing
(01:59):
her very own Barbie quote alongside my mentor Evon, celebrating
our friendship.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Barbie Barty, Barbi.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Bardi I lover. And she also added, I am a
believer in what you see you can be. Evon showed
me what was possible when I was young, and I
hope to inspire girls in the same way.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
And there is lots of research that shows the power
of toys and the role models that they set. I mean,
I remember us doing as a good news story years ago.
The spike in women and girls showing interest and rolling
in STEM courses after Mattel released their first scientist Barbie
Doll in the nineties.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Yeah, crazy, how much influence they have and then we're
Adjurie women. Gulagong Collie also spoke of the need to
provide young First Nations girls with role models. She said,
quote to hear our stories of how we got there
and how rough the road can be. We're trying to
celebrate a natural pathway for black kids to find their
dreams and to achieve their dream.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And it wasn't just Australia where we saw some honors
being handed out. There was not quite Barbie dolls being
handed out of the Academy Awards. There was almost, you know,
another type of doll, figurine kind of figure. They always
look a bit weird, those gold statues. You're talking about
oscars To be clear, yes, I mean I wouldn't say
no to one if one was sent my way. The
ninety seventh Academy Awards took place in la on Sunday.
(03:23):
We streamed it here in the office on Monday afternoon
and there was plenty of history making moments. I want
to start with Anora and Anora took out five awards,
including Best Picture and Best Director. Now, this is a
story of a young sex worker who impulsively marries the
son of a Russian oligarch. This film was made on
a budget of six million US dollars and to put
(03:45):
that into context, that is, you know, as much as
the catering budget of other films that would have been nominated.
But it still won the Academy Award for Best Picture,
and in doing so, it was one of the lowest
budget films to ever win. That wow, and the film's director,
Sean Baker, thanks the Academy for celebrating a truly independent film.
And in a world of big budget productions and the
(04:06):
growing influence of streaming and the streaming giants, Honora's success
at the Oscars was seen as this massive moment for
independent cinema.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
We love independent productions. It reminds me of the daily os.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I mean, we are, we're hiring budget of other media
companies and we're winning Academy Awards.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Not quite but one day, one day. Never rule it out.
And then the Oscars also made history sam when Zoe
Saldana won Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Amelia
Perez Saldana is the first Dominican American to receive an Oscar,
and she thanks the Academy for recognizing the quiet heroism
(04:44):
and the power in women and then rounding out our
oscars rap. Paul Taswell became the first black man to
win the Oscar for Best Costume Design for his work
on Wicked. During his acceptance speech, Taswell said he was
so proud of the historic achievement and he was met
with a well deserved standing ovation for both of those winds.
(05:05):
Both as always Heeldana and Paul Taswell, they acknowledge the
historic nature of their wins, and it was truly an
inspiring moment watching it and just seeing how much those
awards and the milestones meant to both of them.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
They're definitely seen as kind of these moments that you
look back on and a bit of a microcosm for
how progress in whider society is traveling.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, you feel like you're literally just watching history because
you are.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
They're kind of, you know, some would say they're defying gravity.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Thank you very much. I see what you did there, Billy.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Let's stay in the US, and I want to turn
to a science story now because researchers have developed a
pioneering prosthetic hand. So a team at John Hopkins University
have created this bionic hand that can conform and adjust
its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.
And that means the prosthetic actually knows what it's touching,
(05:58):
and that takes up a step closer to it closely
replicating the physical and sensory capabilities of the human hand.
So for example, if it's holding a glass of water,
it'll treat that with a bit more sensitivity than say,
if it was holding a tennis racket and it needed
to grab that a bit sturdier. And the design is
the first of its kind, and it offers new hope
(06:20):
for amputees who've previously had limited prosthetic options. Researchers, when
they were focusing on this task, they said that they
wanted to give people with upper limb loss the ability
to safely and freely interact with their environment, to feel
and hold their loved ones without concern of hurting them.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Oh that's lovely.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
It's a beautiful, beautiful story. An incredible example of science
and psychology and all of the kind of ways of
making people's lives better if they have a disability. Coming
together in innovation, I.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Wanted to round out today's good News with a fun
one out of New Orleans. So a team of researchers
at Louisiana State University has developed a sustainable alternative to
plastic Mardi Gras beads. So the beads are a popular
New Orleans Mardi Gras tradition, but it's estimated that several
tons of the colorful strands end up in landfill every year,
(07:12):
and now local scientists have developed an eco friendly recycling
solution to this problem. They are called the plant Me beads,
and they're made up of several biodegradable outer shells with
plant and flower seeds stored within each bead, and as
the discarded chains break down in soil, flowers will then
grow in their place.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Well, there you go, so lovely. I mean, the big
tradition in New Orleans at the Mardi Gras with the
beads is to actually throw them down the street to
other people. I'm not sure if them being biodegradable will
make that any less kind of painful if they bit Yeah, maybe, Billy.
We end every Good News episode with a recommendation. When
(07:55):
we walked into the studio to record this podcast, you
said to me, I have the best recommendation and I said, oh,
what is it? And you didn't give me the answer.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I know because I wanted to tell you on Mike
because it has been the thing that I've been recommending
to you in person every single day this week. Do
you know what it is? It is the interview that
The Diary of a CEO did with mister Beast. Now,
I have to say I was not super familiar with
the content of mister Beasts. Obviously, I knew that he
(08:26):
is the number one YouTuber in the world, but beyond that,
I had never really come across too many of his videos.
But I listened to this podcast episode. It was about
an hour and a half and I just thought it
was such a fascinating chat inside the mind of one
of the most successful content creators in the world, and
just hearing about how much effort he puts into every
(08:48):
single video and his mindset, and also just the impact
it has on his personal life, his travel schedule. It
was just so fascinating. Sam, I have been begging you
to listen to it all week, so that I had
someone to talk to about it. I just thought it
was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It feels like a good thing to listen to on
the Saturday after I listened to the good News podcast
from the Daily Lots. Yes, so I'll go for a
walk and I'll have a listen to it.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
It's only slightly longer than this podcast.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
I'm sure that tends to be the way with those
big pods. My recommendations a bit weird, but I wanted
to acknowledge the fact that right now there's a major
portion of the country that is facing some really terrible
days ahead after Cyclone Alfred made landfall, and the good
News recommendation is actually something I've picked up by looking
(09:33):
at what people are searching online in Australia, and one
of the most common searches over the last seventy two
hours is cyclone Alfred how to help? And I think that,
you know, Google trends show us sometimes what's in the
minds of people all around the country. And if that
doesn't tell you the way that Australians come together when
(09:55):
there is natural disasters, and we're going to see lots
of unifying behavior over the next couple of days as
we all lend a hand, as we all would want
to should something like that happen to us. So it's
not good news that there's been a big weather event,
but it is good news that it.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Are Australians are wanting to help.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Exactly exactly and the little clue through a Google trend
could be the little bit of light on your Saturday.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So nice a great way to end this podcast. Like
Sam said, we are thinking of all of those who
are in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales. We
hope you are staying safe during this massive weather event.
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of
The Daily os Our Good News podcast. We'll be back
on Monday with another deep dive, but until then, stay safe.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Bunjelung Kalguttin woman from Gadigol Country.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
The Daily os acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
the lands of the Gatigol people and pays respect to
all regional and torrest rate island and nations. We pay
our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both
past and present,
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