The Sundance Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the United States, which means it typically features plenty of gems that will go on to dominate box offices and movie lovers' Letterboxd accounts. The 2025 festival, which wraps up on Sunday, has been no different, and you can actually get a taste of this year's documentary offerings without having to travel to Utah. Learn how and read about some of the buzziest movies available to the public.
Must Reads
Whether or not you consider yourself a "winter person," these Nordic paintings capture the season's ineffable beauty
It sometimes feels like there's no end to the tragedies dominating news headlines — and that's the very reason Nice News exists. But some disasters, like Wednesday's heartbreaking plane crash near Reagan National Airport, can be more difficult to process. Skimming a few positive headlines may help (we hope), but it's natural to feel a sense of mourning while reading about these public tragedies and seeing the footage, even though we may not be personally affected. Rebecca Soffer, the co-founder of Modern Loss, describes this as "collective grief." It can happen as a result of tragedies like the plane crash, health crises like the pandemic, and even the deaths of beloved celebrities or public figures. "If it feels like grief to you, it probably is," Soffer said in a blog post from 1-800-Flowers, noting that distressing news stories can also trigger memories of past traumas. "These are real feelings that deserve validation." So how do you grieve something that didn't actually happen to you? Start by validating how you're feeling — there's no need to judge the grief you're experiencing or compare it to those who are intimately affected — and reflecting on why you might be having a strong reaction. It can then be helpful to set limits on how much news you consume; consider checking in on updates once a day rather than keeping up 24/7. Soffer also recommends channeling your feelings into action when applicable, using meditation techniques to stay in the present, and reaching out to your community for support. It's times like these that we need to lean on our people most.
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Scientists Can Now See the World From a Penguin's Perspective
Dabkowski et. al / PeerJ
Ever wonder what it's like to be a bird? Us too. Now, scientists are closer to experiencing the world from a penguin's perspective, thanks to PenguCams. The small, lightweight camerasoffer a peek at the world through the beloved birds' eyes and a better understanding of what drives the decisions they make during foraging. "We created a new way to study marine predators through animal-borne camera footage," researcher Owen Dabkowski said in a statement. The system his team developed tracks penguin eating habits — specifically how much prey they consume, where they find it, and the amount of energy they expend in the process. The cameras also feature "correction factors" that calculate the distance between a penguin's beak and the camera, allowing scientists to take a freeze frame of its prey before it is consumed and measure its size in pixels. "This new way of utilizing animal-borne camera footage can help us better appreciate the complexities of the marine world," Dabkowski explained in an interview, adding that the invention can help inform new policies and impact future conservation and species management efforts.
Environment
Mud May Be an Environmentally Friendly Way to Cut Construction Costs
Mariia Skovpen/ iStock
What's the secret to building concrete-based buildings quickly and efficiently, while cutting costs and reducing carbon emissions? According to researchers from MIT, it may be mud. "It has the potential for immediate impact and doesn't require changing the nature of the construction industry," Sandy Curth, an MIT doctoral student involved in testing out the material, said in a news release. To come to this conclusion, the team figured out a way to make molds for concrete (aka "formwork") out of lightly treated mud and soil from construction sites. Once the materials were gathered, the researchers used a large-scale 3D-printer to craft customized shapes. The process, dubbed the "EarthWorks" method, can serve as a replacement for the expensive and time-consuming effort of making wooden formwork. "What we've demonstrated is that we can essentially take the ground we're standing on, or waste soil from a construction site, and transform it into accurate, highly complex, and flexible formwork for customized concrete structures," Curth said. Plus, she added, EarthWorks features an environmental benefit: "We found a way to make formwork that is infinitely recyclable. It's just dirt." See the 3D-printing in action.
Global Good
🇳🇿 Daydream material: New Zealand relaxed its visa rules for remote workers to court "digital nomads" (read more)
🇬🇧 Speaking of dreams, 200 U.K. companies across myriad industries have transitioned to a four-day workweek (read more)
🇹🇭 A new high-speed railway connecting Thailand to China is expected to be up and running in 2030 (read more)
🇵🇭 Indigenous communities in the Philippines launched a tree-planting campaign to prevent urban flooding (read more)
🇨🇦 A charitable quilting guild in Canada has donated nearly 2,000 quilts to people in need (read more)
Something We Love
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Inspiring Story
The Recording Academy's 2025 Music Educator Award goes to …
… Adrian Maclin, a music teacher at Cordova High School in Memphis, Tennessee. "We don't refer to ourselves as a choir class," the educator of nearly 20 years said. "We refer to ourselves as a choir family." Learn more about how Maclin is taking teaching to the next level.
Photo of the Day
AP Photo/Travis Heying
The Wichita, Kansas, community came together yesterday for a vigil honoring the 67 lives lost in Wednesday's plane crash, which involved an Army helicopter and an American Airlines aircraft flying from Wichita to Washington, D.C. After calling for attendees to gather for a "united community prayer," Mayor Lily Wu said the crash was a "truly tragic event that has affected Wichitans, Kansans, Americans, and all who live here on Earth." "The only way we will get through this is together — together as one," pastor Pamela Hughes Mason, pictured here with Wu, said earlier in vigil. Watch a video of the touching ceremony.
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