Global Good News Summary

A quick synopsis of all the top good news of last week from around the world.

In a week when the final resting place of Captain James Cook's HMS Endeavour has finally been confirmed - after years of hot debate - archaeologists have announced the discovery of previously unknown archaeological structures belonging to a mysterious civilization at Gran Pajatén, a pre-Columbian settlement in the remote reaches of the Peruvian Andes, there's been lots of other good news...

Health & Wellbeing

Rosemary: The plant is gaining recognition for its major health benefits. Research suggests rosemary may even hold promise in the fight against Alzheimer’s.

Free School Meals: ​The UK government expanded its free school meals to 500,000 more of the country’s poorest children to give them “the nutrition they need to thrive”.

Mucus is Good News: From cancer to COVID, mucus (yes, mucus) could transform medicine, says New Scientist. Researchers are uncovering the surprising power of mucus to neutralise viruses, block bacteria, and reduce inflammation. Its unique structure helps prevent infections by keeping microbes from sticking to cells. Synthetic versions are already being developed for treating cancer, healing wounds, and protecting against viruses.

End of Epidemic? US health officials approve twice-a-year preventive HIV shot after clinical trials showed a reduction of at least 96 percent in new infections; researchers say it may bring a long-sought end to the AIDS epidemic.

New Treatment: In a world first, England’s National Health Service has approved a new treatment for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. Aptly named “Trojan horse” therapy, the cutting-edge medicine sneakily delivers toxic drugs inside cancerous cells to kill them. Although myeloma is currently considered incurable, this infusion therapy is being hailed as a milestone for two main reasons: Clinical trials showed it can both halt the blood cancer for nearly three times as long as current therapies (from 13 months to three years) and reduce negative side effects.

Smoking Bans: Effective 1st July, France will ban smoking in all outdoor places frequented by children (beaches, parks, public gardens, outside schools, bus stops, sports venues), and Spain is moving forward with plans to ban smoking and vaping in bar and restaurant terraces.

Child Marriage: Bolivia’s Congress has advanced legislation to ban child marriage, raising the legal age to 18 without exceptions. The move follows similar reforms in Colombia and would close one of South America’s last remaining legal gaps on child marriage, reports Latin Times.

Oceans

High Seas Treaty: 50 countries - plus the European Union - have now ratified the UN’s High Seas Treaty, aimed at protecting international waters that cover nearly half the planet’s surface, and beyond the jurisdiction of any single country. The agreement needs at least 60 countries to ratify it to enter into force. Director of the High Seas Alliance Rebecca Hubbard called the ratifications a “powerful victory”.

Whale Superhighways: In a breakthrough for marine conservation, a global coalition led by WWF has launched BlueCorridors.org – a cutting-edge digital platform that maps whale migration routes, or ‘blue corridors’, for the first time using over 30 years of tracking data. By layering this with information on marine threats and conservation zones, the platform offers governments, researchers, and NGOs an unprecedented tool to safeguard these vital migratory paths.

World's Largest MPA: French Polynesia has announced the creation of the world’s largest marine protected area. The MPA will cover the entirety of the country's exclusive economic zone, almost 2 million square miles, and will restrict extractive practices like deep-sea mining and bottom-trawling. Of that, says Time, 425,000 square miles will be designated as a highly or fully protected area, where only traditional coastal fishing, ecotourism, and scientific exploration will be allowed.

10 New Marine Preserves: Biodiverse waters off the coast of Portugal, Colombia and São Tomé and Príncipe are to be protected after the three nations announced new marine reserves at the UN World Ocean Conference in Nice, France.

Wildlife & Conservation

Credit: Nature

Not Extinct! Biologists have confirmed the ‘rediscovery’ of Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna, one of the world's very few egg-laying mammals. By combining camera traps with indigenous knowledge, researchers obtained the footage in New Guinea.

Sentient Beings: Italy strengthens animal cruelty laws with harsher penalties, reports World Animal News. Italy has enacted new legislation imposing stricter penalties for animal cruelty, including fines up to €60,000 and prison terms of up to four years. The law redefines animals as sentient beings with rights.

