• Seven amazing trends the media ignores that’ll make you feel great about the future. Upworthy.
• The number of tobacco smokers worldwide is falling by about 5 million people a year. Euronews.
• mRNA vaccine against tick bites could help prevent Lyme disease. New Scientist.
• Green Jobs offer ex-offenders a career path after prison. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• As cities wrestle with how to reform policing to reduce the use of lethal force, Albuquerque has created a new kind of responder on the streets. It sends behavioral specialists to deal with calls that involve emergencies like mental health issues and homelessness. Christian Science Monitor.
• Virginia will expand Medicaid coverage up to a year after pregnancy. Virginia Mercury.
• New HIV jabs taken two months apart hailed as huge step forward. The Guardian.
• After record low, monarch butterflies return to California. NBC News.
• Nurse salaries rise as demand for their services soars during Covid-19 pandemic. The Wall Street Journal.
• New law in Kenya allows refugees to work. VOA.

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• This injectable gel reversed paralysis in mice. Humans could be next. Daily Beast.
• Water chlorination has cut mortality rates for children under five in certain Kenyan villages by 63%. Vox.
• Cancer deaths in U.S. fall overall by 27% over last 50 years. UPI.
• Presumed extinct, the tentacled butterfly ray comes back from the dead. Hakai.
• Airless puncture-proof tires may be on your car by 2024. Big Think.
• Beavers return to Nottinghamshire for first time in 400 years. BBC.

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• In 2021, 147 countries have improved their overall score on the Social Progress Index since previous indices. Social Progress Imperative.
• HPV vaccine saves thousands of women from cervical cancer, UK study shows. The Guardian.
• Tucson OK’s measure to gradually raise minimum wage to $15 AP.
• Hiring grows in U.S. as employers add 531,000 jobs, beating expectations. NBC News.
• Firefighting robots go autonomous. Scientific American.
• A father and son in remote Siberia are trying to engineer an ice age ecosystem. Peer-reviewed scientific papers show they are slowing global warming. Reuters.
• Japan start-up designs wind turbine that can harness typhoon energy. Reuters.
• 20 recent justice reform measures to celebrate. The Innocence Project.

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• Insecticide-spraying drones have reduced malaria incidence in Rwanda by 90.6%. Freethink.
• Solar pumps are helping Kenya’s farmers access water. Good Good Good.
• Egypt has ended their 2017 state of emergency which curtailed constitutional rights. Aljazeera.
• Stacey Abrams group donates $1.34M to wipe out medical debts. AP.
• Thanks to science, cancer deaths are rapidly decreasing. Good Good Good.
• This new concrete soaks up a greenhouse gas. Freethink.
• US wages jump by the most in records dating back 20 years. AP.
• COVID-19 pandemic drove flu to historic lows, and may have eliminated one virus type completely. ABC Science.
• In Senegal, rate of access to sanitation in urban areas has risen from 61.7% in 2013 to 74% in 2020, and in rural areas from 38.7% to 50.7% during the same period. Afrik21.
• Strokes are the second-leading cause of death worldwide, but between 1990 and 2019, the age-standardized incidence of strokes has decreased by 17%, and deaths by 36%. The Lancet.
• In Pakistan between 1990 and 2019, life expectancy at birth increased by 7.2 years, average schooling increased by 2.9 years, average income rose by 64%, and poverty declined from over 50% to just over 20%. UNDP.
• The Saharan gazelle saved from extinction in southern Spain. El Pais.
• For the first time in 60 years, cheetahs have returned to Mozambique. Daily Maverick.
• Sea turtle populations are thriving in Cape Verde, with the number of nests increasing from 10,000 to almost 200,000 in the past six years. The Guardian.

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• In the 17 advanced economies recently surveyed, wide majorities now describe where they live “as benefiting from people of different ethnic groups, religions, and races.” Pew Research Center.
• A half-mile installation just took 20,000 pounds of plastic out of the Pacific — proof that ocean garbage can be cleaned. Business Insider.
• Vast area of Atlantic to be protected in effort to protect 5 million seabirds. The Irish Times.
• Wooden knives that are three times sharper than steel ones could help cut energy use and plastic cutlery waste. New Scientist.
• California Writes Off $534M in Justice Debt for Low-Income Residents. The Crime Report.
• We could see planes fueled by captured CO2 in 2022. Free Think.
• A group in the Philippines is turning plastic waste into building materials. Reuters.
• Researchers are teaching cows to pee in designated places where the urine can be collected and neutralized, sharply reducing methane emissions. Reasons to be Cheerful.

