In times of sadness around the globe, there are wonderful young (and old!) minds creating our fabulous future. Ángela Karime Hernández Venegas, a 16-year-old teenager from Mexico, won gold at the International Science and Invention Fair by her astonishing invention that can put out fires with ound waves instead of chemicals or water!
"If it bleeds, it leads." Most headlines show us terrible events. And yes, we must work harder than ever to save our planet and to combat injustice and cruelty and authoritarian governments.
But cheer up, Friends! There are a whole lot of wonderful happenings on our planet that never make the headlines!
For instance, a modified kind of algae has been developed that can remove microplastics from water almost like a magnet!
Last year a huge number of damns were taken down in the USA, connecting more rivers than ever before!
Death from coronary artery disease in the USA has been curt in half since 1990!
Yes, there is war in Ethiopia--BUT over the past seven years, that country has planted forty-seven BILLION seedlings, with most of them surviving! The video below notes more areas planting trees!
Over in the past two years, nations have put protections on ocean areas larger than the entire European Union!
And, while wildfires have tragically been increasing in Europe, Australia, and the USA, believe it or not, the number of wildfires across the globe has actually been decreasing! https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/article/global-burning-has-declined-despite-more-wildfires/
Here is a video of some of the other wonderful things that have happened on our planet this year! (It's not our video, so many apologies for the robotic AI narration.)
Making toys for play is not limited to human beings. Dolphins will play with things like starfish, and even through around live pufferfish, which puff up into balls as they are bounced around. Orangutangs have been known to create stick dolls.
Now scientists found an endangered variety of pygmy raccoon making a ball out of a long strip of paper in the trash, playing with it, and teaching other raccoons to do the same.
Here is a NY Times article about it.
And here is a video showing the process!
Solar panels take up a lot of space, but Switzerland has begun to solve that problem by placing solar panels between train tracks. Other countries, like Italy and India, are catching on! The train has a special brush that cleans debris off the panels as it passes, and the panels can easily be put aside for repairs. Hooray for Switzerland!
Sister Tala and Farah Mousa from Gaza, aged 15 and 17, while living
in a tent, figured out a way to make bricks from the massive amounts of
rubble cause by the destruction of the war! Ninety percent of people in
Gaza have been displaced from their homes.
These remarkable girls won $12,500 in an Earth Prize, which they are using to instruct others to create the bricks.
"We transferred something negative into something positive by refusing to see rubble only as a symbol of destruction and loss," said the girls.
Read more details about these impressive young women at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8p7vngmp3o
Did you know that coral can be bred in a lab and "juvenile" corals can then be planted in places where they can grow? Check out this story: https://oceanographicmagazine.com/news/first-coral-spawning-recorded-at-seychelles-breeding-laboratory/
In other good news for our coral reefs, which are in danger of disappearing because of global warming (climate change is real, folks), Dr. Ruth Gates, Director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, is one of several scientists who are breeding and beginning to distribute so-called "super coral," a very strong breeds of coral that can tolerate the warmer waters that have been killing off other corals around the world.
Concrete is all around us. Sadly, concrete also contributes enormous amounts of greenhouse gasses and is a major factor in climage change. One wonderful new solution is bendable concrete. Read this great article from the scientific group The Conversation about that.
https://theconversation.com/bendable-concrete-and-other-co2-infused-cement-mixes-could-dramatically-cut-global-emissions-152544
Also listen to a Ted talk on by Tom Schuler on how we can make carbon-neutral concrete!
Have you heard about this one? Far-sightedness, otherwise known as presbyopia, occurs when people can no longer read small print without reading glasses, and it happens to nearly all of us as we age. Good news: there are now FDA-approved eye drops that can temporarily correct far-sightedness for up to ten hours!
Robin Hood's tree, a large and famous 200-year-old Sycamore tree adjacent to Hadrian's Wall in the UK was cut down by vandals in September of 2023, causing great dismay. There is good news, though! The tree has been regenerating itself with new shoots coming up from its roots. Even better, 49 saplings have been grown from the original tree's seeds, one for each foot of height that the original tree had, and are now being planted in various locations across the UK!
The whooping crane, which was not too long ago in danger of extinction, now has a new coastline sanctuary in Texas, where there are about 3,000 acres now devoted to hosting these enormous and beautiful birds, that are 5' tall with a 7-foot wingspan. This natural shoreline area will also have a natural buffer protecting human habitations from the devastation caused by hurricanes and storms when nature is ignored! Hooray for land conservation!
Rockaline, the turtle, lived for half a century on a kitchen floor, neglected, fed cat food, and in terrible shape. Rescued, she is now living a vibrant life in a sanctuary, eating strawberries (!) and hunting worms (!). In the second video, for the first time she is introduced to another of her kind. We are learning that all living creatures are far more sentient than previously recognized.
If you would rather read the story (the YouTubes are kind of long and loud), here it is: https://www.npr.org/2025/12/12/nx-s1-5639989/rockalina-box-turtle-friend
In Japan, researchers have created a new, durable plastic-like material that breaks down completely in soil or seawater to components that will enrich, rather than harm, the environment, leaving no microplastics!
A Dutch start-up figured out how to make eco-friendly concrete that moss can grow on. This promises cooler homes, better air, increased beauty, and more!
Awful headlines seem to sell. But there is enormously good news that we don't hear so much about. While there are rebellions and wars that grab the headlines concerning the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for instance, most people do not know that this African country is creating the largest protected rainforest in the world!
The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, the third largest in the USA, was established last week (Oct. 2024) off the coast of southern California. Indigenous people helped design it, and all oil and gas exploration is prohibited. Thank you, NOAA!
Even though the Indonesian paradise of Bali has banned many plastics, such as straws, it still is estimated to produce 3 million tons of plastic waste a year. These three siblings are cleaning up Bali's rivers and turning the plastics in sandals and chairs!
Plants are brighter than we have though. Behind the scenes, they actually have sophisticated means of assessing their environment, to communicate with one another, even to smell, and to defend themselves. They don't do it within our observable time-frame, though. Time-lapse photography has afforded us the remarkable ability to see how sophisticated plants actually are!
People on this planet are doing amazing things! Several, including the man in this video, have created gadgets that allow the frequencies of plants to be translated into music. For a bit of money, one can even now purchase these devices (there are several available) to hear the sounds of plants. Take a listen!
Boyan Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013. So far it has removed over 17,000 tons of garbage in bodies of water across the globe. On Twitter (now known as X), Boyan Slat posted, "During the first eight years of The Ocean Cleanup, we collected 314,000 kg [692 pounds] of trash. We're now collecting the same amount... every 4.5 days."
For a change, there is no video to share on this post. Instead, you will find a link to a Bored Panda page containing 45 fascinating maps. Even people, like us, who rarely scroll through internet pages will find something of interest. Just a few of these maps contain: comparisons of things like bald eagle nests or wolf populations from past years until now, the longest train ride on the planet, where castles are in Europe, rug designs in Iran, tree density in the USA, and more and more and more.
Here it is! Enjoy! https://www.boredpanda.com/best-interesting-maps-images/
People are making amazing discoveries!! Finnish scientists have learned how to pull protein out of thin air, and have made everything from ravioli to ice cream with it!
It turns out that in certain areas, fish can make judgments that even surpass the ability of mammals!
Certain fish, including stingrays, can add and subtract up to five numbers.
Fish have also been found to have a range of emotion from fear and pain to joy. So much of the natural world is more sentient and intelligent than we had ever though.
More awful things make the news than the many incredible positive steps people are taking on this planet. Have a good look, for instance, at what this team is doing. So far they have removed 45 tons (!!) of plastic waste from our oceans, and have a safety hatch so that they are only gathering up garbage and not fish. It is inspiring!
The newest thing to help our planet is to install what is called a Green Roof. With extra layers of insulation, the roof helps prevent excessive water runoff, and, as reported in the Washington Post, serves as a little oasis for migrating birds, bees, and butterflies. There are lots of YouTubes showing how to make a green roof, whether on a shed or even your home. Here is one of them that we like!
This is a wonderful way of restoring forests, either small or large. The results are ultra-dense, bio-diverse, and fast growing. It is even being used now to help regrow rainforests. Cudos to those who are doing this!
This flash mob in Nurenburg, Germany, from a few years ago, will lift your spirits and warm your heart, and we could all use some uplifted spirits and warmer hearts, right? Blessings to you!
Environmental trailblazer Lefteris Arapakis of Greece was distressed at how the fishing boats on which he worked would always haul up great amounts of trash and plastic, and throw it back into the sea. He started a company which pays fishers to bring them the plastic they pull up out of the Mediterranean and recycles it into useful products. He was named Young Champion of the Earth in 2020!
Scientists a MIT have translated the vibrations of a spider web to music. As the web becomes more dense, the sounds become more complex.
Leather from animal hides is one of the most ecologically damaging substances on the planet. The demand for Brazilian leather for everything from SUV interiors to luxury handbags is one of the reasons rainforests are swiftly disappearing, cleared to make more land for cattle. But researchers have now discovered how to make equally appealing leather from mushrooms! Mushrooms are also being converted into styrofoam, bricks, and other useful and sustainable materials!
