Global Good News Round Up
- Editor OGN Daily
- 5 days ago
- 6 min read
A quick summary of all the top good news stories from last week.
Health & Wellbeing
Senior Gamers: Data from the Entertainment Software Association shows that nearly half of Americans in their 60s and 70s play some form of PC, mobile, or console video game every week, as do 36 percent of people in their 80s. Apparently, there are positive health outcomes associated with gaming, particularly from social interactions, memorization, required reaction speed, and co-operative activities.
No Injection Needed: For those living with Type 1 diabetes, keeping blood sugar levels controlled is a daily, lifelong task. This can often be a difficult undertaking, especially for kids who are still learning about their bodies. So MIT researchers developed an implantable device that can stabilize blood sugar levels automatically, hopefully making it easier for patients to avoid life-threatening hypoglycemia in the future.
Hike or Detention? Traditional detention achieves little, according to a counselor at a high school in Maine. So, she is piloting a program that gets kids in nature instead, thinking that spending time outdoors might encourage the kids to open up about the problems they might be experiencing. While she doesn’t have enough data yet to determine if it’s a “success” as some may define it, students report fewer detentions and the hikes helping give them the time space to reflect that they couldn’t “just sitting in a classroom.”
Check Yourself: Following the deaths of her mother and grandmother from breast cancer, Leslie Holton made it her mission to help women do better breast self-exams. Two decades later, she's achieved her goal, working with University of Connecticut engineering seniors to create a virtual reality tool that reproduces the feeling of finding a tumor. The students are passionate about careers in women's health, Holton told The Washington Post, and she's thrilled that these "really, really smart" students are the future of STEM.
'Blue' Landscapes: A new study found that “blue” landscapes like beaches, rivers and lakes are powerful nostalgia triggers that also boost psychological well-being. “We expected people to be more often nostalgic for green places since so many studies emphasize the psychological benefits of green, natural environments,” said Elisabeta Militaru, who led the study. “We were surprised to find that blue places are the hallmark feature of place nostalgia.”
Mobile Banking: In 2010 about 10 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa had accounts, today it's 640 million, more than half the mobile money accounts in the world, reports Our World in Data. All this banking-without-banking-but-with-phones may seem boring until you get into the weeds about how being able to move money with accounts like these massively reduces poverty: think 'students can now go to school' and 'migrants can move to wealthier places and send back remittances to their families.'
Sleep Trigger: Despite decades of research, scientists haven’t been able to identify a concrete, physical reason why the brain demands rest. However, a new study found that the pressure to sleep may come from deep inside our brain cells. The mitochondria - responsible for converting oxygen into energy - sound an alarm when they’ve reached their limit and need to rest. Their alarm = electrons. They leak electrons, and it cues the brain to initiate sleep.
Morale Dog: A shelter dog made history as the first-ever “morale dog” stationed on a US Navy ship. Raider has been training to go to the bathroom on a “potty patch,” to wear booties to protect his feet from hot surfaces, to wear eye protection, and to get used to all the noises on the ship.
Free Air Quality App: We all want to breathe clean air, and this widget will show you the air quality in your location. However, it’s only available for iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and macOS: Breathable
Watchdog Bites: An advert by giant UK high street retailer Marks & Spencer has been banned for featuring an “irresponsible” image of a model who appeared “unhealthily thin”. OGN won't publish the image, but it is good to know that the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form and M&S must ensure all its images “did not portray models as being unhealthily thin”.
Ancient & Modern
Artificial Intelligence: According to a new study, teachers who use AI can save 5.9 hours per week, equivalent to six weeks per school year. And that they can invest the time saved to do an even better job.
Ancient Aqueduct: Athens is tapping into its 2,000-year-old Roman engineering to preserve and supply water, reduce city temperatures, and create more green spaces.
Wildlife & Conservation
First-Ever Image: A photographer in Australia has become the first person to capture a photo of a marsupial in the wild exhibiting biofluorescence. It's an eastern quoll, a carnivorous marsupial native to Tasmania. Using invisible ultraviolet light, the photographer captured the mammal glowing in the dark.
Tiger Recovery: Thailand's tiger population has increased fivefold in 15 years, reports the Bangkok Post. The tiger population in Thailand's Western Forest Complex has increased from approximately 40 individuals in 2007 to between 179 and 223 last year. WWF's Tigers Alive initiative leader calls the increase "extraordinary".
Med Marine Reserves: Two marine reserves have been created in the Mediterranean Sea after the Greek prime minister fulfilling a promise he made at a United Nations conference on the oceans in June. The new protected areas - in the Ionian Sea and in the Southern Cyclades in the Aegean Sea - would be "among the largest marine protected areas in the entire Mediterranean."
Conservation Success: A bird that was eaten to extinction in Scotland is staging a “remarkable” comeback. The crane - a mainstay of medieval banquets - was absent from Scotland for around 500 years, but is now re-establishing itself in the country amid ongoing efforts to restore wetland habitats. “The return of this iconic species to Scotland is one of the great modern conservation success stories,” the RSPB’s James Silvey told STV News.
Climate & Renewable Energy
Climate Mystery: A 1.5 million year old ice core has arrived in the UK where scientists will melt it to unlock vital information about Earth's climate. In a remarkable feat of engineering, a team of European scientists extracted a 1.74 mile long (2.8km) cylinder, or core, of ice - that's longer than eight Eiffel Towers stacked on top of one another - from the Antarctic.
Europe's Sunshine: For the first time, sunlight has generated more electricity in Europe than any other source. Research from energy analysts Ember shows that solar’s share of the electricity mix in June was 22.1%, ahead of nuclear (21.8%), wind (15.8%), gas (14.4%). Coal had its lowest share of electricity generation on record at 6.1%. Meanwhile, according to Lauri Myllyvirta of the Asia Society Policy Institute, China added enough wind and solar in May (alone) to meet the equivalent of Poland’s annual electricity needs.
"Era of Climate Impunity is Over": The world’s highest court rules that if governments fail to curb emissions, approve new fossil fuel projects, and roll out public money for oil and gas, then they could be in breach of international law.
"Flailing and Failing”: “Fossil fuels are running out of road”, the UN secretary-general António Guterres said this week, as research showed that renewables accounted for 92.5 percent of all new electricity capacity in 2024. “Countries that cling to fossil fuels are not protecting their economies - they are sabotaging them,” said Guterres. “The fossil fuel age is flailing and failing.”
Repurposing Landfill: Plans have been revealed in England to grow fruit and vegetables using "cleaned" carbon dioxide in greenhouses above a landfill in what it is claimed will be a "world first".
Miscellaneous
New Football Record: In a reflection of where the women’s game is heading, Arsenal have broken the women’s global transfer record with the signing of Olivia Smith from Liverpool for £1 million.
Automakers Respond to Demand: Even though cars are becoming more and more advanced, people really just seem to want their vehicles to have ample and diverse cupholder space - and better proprioception.
And Finally...
Predicting Life in 2025: Nearly a century years ago, various scientists, doctors and deep thinkers dared to imagine what life would be like in 2025. Some proved to be weirdly accurate.