Good News Friday

  • New mosquito nets saved an estimated 25,000 lives from 2019 to 2022. Gates Foundation.
  • Since 1979, Bangladesh has reduced under-five mortality by 85% and increased life expectancy from 47 to nearly 74 years. Gavi.
  • Poland’s GDP per capita has more than doubled since it joined the European Union in 2004. Our World in Data.
  • Jamaica’s poverty rate for 2023 was estimated at 8.2 per cent, a decline from 16.7 per cent in 2021. Magnetic Media.
  • Colorado cactus removed from endangered species list after nearly 50 years. KDVR.
  • Vatican City has joined Albania, Bhutan, Nepal, Paraguay, Iceland, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to become one of just eight countries in the world to generate 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. Clean Technica.
  • South America sets historic benchmark: zero new coal plants planned. Clean Technica.
  • Just over a decade ago, almost half of Greece’s power came from coal. This has now fallen to 6%. Our World in Data.
  • California has nearly 50% more public EV chargers than gas nozzles. Green Car Reports.
  • Infrared contact lens lets humans see in the dark. DW.

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

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.

Lives of the Presidents by Julian De Vries

Lives of the Presidents by Julian De Vries was published in 1940, so it only covers the presidents up to FDR, with each president getting an average of 8 pages each. He provides no citations or bibliography, so it feels like an amateur effort. Of the 30 presidents he covers, only ten of the presidents get ten or more pages (the first 7 presidents, Lincoln, Grant, and FDR), giving the impression that the most important period of American history is the beginning. He devotes 29 pages to Andrew Jackson, 21 to Thomas Jefferson, and 18 to John Adams so they must be his favorites. Four of the presidents only get 3 pages each (Pierce, Buchanan, Teddy Roosevelt, and Harding) so they must be his least favorite. Why does Theodore Roosevelt only get two and a half pages while Andrew Jackson gets 29?

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Good News Friday

  • New Mexico made childcare free. It lifted 120,000 people above the poverty line. The Guardian.
  • Burundi’s under-five mortality rates have significantly declined, from 143 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2002, to 50 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2022. Vaccination is considered the leading factor in the significant decline. Gavi.
  • Denmark could eradicate cervical cancer by 2040. CTV News.
  • Kuwait and Portugal ban child marriage.
  • Paris air pollution is down 50% after its radical bike-friendly transformation. Fast Company.
  • One of Brazil’s rarest parrots almost doubled in 20 years, taking the bird from “endangered” to “near threatened” status. Mongabay.
  • In Japan, induced pluripotent stem cells are being tested to treat blindness, paralysis, Parkinson’s disease and more. Approvals might be around the corner. Nature.

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

Good News Friday

  • In the past decade, social protection coverage reached 4.7 billion people in low- and middle-income countries, the highest point in history. World Bank.
  • The number of people in Indonesia living in extreme poverty has fallen from 120 million in 1984 to just 5 million in 2023. Our World in Data.
  • Since 2010, the South-East Asia region has recorded a 53% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio, a 44% reduction in the neonatal mortality rate, a 39% reduction in the stillbirth rate, and a 49% reduction in the under-five mortality rate. WHO.
  • New vaccine exceeds 95% efficacy in preventing infection from the deadliest variant of Ebola. Gavi.
  • A flu strain has likely gone extinct since 2020. Our World in Data.
  • In the US, a nonprofit has struck a deal to pay off $30 billion worth of unpaid medical bills for an estimated 20 million people. NPR.
  • Kenya’s electricity access rose from 37% in 2013 to 79% in 2023, with full access achieved in urban areas. Energy Monitor.
  • New law will provide free school lunch for 40,000 students in Utah. KSL.
  • India overtakes Germany to become 3rd-largest generator of wind, solar power. The Hindu.
  • Florida built more large-scale solar than California last year, despite state leadership opposed to climate action. Canary Media.
  • Pakistan added 22 gigawatts worth of solar panels in a single year, more than Canada has installed in total. Clean Technica.
  • The Ocean Cleanup says it can clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years. Good Good Good.
  • Plastic pollution littering Australian coastlines has dropped by 39% over the last decade. Oceanographic.
  • Scientists invent edible ‘squid shell biofilm’ to double shelf-life of strawberries — without changing their taste. Good Good Good.
  • How Japan built a 3D-printed train station in 6 hours. The New York Times.
  • Astronomers have found signs of biological activity on a planet 124 light years from Earth, in what they call the strongest evidence yet of extraterrestrial life. Financial Times.

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