Global Summary of The Top Good News Stories
- Editor OGN Daily
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Quick synopsis of all the important good news stories from last week.
Health & Wellbeing
"Life-Saving": A “gamechanging” device that preserves donor organs by replicating conditions inside the human body has won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s MacRobert Award. The gong, which honours engineering feats, marks a departure from from the traditional way of preserving donor organs on ice. Instead, it mimics life inside the body, allowing donor organs to be preserved for longer, which can be a matter of life and death in emergencies.
Prices Slashed: At Gavi's recent pledging summit the manufacturers of malaria vaccines committed to drastically reducing their prices, freeing up an extra US$130 million for malaria immunisation efforts and allow Gavi reach 50 million more African children by 2030. "These commitments bring us closer to reaching half a billion children and expanding access to lifesaving vaccines."
Fresh Drinking Water: A desalination plant, placed in deep ocean water, has been shown to halve energy consumption - and produce ultra-fresh water - at a pilot facility in Norway. According to the UN, half of all people on Earth experience severe water scarcity at least one month out of a year, so cheaper clean water for those in need would be very good news.
The Sound of Progress: A gene therapy trial is showing promise for treating children and young adults born with genetic hearing loss. The study found that a single gene therapy injection - which uses a synthetic virus to deliver a healthy copy of the OTOF gene directly to the inner ear - restored hearing in all participants. “This is a huge step forward in the genetic treatment of deafness, one that can be life-changing for children and adults.”
Unexpected Benefits: Weight-loss drugs containing GLP-1s, like Wegovy and Mounjaro, reduce the risk of 42 health conditions in people with diabetes, including dementia and infections, according to a study published in Nature Medicine.
Lights On: The number of people without access to electricity has been cut by 292 million in the last decade - despite the global population increasing by around 760 million during the same period, says the latest SDG 7 Progress Report. That means 92 percent of humanity now has electricity.
"Wonderful Effect": While countries clamour to ban smartphones in schools, fresh research from the Netherlands - one of the first to do so - has had a "wonderful effect". A study commissioned by the Dutch government shows that three-quarters of the 317 surveyed high schools said that the ban had boosted students’ concentration, while nearly two-thirds noted an improvement in the social climate. One-third reported better academic performance.
Nature & Conservation
Conservation Success: Conservationists celebrate what are probably the first pine martens born in southwest England in over a century. Their births follow a “pioneering” reintroduction project that sought to rebalance the predator-prey dynamics of a wild England by bringing back these arboreal, small game specialists.
River Revival: China has demolished 300 dams on the Chishui River, a major tributary of the upper Yangtze, restoring 250 miles of river and luring the once-vanished Yangtze sturgeon back to spawn. Begun in 2020, the cleanup has reopened migration routes and surpassed the Klamath - near the California-Oregon border - as the world’s largest river-habitat revival, and it's working. Scientists observed the first hatching of wild sturgeon in April 2025.
Earth-Friendly: The first ever mushroom cask burial has taken place in the USA.
Noah's Ark For Plants: More than 2,000 native plants are thriving under the care of a 20-woman-strong gardening team at the Gurukula Botanical Sanctuary in Kerala, India. This is one of the "world's hottest hot spots of biodiversity," and Gurukula stands out as a "Noah's Ark for endangered plant species," including different types of rare impatiens and ferns.
Environment & Clean Energy
Solar Record: Overtaking nuclear and wind, Reuters reports that solar power was the European Union’s largest source of electricity for the first time in history last month - and coal fell to an all-time low of just 6 percent.
Remarkable Results: New York City’s congestion charge may have produced the fastest environment improvements of any policy in US history.
Cleaner Air: EU air pollution is plummeting, smashing clean-air pledges early. A new report shows that since 1990, the EU-27 has slashed sulphur dioxide by 95 percent, nitrogen oxides by 66 percent, ammonia by 36 percent, and fine-particle pollution by 41 percent, overshooting all targets agreed in 2016.
Cooling Formula: AI-designed paint could help cool down cities, slash energy bills and ease the urban heat island effect. Scientists used machine learning to develop a new formula able to keep buildings at least 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 Celsius) cooler than standard paint. Big savings on air-conditioning.
Polish Record: According to the Forum Energii think tank, in June, renewable energy sources surpassed coal in electricity production in Poland for the first time ever. In addition, in the entire second quarter of 2025, coal’s share fell below half for the first time in history.
Impressive Progress: Since 2016, three state-level projects have brought reliable power to 140 million in India, laying out more than 2,670 miles (4,300 km) of power lines. What's even more impressive, says Reuters, is that this has happened even as India has reached its target of 50 percent clean power capacity way ahead of schedule, fulfilling its 2030 Paris pledge five years early.
And Finally...
You're Never Too Old: In a truly remarkable achievement, octogenarian Bob Becker completed a brutal 135 mile race, often called "the toughest footrace on Earth". The Badwater 135 Ultramarathon begins 282ft below sea level in California’s hellishly hot Death Valley and climbs to 8,360ft at the trailhead to Mt Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. Becker completed the race with about three hours to spare.