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. Check out our TED talk. One third of all subscription fees goes to charity. You can buy a gift subscription here.
Hi folks, Gus here,
Just a quick announcement before we get into it, to let you know that my TED talk is now available in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Hebrew and Arabic.
Good news you didn't hear about
Humanity is winning its fight against trachoma, the world's leading infectious cause of blindness. The number of people at risk globally has fallen from 1.5 billion in 2002 to 115 million today. As of April 2023, there were an estimated 1.5 million cases, down from 1.7 million at the beginning of June 2022, and four countries have eliminated the disease in that same time period. WHO
The world's health agencies are starting to catch up on childhood vaccinations. Immunisation services reached four million more children in 2022 compared to 2021, as countries stepped up efforts to address the historic backsliding in immunisation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. UNICEF
Namibia has one of the world’s highest HIV prevalence rates, and the virus is still the country's leading cause of death. However, Namibia has made remarkable progress. The rate of new infections is five times lower than in 2002, the death rate has fallen by a factor of three, and the country is on track to hit the 95-95-95 UNAIDS targets before the 2030 deadline. GoodGoodGood
In a landmark human rights victory, Mexico has implemented the National Civil and Family Procedure Code, empowering older persons and people with disabilities to make decisions by themselves, with support if they choose. People with intellectual or developmental disabilities were previously deemed incapable of deciding basic rights, like where to live or with whom. HRW
Cambodia has reduced its maternal mortality rate from 810 per 100,000 live births in 2008 to 154 per 100,000 live births in 2021-2022. During the same time, under-five mortality has fallen from 55 to 16 per 1,000 live births, and overall life expectancy has risen from 61 and 64 years to 74.3 and 76.8 years for men and women, respectively. Khmer Times
The Biden administration has announced it will automatically cancel education debt for 804,000 borrowers, for a total of $39 billion in relief, thanks to fixes to repayment plans. 'For far too long, borrowers fell through the cracks of a broken system that failed to keep accurate track of their progress towards forgiveness.' CNBC
In the past five years, the Gulf countries–Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait–have made genuine progress on women's rights, healthcare, labour market reforms and education. There are still deep inequalities, and so much injustice, but the list of reforms detailed in this piece is surprisingly long. Arab News
The Caribbean nations of Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, and Barbados have all recently repealed colonial-era sodomy laws, and St Lucia and Grenada are currently considering them. If they follow suit, the number of countries with such laws in the Commonwealth Caribbean will have halved in less than a decade. 'It’s been a huge, monumental shift in a relatively short number of years.' Bloomberg
Healthcare practitioners around the world are hailing the arrival of two new drugs, donanemab and lecanemab, as a turning point in the fight against Alzheimer’s. With these medicines the disease could become just as manageable as conditions such as diabetes or asthma. Lecanemab received the green light by regulators in the US earlier this month and is waiting approval in the UK and Australia. Guardian
The US FDA has approved the first daily oral contraceptive for over-the-counter use. Organisations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have applauded the decision, saying the move will help millions of women around the country gain broader access to safe and effective reproductive healthcare. Smithsonian
Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman from Florida, in an article reminding Americans that even with all of its failings, their country has fed more human beings and helped free more people from oppressive regimes than any other country in history. 'Despite the blather that cable-news hosts spit at you daily, your country is doing pretty damn well.' Atlantic
South Korea's law enforcement agencies have revolutionised their approach to domestic violence thanks to a brilliant, creative idea and media strategy, proactiveness, inventiveness, ambition, unlikely partnerships and, above all, persistence. If you're going to read one solutions journalism piece this week, make it this one. LBB
Even more good news you didn't hear about
A landmark decision for women's rights in Europe. Crime rates in the largest city in the United States have plummeted compared to a year ago (good luck finding that in the news). A victory for nurses in the same city. Japan passes a law to promote understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Greece's prime minister says he has plans to legalise same-sex marriage. Why it's time to be hopeful about LGBTQ rights in Asia. South Korea launches its K-Rice project in eight African countries, hoping to feed 30 million people a year by 2027. Annualised inflation is coming down in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan. Tanzania celebrates the end of its Marburg outbreak with 'a sigh of relief and ripples of excitement.' One of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies will allow generic versions of its life-saving tuberculosis drug to be supplied to 44 low-income countries.
The only home we've ever known
After weeks of intense negotiations, the EU has passed its Nature Restoration Act–the first major piece of legislation to protect biodiversity in 30 years. As a key part of the bloc's Green Deal, the law will boost forested and marine areas and increase connectivity between rivers. According to Greenpeace, 'the vote shows that there is still hope to restore and grow what’s left.' DW
The Biden administration has allocated $660 million to plug abandoned oil and gas wells to clean up legacy pollution. The funding will help reduce environmental and public health risks and revitalise economic growth. Twenty-six states are eligible including Kansas, which is planning to plug more than 2,000 abandoned wells over the next three years. DOI
A six-lane highway in Madrid has been transformed into a lush riverside park, restoring the city’s heavily polluted Manzanares River back to health. A decade in the works and spanning 120 hectares, the Madrid Rio Park has been hailed as both a miracle of engineering and urban rewilding after attracting wildlife back to the river, including otters, not seen in the Spanish capital since the 1950s. Politico
In California, the largest dam removal project in the world is now underway on the lower half of the Klamath River; Colorado will protect 87,4000 acres of fish and wildlife habitat as conservation areas; and in South Carolina, a large portion of the biggest intact Carolina Bay has been transferred to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, securing rare Atlantic white cedar forests and diverse plant life.
Carolina Bays are one of the few land formations that still hold a bit of mystery, even for scientists. We may not know exactly how they are formed or what gives them their unique shape and orientation, but we do know they’re unique, vitally important for plants and wildlife and need protection.
Dale Threatt-Taylor, Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina
Fiji has planted almost 18 million trees and 750,000 mangrove trees since the country kicked off its Reforestation of Degraded Forests program in 2019. The largest contributions came from Fiji Pine and Fiji Hardwood Corporation, while landowners and visitors have planted the balance. Fiji Times
4ocean has become one of the leading ocean clean-up companies after removing 30 million pounds of plastic and trash across the USA, Guatemala, and Indonesia. The company has teamed up with Corona on a five-year project called 'A River of Change from Corona x 4ocean' to restore biodiversity and local economy along the Motagua River, one of the most polluted rivers in Central America. Oceonographic
The Queensland government has added a new gillnet-free area the size of more than 70,000 football fields in its Great Sandy Marine Park. The 60,000-hectare extension will better protect the Fraser Coast’s unique marine life, including dugongs, turtles, grey nurse sharks and the Australian humpback dolphin. National Tribune
France is tackling 'fast fashion' with a bonus scheme that will reward consumers who repair clothes and shoes with a €6-25 discount per item. The scheme, which begins in October, aims to create new jobs in the repair sector and reduce the 700,000 tonnes of clothing that end up in French landfill every year. BBC
New EPA regulations could prompt the removal of lead paint from homes, schools, and daycare centres, reducing exposure for half a million children under the age of six. Even after decades of efforts, half of American children have detectable traces of lead in their blood, with those in low-income neighbourhoods and older houses at the greatest risk. Grist
In January 2023, Lula da Silva took a wide range of legal, regulatory, and administrative actions to stop surging deforestation in Brazil, from restarting anti-illegal logging patrols to reconnecting with foreign governments’ conservation donor programs. Now, six months into his term, things are looking up for Earth’s largest rainforest. Mongabay
Saving the world is cheaper than ruining it
The Rocky Mountain Institute is one of the world's few energy research organisations that account for the exponential growth of wind, solar and batteries. Their latest forecast says wind and solar are on track to meet the IEA's net zero pathway by 2030–and fortunately this time, it's been picked up by a lot more of the world's media.
In the first half of this year, wind turbines and solar panels generated a record amount of electricity in Denmark, accounting for 67% of the country's power consumption. That's up from a 60% share in 2022. Tell us again how it can't be done? Renewables Now
The US government just opened $7 billion in grants for residential solar power for millions of low-income households. The EPA will award up to 60 grants ranging from $25 million to $400 million for states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits to create and expand low-income solar programs. EPA
The next big energy breakthrough could be offshore solar. After successful experiments by China’s biggest renewables developer, the industrial hub of Shandong has announced plans to add 11 GW of offshore solar by 2025; neighbouring Jiangsu has a target to add 12.7 GW; and Japan, the Netherlands and Malaysia have started test projects. Bloomberg
Oil majors BP and TotalEnergies have just won the auction of a 7 GW offshore wind site in Germany worth €12.6 billion, an important step towards reaching the country's goal of 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030, and highlighting the appeal of renewable assets across Europe. Reuters
Fourteen years ago, Canada joined the rest of the G20 in promising to phase out fossil-fuel subsidies. Next week, finally, that promise will be fulfilled. 'Canada will no longer support subsidies aimed at the oil and gas sector that give that sector an advantage in comparison to other sectors, and subsidies that help the production of fossil fuels.' CTV
Next up to the industrial policy batting plate is Thailand, 'the Detroit of Asia,' which is introducing incentives for EV manufacturing and putting together a multibillion-baht subsidy package to encourage manufacturers to invest in its automotive industry. 'I believe EVs will be the top agenda of the new government.' Bloomberg
Yet another debunking of the claim that there aren't enough minerals in the world to enable humanity to get off fossil fuels. We know we sound like a broken record on this topic, but it's for a good reason. BUTDAMINERALZ is one of the most widely repeated pieces of misinformation about the clean energy transition.
