Quick summary of the top good news stories from last week.
Magic Mushrooms: An environmental toxicologist has found a way of using fungi to transform ugly, polluted brownfield sites into thriving meadows. She believes her bioremediation methods can be scaled up to clean polluted landscapes worldwide.
Michigan’s Maple River: It's the first river in the US to return to a natural, free-flowing state. The decades-long project removed culverts and dams and replaced roads with free-spanning timber bridge structures to allow the water to flow through.
Self Medication: Engineered mRNA has successfully turned cells into tiny biofactories, paving the way for our bodies to make their own drugs to treat various medical conditions.
Beneficial Bacteria: A new study suggests that specific gut bacteria may trigger compulsive eating and obesity, opening the way to developing potential new treatments for obesity-related behaviours that currently "lack any effective therapeutic approaches."
Sickle Cell: Giving vitamin D supplementation to children and adolescents with sickle cell disease "significantly" improves their bone health and functional capacity, according to new research outlined in the European Journal of Pediatrics.
Sip, Return, Repeat: Hundreds of restaurants, coffee shops and eateries have banded together in a novel city-wide experiment in California in a first-of-its-kind effort to reduce single-use plastic.
Smart Soil: Watering and fertilizing crops to provide enough food for a changing world is a major challenge in agriculture. Now, scientists at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a “smart soil” that can keep plants better hydrated and provide a controlled release of nutrients. Plants growing in their special hydrogel soil showed a 138 percent boost to their stem length, compared to the control group. Importantly, the hydrogel-grown plants achieved this even while requiring 40 percent less direct watering.
Peak Oil: Oil and gas company BP’s Energy Outlook: 2024 Edition predicts that peak global oil demand will occur next year, putting a stop to increasing carbon emissions as solar and wind continue to expand.
Peak China: “China’s carbon dioxide emissions are on track for a first annual decline since 2016,” reports Bloomberg. It may mean that the nation’s emissions peaked in 2023 and will enter into long-term decline, say analysts.
Singapore's Aussie Sun: Approval has been granted for a massive 12,000 hectare (46 sq. mile) solar farm in northern Australia that will help power Singapore via a 2671 mile undersea cable, which will be the world’s longest. The aim is to commence electricity supply in the early 2030s.
Today's Articles
Winston Churchill: Ten never-before-seen paintings by the former British Prime Minister are now on display in California (and online).
Words to Bring Back: Breathing new life into hope-giving words might help to cultivate happiness and boost wellbeing.