Ecological Corridor: The Kyrgyz Republic has announced the creation of a vast ecological corridor covering over 3,000 square miles, marking a major step forward in the Central Asian nation's conservation efforts. This new corridor will be of significant benefit to the snow leopard - classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN - and its prey, such as the Asiatic ibex and argali sheep.

Environment & Sustainability

'Cultured' Salmon: Lab-grown salmon cleared for sale in the United States. The FDA has approved Wildtype’s salmon for commercial sale, paving the way for the world’s first commercial sales of cell-based seafood. The company says its sushi-grade product will debut in restaurants this year.

Biodegradable Plastic: Reuters reports that scientists in Japan have created a biodegradable plastic that completely dissolves in seawater within hours. Unlike existing bioplastics, it leaves no microplastics or toxins behind. The innovation could revolutionise marine packaging and fishing gear - two major contributors to ocean waste - and is already being tested for real-world use.

Wooden Blades: Wooden wind turbine blades are set to transform renewable energy manufacturing, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional metal components. Developed by Senvion and Voodin Blade Technology, these innovative blades promise lower costs, reduced emissions, and potential economic opportunities in green technology.

World's First: An environmental technology firm has launched a microplastic recycling facility in Cornwall, England. "This facility proves that it's not too late to act, and that we can build commercially viable solutions that protect the planet."

New Packaging: NantBioRenewables has developed the world's first carbon-negative compostable meat tray that removes CO2 from the atmosphere during production - instead of adding to pollution.

Space

Artificial Solar Eclipse: Two satellites’ highly precise alignment allows scientists to study the sun’s outer atmosphere like never before. The mission should provide insight into a kind of solar activity called coronal mass ejections (CMEs): explosions of plasma and magnetic fields from the sun’s surface. CMEs drive the spectacular aurora borealis but can also endanger communication, power and navigation networks.

Earth's Surface: A new satellite that can detect changes on Earth’s surface down to the centimetre is set to launch imminently from India. Weighing almost three tonnes, the US$1.5 billion NISAR satellite will track the ground under our feet and the water that flows through it, providing valuable information for farmers, climate scientists and natural disaster response teams.

Clean Energy

New vs Old: “A new Age of Electricity is drawing nearer.” Despite geopolitical uncertainty, the IEA reports energy spending will reach $3.3 trillion this year - $2.2 trillion of which is going into low-carbon solutions, and double what’s being invested in oil, gas and coal. In advanced economies, renewable power to fossil fuel power investment is now almost a rounding error, a 12:1 ratio. In China it is a lower but still very robust 6:1.

Unintended Consequences: Trump may accidentally be accelerating the clean energy transition, says Bloomberg. The administration's 'energy dominance' agenda, aimed at boosting fossil fuel exports, is having an unexpected effect: making other countries nervous about oil dependency and pushing them faster toward renewables. In trying to stall the energy transition, he may be speeding it up.

Sales Growth: Global EV sales rise 28 percent in first five months of 2025. Sales rose to 7.2 million units globally between January 2025 and May 2025, driven by surging demand in China and a sharp rebound in Europe. China accounted for 60 percent of all EVs sold, while Europe posted 15 percent growth after a subdued 2024. The data suggest EV uptake remains resilient despite subsidy cuts and broader auto market stagnation, says Rho Motion.

And Finally....

What would you call it?

Hilarious Gaffe: Trump Mobile, the newly launched line of smartphones produced by the Trump Organization for “real Americans,” has become a target for Internet mockery yet again after social media users realized its coverage map featured the Gulf of Mexico - not the Trump-preferred “Gulf of America”. Eagle-eyed users were quick to point out that a coverage map for the American-made smartphones labeled the body of water off the coast of Louisiana as the Gulf of Mexico. The map has now been removed. The name of the international body of water has been a hot-button issue after President Donald Trump signed an executive order early in his second term, renaming it the Gulf of America, a name other countries reject. To add to the fun and games, MapQuest has given the internet a perfect tool for trolling Trump by launching the Gulf Map Generator, which allows anyone to rename the body of water themselves and then publish the fruits of their imagination on social media.

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