Ravenswood, New York's largest oil and gas industrial site, is being converted into a clean energy hub that will power one-fifth of the city, and labour union members working there will become the first fossil fuel power plant workers in the United States to be trained to transition to operating offshore wind equipment. Electrek
It is easy to lose sight of the transformative change under way in the US electricity sector in the daily news cycle, but that change is most definitely occurring, and more quickly than many realize. Here are three stories - coal plant closures in Michigan, battery storage in California, and solar generation in Texas - that represent big signals amidst all the noise. IEEFA
The Biden administration has announced plans to continue its reduction of hydrofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. The EPA just released a new rule that aims to reduce HFC consumption by 40% between 2024 and 2028. EPA
Hannah Ritchie on why China, the world's biggest user of coal, represents our greatest hope for the climate. We've said this a few times already: once growth in renewables outstrips overall growth in energy demand, coal should move from a starring role in the electricity mix to understudy. Washington Post
Efforts to mass-produce green steel are nearing reality. A Swedish company will start producing green steel in late 2025, after signing a contract to supply millions of tonnes to one of the world's biggest automotive suppliers. It's just the beginning though–two billion tonnes of steel per year will eventually need to be made using low- or zero-carbon techniques. H2
Volkswagen's pure electric vehicles sales are up by nearly 50% in the first six months of 2023 compared to the first six months of 2022. They grew from 217,200 to 321,600, and there are another 200,000 or so orders on the books just in Western Europe. Clean Technica
The success of Tesla's Model Y has forced Toyota to come to terms with its terrible EV start, and that's good news for the planet. 'Of course, we admit Tesla has wonderful technology. But that just motivates us to work harder to catch up. If we are to learn from them, it won’t be a copy. We will improve upon them through kaizen.' Clean Technica
Adam Tooze nails it on hydrogen. If you're going to read one energy-related thing this week, please make it this. Foreign Affairs
The real and inescapable tradeoff arises when we commit scarce resources—both real and political—to the hydrogen dream. Pumping money into subsidies that generate huge economies of scale and cost reductions is one thing. Wasting money on lame-duck projects with little prospect of success is quite another. What is at stake is ultimately the legitimacy of the energy transition.
Indistinguishable from magic
Happy first birthday to the James Webb Telescope, the most powerful observatory in space, and one of the most complex machines in existence. To celebrate, NASA has released an image of Rho Ophiuchi, the closest nursery of infant stars in our cosmic backyard, just 390 light years from Earth and chock-full of stellar goodness. NYT
A little bit of extraterrestrial magic. The Perseverance Rover has found evidence of organic compounds in the Jezero Crater on Mars, hinting at surprisingly complex organic conditions for the key building blocks for life, and samples of the Ryugu asteroid appear to contain bits of stardust from the solar system’s frozen fringes, predating the birth of our solar system.
Amidst the hype, it's easy to forget AI can do a lot more than just 'five easy steps to transform your business.' Archeologists are translating 5,000-year-old cuneiform tablets; weather forecasters are now able to make predictions at least as accurate as those from conventional methods, and far more quickly; and biologists are creating entirely new proteins on demand, a technique that could transform medicine.
They promised us jetpacks, instead we got... oh hold on, Red Bull and Gravity Industries would like a word.
In this week's tasks, not jobs news, Chipotle, a fast food chain in the United States, has invented a new kitchen robot that can peel and core avocados in half the time it takes a human, freeing up kitchen staff for other food prep tasks while still ensuring that customers are served freshly-made guacamole. When do we get the home version? Gizmodo
Annie Lowrey on cultivated meat for The Atlantic. Plant-based meat has reached taste parity and is consumed by four in ten Americans, and cell-based meats are next. The future, however, is not about plant-based sausages or lab-grown chicken–it's about plant-based scaffolds with animal muscle and fat cells, making technological marvels from synthetic, fermented and extracted materials.
A new cancer therapy developed in Israel that arms the body’s own immune cells to fight multiple myeloma, an extremely deadly cancer, had a 90% response rate in a new clinical trial, with over half of patients going into total remission. 'These are dramatic results. This is a huge hope for patients with a disease that has not yet had a cure.' Freethink
For the first time, an amputee in Sweden has been able to manipulate each finger of a bionic hand as if it were their own, seamlessly merging human with machine, and offering new hope for amputees worldwide. The patient's body was surgically modified to incorporate sensors and a skeletal implant, and AI was used to translate their intentions into movement. Science Daily
The information highway is still super
Insightful essay by leading China observer, Yi Fuxian, exploring the profound long-term impact that China's one-child policy has had on its demographics, economy and international relations. If you're interested in understanding the complexities of China's economic challenges, US-China relations and the broader geopolitical implications, this provides plenty of food for thought, offering a deep dive into the historical context and ongoing consequences of a pivotal policy decision. