Good News Friday

  • Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year. Our World in Data.
  • Global suicide rates have declined by 29% since 2000. WHO (PDF link).
  • Record decrease in Brazil deforestation in 2024. Hurriyet Daily News.
  • The Brazilian state of Pará registers nearly 30% reduction in pollutant gas emissions over the last 20 years. Agência Pará.
  • In India, the hargila, also known as the greater adjutant stork, is no longer endangered. Mongabay.
  • Once the world’s most endangered feline, the Iberian lynx is now off the critically endangered list, thanks to re-wilding programs across Spain and Portugal. Portugal News.
  • US doctors rewrite DNA of infant with severe genetic disorder in medical first. The Guardian.
  • Scientists identify language-like chatter among dolphins. Oceanographic.

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

Good News Friday

  • Fatal overdoses in the US fall to prepandemic levels. The Wall Street Journal.
  • This year there have been zero deadly public mass shootings in the US. The Washington Post.
  • The PKK Kurdish militant group will disarm and disband as part of a peace initiative with Turkey ending four decades of hostilities. AP.
  • Over the decade running up to 2025, projects financed by the African Development Bank Group have provided breakthrough access to drinking water and sanitation for 96.2 million people. AFDB.
  • Violent crime is falling rapidly across America. The Economist.

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

Good News Friday

  • Over the past decade, India has lifted 171 million people out of extreme poverty. World Bank Group.
  • The national maternal mortality ratio in Sudan declined significantly by nearly 60% from 2009 to 2019. BMC Public Health.
  • New RSV vaccine, treatment linked to dramatic fall in baby hospitalizations. Ars Technica.
  • Traffic fatalities are a choice. Between 1990 and 2017, traffic fatalities dropped in countries that adopted the Safe System approach: Australia by 47%, New Zealand by 48%, Sweden by 67%, the Netherlands by 55%, and in Spain by 80%. Asterisk.
  • With 70% dip in cases, Kerala set to eliminate rheumatic fever. The New Indian Express.
  • Missouri legislature votes to ban child marriage. St. Louis Public Radio.
  • Kenya more than doubled electricity access over a decade. Forbes.
  • How Hungary became the world’s solar energy leader. The Progress Playbook.
  • Canada’s two largest provinces, Alberta and Ontario, have stopped using coal for electricity generation. 440.

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

Good News Friday

  • In 2023, vaccination saved at least 1.8 million lives in the African region. WHO.
  • Since 2000, malaria cases in Southeast Asia have dropped by nearly 80%. Think Global Health.
  • In Nepal, electricity access has now reached 97.5% of municipalities. In 2016 only 58% of households had electricity access. Makalu Khabar.
  • Drones are helping rural women in India boost their income and India’s agricultural productivity. One drone is able to cover five acres in the time it takes five people to cover half an acre. Gates Notes.
  • Maternal deaths decreased by 56% in the Ashanti region of Ghana in less than four years due to medical drone deliveries. BMC Health Services Research.
  • New Mexico has approved three bipartisan bills that will extend clean water protections, create a state-run pollution prevention program to conserve river systems, and invest $50 million in wildlife crossings. Pew.
  • Solar electricity production in Europe during the first quarter of 2025 was up by over 30% from the same months in 2024. Reuters.
  • Latin America has went from just one gigawatt of solar power in 2017 to 31.8 GW by 2023. Dialogue Earth.
  • Japan’s greenhouse gas emissions fall to record low. Reuters.
  • 50 states, 50 fixes. The New York Times.
  • A veterinarian in Rwanda has tripled the population of the endangered gray crowned crane in less than ten years. Mongabay.
  • After a century, Cook Islands’ atoll officially rat free. Fruits and vegetables are now flourishing without rat damage and wildlife is rebounding. New Zealand Department of Conservation.
  • Self-driving cars reduced property damage claims by 88% and bodily injury claims by 92% compared to human drivers. Clean Technica.
  • Eighteen years ago, Tim Friede began willingly injecting himself with escalating doses of venom from 16 snake species. Now, antibodies in his blood have led to the development of a three-part antivenom cocktail capable of protecting mice from the toxins of a variety of dangerous snakes. Fierce Biotech.

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

The Simpsons Season 5

Sideshow Bob returns yet again in “Cape Feare” (S5, E2) and this time he wants to kill Bart. There’s a scene in which Bob repeatedly steps on rakes that smack him in the face that went on way too long. This was done to pad out the episode which was originally too short. It was hilarious to me that the scene went on so long when it first aired, but on a rewatch, this sort of thing is less funny.

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Good News Friday

  • From 2018 to 2022, cancer death rates in the US decreased an average of 1.7% per year for men and an average of 1.3% per year for women. NIH.
  • Poverty has declined for all Indians since 2012, from 30.4% to 3.9% in rural areas, and from 26.4% to 3.9% in urban areas. The Indian Express.
  • From 2008 to 2023, multidimensional poverty in Latin America dropped from 45.8% to 25.4%. UNDP.
  • A Cleveland, Ohio housing initiative got over 150 unhoused people into housing a year ahead of schedule. Good Good Good.
  • Between 2019 and 2022, a collaborative project between Kenya, South Korea and UNICEF enabled over 232,000 people to gain improved water access through solar-powered boreholes. UNICEF.
  • In 2024 in San Francisco, violent crime fell by 14%. SF Chronicle.
  • Saiga antelope numbers increased from just 30,000 in 2006 to nearly 4 million today. Mongabay.
  • Electric trains in California cut 89% of toxic air pollution. Interesting Engineering.

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