Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • The United States saw a 3.3% drop in homelessness, marking the first decrease since 2016. AP.
  • After peaking in 2021, the combined age-adjusted rate of deaths from alcohol, drugs, and suicide declined by 16 percent in 2024. Trust for America’s Health.
  • Electric vehicles cut pollution in China and prevent 260,000 premature deaths. Nature.
  • Pakistan imported more Chinese solar panels than any other country on earth in 2025. No subsidy program drove it. No national rooftop scheme. No feed-in tariff. People just did it. Bright Spots.
  • The New Zealand orange-fronted parakeet has twice been declared extinct, only to be rediscovered. Now, a pair of super breeders named Nacho and Trixie have produced 55 chicks, making them responsible for more than 10 percent of the total population. France 24.
  • New solar desalination breakthrough makes fresh water without toxic brine. ScienceDaily.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • A combination of vaccine and immunotherapy for skin cancer helped reduce risk of cancer spreading to another part of the body ​by 59% after five years of follow-up. Reuters.
  • Experimental hepatitis B drug may offer functional cure for some patients. AP.
  • Papua New Guinea has reduced its malaria death rate from 13 to one per 100,000 over 25 years. The National.
  • 58% of the global population now has access to safe sanitation up from only 31% in 2000. Our World in Data.
  • One of the world’s largest deep-sea coral reefs has been discovered off the coast of Argentina—and it’s home to dozens of species new to science. Mongabay.
  • Once endangered, the IUCN has formally reclassified the green sea turtle as Least Concern. It skipped two classifications entirely, jumping straight from Endangered to Least Concern without pausing at Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Rolf Skeldon.
  • West London’s Greenford Tube station used to flood whenever it rained heavily. After a family of beavers resettled nearby built a dam, the flooding stopped. NPR.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

The Devil Sat on My Bed by Erin E. Stiles

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

This is a collection of miracle stories told by Mormons living in Cache Valley. Stiles isn’t a Mormon herself, but presents Mormon beliefs respectfully. Since I grew up Mormon, I found much of this book to be unnecessary since I already know the Mormon beliefs she describes. I’d say this is largely written for a non-Mormon audience, although Mormons will still find some stories they haven’t heard before. It was interesting to read an anthropologist discussing Mormonism like it’s an exotic culture when I was raised in it.

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Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

“To go to war is easy. It is peace that is hard.”

This is very reminiscent of Dune at first. There’s mentats (called scholiasts), sword masters, transparent shields that block fast projectiles but not swords, and a ban on thinking machines due to trouble in the past. The saying “Fear is the death of reason” replaces Dune’s “Fear is the mind killer.” Doctors also have a symbol tattooed on their foreheads. Moisture‐recycling clothing gets mentioned and the hero has a vision of countless billions of deaths that will occur in the future.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • New HIV infections fell by 40% between 2010 and 2024. WHO.
  • Gambia reports 46% drop in malaria cases in a single year. The Voice.
  • South Korea cut stroke deaths by more than 80%. The Formula.
  • Oklahoma is now the 17th state in the United States to ban child marriage. Oklahoma Voice.
  • South Africa’s share of people living below the food poverty line fell from 27.4% in 2006 to 17.6% in 2023. The Citizen.
  • China’s transition away from oil has cut PM2.5 concentrations by 23.8% and carbon monoxide by 30.7% across 150 cities, preventing an estimated 262,000 deaths. Nature.
  • China added a Germany-sized electricity grid last year. Almost all of it came from low-carbon sources. Our World in Data.
  • A modified algae is a ‘little vacuum’ for microplastics. Nebraska Public Media.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

We Ate the Dark by Mallory Pearson

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment

“The floor creaked down the hall, the kind of sound her mom would have told her was settling. Cass found it to have the opposite effect.”

Frankie’s twin sister Sofia disappeared years ago. Now, her body has finally been discovered inside a tree in an old abandoned house. Frankie reconnects with her old friends Poppy and Cass and new friend Marya to investigate what happened to her sister. Since the body doesn’t provide any additional clues, it’s not clear why Frankie didn’t investigate Sofia’s disappearance sooner, but whatever.

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Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Colombia’s multidimensional poverty rate has dropped from 29.7% in 2010 to 9.9% last year. Colombia Reports.
  • Violent crime rates continue to plunge in America’s big cities. Axios.
  • Australia, the first ever country to roll out a national HPV vaccination program, is now seeing zero cervical cancer in women under 25. BBC.
  • Mariska Hargitay’s Joyful Heart Foundation has successfully achieved rape kit reform in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. People.
  • Wind and solar have saved UK from gas imports worth £1.7bn since Iran war began. CarbonBrief.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.

Good News Friday

~ D. J. Moore ~ Leave a comment
  • Maternal and neonatal tetanus eliminated in South Sudan and Sudan. Unicef.
  • Jamaica’s murder rate dropped 40% compared to the previous year. The Gleaner.
  • The worldwide teen pregnancy rate has fallen by over one-third since 2000. Our World in Data.
  • European Parliament backs EU-wide conversion therapy ban. Washington Blade.
  • India went from 15% to 70% Internet access in a decade, mostly through mobile phones. Our World in Data.
  • AI finds signs of pancreatic cancer up to three years before tumors develop. NBC News.

For more good news, check out Fix the News and The Progress Network.