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• Four years after the start of the #MeToo movement, about half of all Americans are more likely to speak up about sexual harrassment. AP.
• Pig heart valves are routinely transplanted into humans. Now, surgeons have successfully attached a pig kidney to a human. In the future, genetically-engineered pigs could be used to save the lives of those who need organ donations. The New York Times.
• Benton Harbor, Michigan is finally getting lead-free water lines. The Guardian.
• Vaccines may have prevented a quarter-million Covid-19 cases and 39,000 deaths among seniors. CNN.
• A group of “holistic engineers” want to regreen the arid Sinai peninsula in the same way the Loess Plateau was regreened. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Kristine Tompkins has conserved more land than any other single individual. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Alabama’s free pre-K stands out as a model for long-term, bipartisan success. The Hechinger Report.

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• The first malaria vaccine has been approved and it’s expected to save tens of thousands of young children’s lives each year. Washington Post.
• Natural bacteria could wipe out dengue-carrying mosquitoes, Australian research suggests. The Guardian.
• 43 fish stocks have been rebuilt since the year 2000. Now, 84 percent of stocks are no longer overfished. Reasons to be Cheerful.
• Wild Amur tigers rebound in China. Mongabay.
• Scientists have created a hydrogel tablet that can purify a liter of river water in an hour. UT News.
• A professor has developed smart microscope slides that help to detect cancer. Medical Xpress.
• The nonprofit Sungai Watch, based in Bali, Indonesia, has created a new system for collecting plastic waste out of rivers which also employs people who lost their tourism jobs due to Covid. Hakai.
• Haiti, which experienced the largest cholera epidemic ever recorded in a single country, hasn’t had a single case of cholera since January 2019. World Bank.
• 84% of countries experienced better air quality in 2020 compared to 2019, due to COVID lockdowns. CNN.
• More than 110,000 landmines were destroyed globally last year, a new annual record. ReliefWeb.
• Three years ago, Pakistan launched the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami, a plan to reforest vast swathes of one of the most deforested countries in the world. They’re on track to plant 1.5 billion trees by the end of 2021. Dunya.
• The population of the critically endangered Grauer’s gorilla has doubled, with current numbers of 6,800 up from 3,800 in 2016. Mongabay.
• The 2020 US Census shows a 13% drop in the total number of incarcerated people, or nearly 300,000 fewer people, compared with the 2010 Census. The Marshall Project.

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• The New Ireland province in Papau New Guinea has severely reduced transmission of lymphatic filariasis which causes elephantiasis. WHO.
• In just ten days, Zimbabwe has managed to vaccinate four million kids and teenagers against typhoid and cholera. WHO.
• Global cases of cholera plummeted by almost two thirds last year, thanks to a 68% decrease in cases in Yemen, and a 23% decrease from all other countries. WHO.
• A court in Jakarta has ruled that the Indonesian government is required to tighten national air quality standards to protect human health and the environment. The Independent.
• More than 99.5% of people in Bangladesh now have access to electricity, up from 47% before 2009. New Age.
• 85,000 adults with disabilities were able to vote for the first time in the recent German election. DW.
• 362,000 marijuana cases in New Jersey have been dismissed and 1,200 people released from probation as new drug laws take effect. NJ.
• The Philippine Senate has approved a bill to raise the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old. Benar News.
• Elderly black women now have equal access to matrimonial property in South Africa. Berea Mail.
• Ford is spending $11.4 billion to build two new factories in Tennessee and Kentucky for batteries and electric pickup trucks. Together, they’ll create over 11,000 jobs. The Atlantic.

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• Malaria cases are way down. The Progress Network.
• 94% of Americans now support interracial marriage. Gallup.
• L.A. County D.A. to dismiss 60,000 unjust marijuana convictions. The Los Angeles Times.
• We have hit “peak car”. People are driving less and the trend is expected to continue. Big Think.
• Little fluffy clouds may help save Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Reuters.

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Good news everybody!

• Renewable energy is now much cheaper than fossil fuels. The Crucial Years.
• Most CO2 from Australia’s megafires has been offset by algal blooms. New Scientist.
• Guinea declares end of Marburg virus outbreak. Reuters.
• Scientists created the world’s whitest paint. It could eliminate the need for air conditioning. USA Today.

For more good news, check out The Progress Network and Future Crunch.