This is the premium edition of Future Crunch, a weekly roundup of good news, mind-blowing science, and the best bits of the internet. If someone forwarded this, you can subscribe here. One third of our subscription fees goes to charity. You can buy a gift subscription here. Did you know we recently did a TED talk?
Hope Is A Verb
Meet Jess Wade, an experimental physicist in London who has written almost 2,000 Wikipedia biographies for unrepresented female and minority scientists in order to encourage more diversity in STEM. In our latest edition of the podcast, we spoke to Jess about what inspired her to use Wikipedia as a platform for change, and the power of a single entry to create global ripples. She shares her passion for combining science and engineering with the creative arts and why celebrating women is key to a more equitable future. We loved this conversation–her passion and enthusiasm are infectious.
Good news you probably didn't hear about
The Gates Foundation just announced $550 million for trials of a new TB vaccine covering 26,000 people in 50 sites in Africa and SE Asia. This is a big deal–tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease on the planet. It killed 1.6 million people last year, and the only vaccine we have is over a century old. A new vaccine would instantly become one of the most important medicines in existence. WaPo
The WHO has certified Belize as free of malaria, after a 70-year-long effort to eradicate the disease. It's the third country to be awarded a malaria-free status in 2023, and the fourth country in the Americas and the second in Central America to be certified malaria-free in the last five years. WHO
Australia has become the first country in the world to classify psychedelics as medicines at a national level, approving their use to treat some mental health conditions. Registered psychiatrists can now prescribe MDMA to those suffering post-traumatic stress disorder and psilocybin for some types of depression. Nature
Patients are desperate for something new. These drugs represent a new way of treating things, a kind of paradigm shift in psychiatry.
Celia Morgan, Professor of Psychopharmacology, University of Exeter
The Indian state of Karnataka has made bus travel free for all women. The response has been a tidal wave of smiling women laying siege to buses. In the first nine days of the scheme, more than 40 million women climbed aboard. The policy could be life-changing–in India’s patriarchal culture, one way of controlling women’s movement is by denying them money. Guardian
Nepal's Supreme Court has issued an order clearing the way for same-sex marriage for the first time in the largely conservative country. Although discrimination has been outlawed since 2007, there has been no legislation governing marriage until now. LGBTQ activists are hailing it as a 'historic decision.' Reuters
Government spending on education in the Philippines has increased to 3.7% of GDP, up from only 2.3% a decade ago, and the World Bank has just funded a new program to bring digital resources and radio and TV programs to nearly two million elementary school students and over 60,000 teachers in rural and remote areas.
In 2017, Malawi launched a program to improve the quality of care provided to newborns and their mothers. It worked. The maternal mortality ratio fell from 439 to 381 per 100,000 births between 2017 and 2020, and one hospital on the outskirts of Blantyre reduced maternal and neonatal mortality by more than 50% between 2017 and 2022. WHO
The US Pregnant Workers Fairness Act has gone into effect. All employers are now legally required to give pregnant workers lighter duties, extra breaks and time off for medical appointments. The measures also apply to childbirth recovery, abortion care, morning sickness and postnatal depression, benefiting an estimated 3 million people a year. Why isn't it front page news? Take one guess. NBC
Togo has expanded its social safety net to provide cash transfers to all of its extreme poor (1.8 million people) and provide emergency response funds for 250,000 households, with a focus on women in order to boost their resilience and to break intergenerational cycles of poverty. By 2029, the program aims to lift 1.24 million people out of poverty. Mirage
Nairobi is launching the largest school lunch program in Africa this August, providing 400,000 daily meals for children in 225 schools. It's part of a wider push by the Kenyan government, which is expanding its national meals program from 1.6 million to 4 million children. This will make a huge difference in a country with one of the world's highest stunting rates. Africa News
Mexico City is the largest city in North America. In 2018, only 7% of its 9 million residents considered it a safe place to live. Since then, the city has reduced high-impact crime by more than 50% with the help of a new open data policy, and the proportion of residents who consider it a safe place to live has risen to 43%. WEF
The US murder rate has fallen by 10-12% this year. So far, the only coverage from mainstream media has been an article in The Atlantic and a mention in the New York Times newsletter. Can you imagine the attention this would have received if the trend had been in the opposite direction? A reminder that 'the news' doesn't tell you what's happening in the world, it tells you what is going wrong.
In case you missed it...
This meant a lot to us, thank you Steven.
Even more good news you probably didn't hear about
David Wallace-Wells says we're entering a new golden age of medicine. Earlier this year Ghana became the fourth country in Africa to eliminate sleeping sickness. The myth that men hunt while women stay at home is entirely wrong. Supply chains are back to normal, and there's even some spare capacity, so why aren't we hearing more about it? How Israel, a heavily armed country, dramatically reduced suicides in its armed forces. Kosovo, one of Europe's poorest countries, has made high -speed internet available to everyone in less than five years. The number of trained health workers in Africa has risen from 130,000 to almost 2 million in the last year. Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? It's dramatically accelerated the fight against Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The only home we've ever known
When asked if I am pessimistic or optimistic about the future, my answer is always the same: If you look at the science about what is happening on earth and aren’t pessimistic, you don’t understand data. But if you meet the people who are working to restore this earth and the lives of the poor, and you aren’t optimistic, you haven’t got a pulse. What I see everywhere are ordinary people willing to confront despair, power, and incalculable odds in order to restore some semblance of grace, justice, and beauty to this world ~ Paul Hawken
Global Fishing Watch has created the world’s first real-time public map to revolutionise global ocean management. The open source technology uses AI and satellite data, allowing experts and watchful citizens to pinpoint destructive activity. 'There seems to be a realization that things have to change. Now … people have the tools they need to enact it.' Good Good Good
Indonesia and Malaysia have cut deforestation by more than half in recent years. Across both countries, average yearly forest loss fell dramatically between the years 2015-2017 and 2020-2022, with Indonesia seeing a 64% decline and Malaysia a 57% decline. Yale360
After a 150-year absence, wild bison are roaming Montana again, marking the first time a sovereign Indigenous nation has returned bison back to their native habitat. The woolly beasts have also been reintroduced in North Mexico, grazing the grasslands of the Coahuila reserve to regenerate the vegetation that helps capture carbon.
You have bison, you have grasslands; you have grasslands, you have carbon in the soil. You lose the bison, and you start to lose the grasslands.
Jim Matheson, U.S. National Bison Association
New Zealand is on a roll. This week, it became the first country to ban plastic bags used for loose fruit and vegetables in supermarkets, a move that will reduce waste by a further 150 million bags per year. Meanwhile, conservation efforts to save native bird life are ramping up with a plan to exterminate predators like rats by 2050. BBC
The US Department of the Interior has revised regulations to improve endangered species protection by allowing more flexibility in relocating species to suitable habitats beyond their historical ranges. The changes are expected to improve conservation efforts and prevent extinctions, supporting the recovery of imperilled species. Clean Technica
3M has agreed to a historic $10.3-billion settlement over its use of PFAS, or 'forever chemicals,' linked to major health issues and found in municipal drinking water supplies. The settlement, one of the largest of its kind in history, will fund the clean-up process, benefiting an estimated 1 in 20 Americans. Grist
Colombia has expanded its Cuchilla del San Juan protected area by 45,994 acres, bringing the total size to 73,272 acres. Located in the northern Colombian Andes at the meeting of two of the world’s greatest biodiversity hotspots, the expansion helps safeguard the habitats of over 100 endemic species and protect water sources for thousands of people. Andes Amazon Fund
Catholic nuns have helped a group of women from the Shinnecock, an Indigenous tribe in Long Island, establish a kelp farm to clean up pollution in their shared bay. The unique collaboration is working. Since the project started in 2019, there has been an increase in scallops, clams, seahorses and other marine species. Guardian
Populations of the endangered large heath butterfly are now flourishing in northwest England after being reintroduced to restored peatlands in 2020. Wildlife experts said they are optimistic about the species, which is 'breeding strongly.' BBC
After years of behind-the-scenes work by animal rights activists, a bill has finally been introduced in South Korea that seeks to eliminate the dog meat industry by outlawing the breeding and slaughter of dogs for human consumption, prohibiting the sale of dog meat, and providing support for dog farmers to transition to alternative businesses such as water delivery or chilli plant cultivation. World Animal News
A century ago, sea otters in the United States were hunted nearly to extinction for their extraordinary fur coats. Since they became a protected species under the Endangered Species Act in 1977, their numbers have rebounded to about 100,000, and populations of southern sea otters are recovering too, albeit more slowly.
After 15 years of restoration, the Dundreggan Rewilding Centre in Scotland is welcoming visitors to its 'world first' purpose-built accommodation. It’s worth a visit–the 4,047-hectare site is home to 4,000 species of plants and animals including rare globeflowers, red squirrels and golden eagles that have returned after a 40-year absence. Guardian
Secret networks of rogue rewilders across Europe are releasing threatened species back into the landscape to speed up the restoration of ecosystems. Among them are the 'boar bombers,' 'butterfly brigade' and 'beaver black ops,' who have contributed to bringing the beaver back from the brink to an estimated population of 1.5 million today. Coda
Centuries of overgrazing and deforestation have eliminated most native flora in Ireland, but a growing rewilding movement now aims to change that. 'At least one species has returned every year since we started. Pine martens. Red kites. Corncrakes. Peregrine falcons. Kestrels. Stoats. Woodpeckers. Otter. We think there’s salmon in the river again, for the first time in my life.' NYT
A temperate rainforest–a magical, wildlife-rich place of mosses, lichens and ferns–is being planted in the south of England. The rainforest will sit within a larger site where multiple other regenerative projects are taking place. The name Dart 'derives from the Celtic for "oak", so it’s very apposite that one of the first rainforest restoration projects should be to help restore Atlantic oakwood to the valley of the Dart.'
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
A month ago, we said the most underappreciated climate story in the world at the moment is the explosion of renewables in China in 2023. Fortunately, global media has finally caught up, with headlines like 'China's green power surge offers hope on warming' in the BBC and multiple other outlets. The reason? China is on track to hit its 2030 target for wind and solar five years ahead of schedule.
The global benchmark for the cost of offshore wind is now on par with coal. That means it's less expensive to install turbines that harness the power of the ocean winds (there's plenty of space out there) than it is to build power plants that get their energy from digging up and setting black rocks on fire. BNEF
The United Arab Emirates says it will invest $54 billion into renewables over the next seven years and reduce emissions by 19%. It's not clear how much of this is signalling ahead of COP28, but the fact that an oil-rich nation is even contemplating such a move shows how drastically the the energy transition has changed strategic priorities. Phys.org
Solar power is the fastest-growing energy technology in history, and wind isn't far behind. This graph shows how rapidly different energy technologies expanded after reaching their first exajoule of energy production, on a logarithmic scale. And things are speeding up–global solar demand is on track to grow by an astonishing 40% in 2023. PV Tech
Following similar recent international deals for Vietnam, Indonesia, and South Africa, a $2.7-billion Just Energy Transition Partnership has been announced to help Senegal build out clean, renewable energy for its citizens. We can expect more of these too, as the $100-billion pledge for climate finance for developing nations is also now in sight.
Portugal has announced revisions to its energy plan under the slogan 'a greener country, sooner.' The updated plan aims for 80% of electricity in the country to be renewable by 2026 and 85% by 2030, and commits the country to full carbon neutrality by 2045. PV Magazine
No transition without transmission. Transgrid, which owns over 13,000 km of transmission lines in New South Wales and ACT, is investing A$16.5 billion into 2,500 kilometres of new transmission lines across an area larger than Texas. The goal is to prepare Australia's most populous state for 100% renewables within a decade. Reuters
A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate has been discovered in Norway, enough to satisfy world demand for fertilisers, solar panels and EV batteries for 100 years. The deposit is estimated to be 70 billion tonnes, 1.25 times larger than the world's largest deposit in Morocco, and 20 times larger than China's deposits. Euractiv
Canada and Volkswagen have committed more than C$20 billion for a battery gigafactory in Ontario, the biggest single investment ever in the country's electric-vehicle supply chain. 'It will provide millions upon millions of batteries to power Canada's auto industry ... and the economic impact of this project will be equal to the value of government investment in less than five years.' Reuters
South Korean industrial giant LG is drastically scaling up its production of lithium-ion batteries in the United States, committing to a 55-fold increase in production capacity by 2027. 'We genuinely believe the North American market, especially the US market, to be the world’s largest and fastest-growing market for grid-scale batteries.' Canary
China has unveiled a $72.3-billion package of tax breaks over four years for electric vehicles and other zero emissions cars, its biggest yet for the 'new energy vehicles' industry. Production and domestic sales of NEVs grew by 45% and 47%, respectively, in the first five months of this year. NDRC
BUTWUTABOUTDAMINERALZ. This week's reminder that when we stop fueling our cars with dinosaur juice and start powering them with electrons, we don't have to dig up as much stuff any more. The lithium market is a minuscule $5.6 billion, and cobalt is $8.7 billion. Nothing else comes close to oil in total global commodity value. Visual Capitalist
Indistinguishable from magic
Apparently your yoga teacher was right all along.
The gravitational-wave background is huge news for the cosmos, yes, but it’s also huge news for you. The nature of reality has not changed—you will not suddenly be able to detect vibrations in your morning coffee that you couldn’t see before. And yet, moments like these can and should change how each of us sees our world. All of a sudden, we know that we are humming in tune with the entire universe, that each of us contains the signature of everything that has ever been.Adam Frank
Let's all finish with an Om.
Scientists at the University of Manchester have developed a concrete-like material that could be made with lunar or martian regolith and bound with salt and potato starch derived from the food of astronauts. The material is twice as strong as ordinary concrete, which would make it suitable for constructing buildings that could protect humans from the harsh conditions of outer space. Dezeen
Microsoft says it's taken a step closer to photon computing technology. Unlike today's digital computers, which use transistors to crunch through binary data, these computers use photons and electrons, allowing them to use the freedom of the entire light spectrum to work through continuous-value data.
Floating is the new flying, at least according to a handful of companies focused on building futuristic blimps, airships, and hot air balloons. They're all classed under a new term, lighter-than-air vehicles (LTAs), and several are about to emerge after years of development, including Sergey Brin's Pathfinder 1 and a cargo airship from French company Flying Whales that can haul up to 60 tons of cargo. MIT
Scientists successfully unfroze rat organs and transplanted them—a seminal milestone for the field of organ preservation that could someday transform transplant medicine. It’s the first time scientists have shown it’s possible to successfully and repeatedly transplant a life-sustaining mammalian organ after it has been rewarmed from an icy metabolic arrest. STAT
Biotechnologists in Germany have developed a 3D-printing technique that allows them to fabricate beating ventricles–the chambers at the bottom of the heart that pump blood to other parts of the body–which beat on their own for at least three months. It's a big breakthrough, because until now 3D-printed heart tissue couldn't beat, or when it could, the structures were too simple. New Scientist
New evidence for epigenetic causes of ageing. A new study has shown that physical, verbal, or emotional abuse, household dysfunction, abandonment or negligence, as well as other adverse childhood experiences, may be associated with faster ageing processes later in life. JAMA
Engineers at the University of Tokyo have created a wearable–and exchangeable– exoskeleton that gives users the ability to use up to six arms. 'The main feature of these arms is not just to give people more arms, but to be able to remove and attach them, to share with other people.' Euronews
The information highway is still super
If you've always wondered about Ulysses but considered it impenetrable, this might help. Sally Rooney's T.S. Eliot Lecture, delivered in Dublin last year, is a masterclass in literary criticism, opening up a whole new way of looking not just at a famous piece of work, but English literature itself. 'If the stakes of the Greek epic are war and peace, and the stakes of the Renaissance tragedy are life and death, then we might say that, at least since Austen, the stakes of the English-language novel are love and marriage. And however much Ulysses might seem to protest otherwise, this is precisely what is really at stake for Bloom, Stephen and Molly on June 16, 1904.' Paris Review
A psychedelic renaissance in medicine is also going to require, in the words of Michael Pollan, 'cultural containers' for these experiences to happen. A vital part of that is psychedelic first responders–people who can provide support, either in person or remotely, and who understand that difficult is not necessarily bad. 'With support, knowledge, and integrative work there is very little danger in the psychedelic experience itself. Even the most frightening and bizarre behavior, when explored and worked with, will turn out to be beneficial and enlightening.' Wired
In this essay, science journalist Michael Marshall blows up the myth that the move from hunter-gather societies to agricultural ones 10,000 years ago was a trap leading to hierarchy, inequality, and environmental destruction. As more evidence from the archeological record emerges, this narrative is falling apart, prompting a rethinking of our origin story and a more nuanced understanding of societal development. Highly recommended. New Scientist
Oh... and the lizard brain is a myth, too.
That's it for this week, thanks for reading. We'll see you same time, same place next week.
With love,
Gus and Amy
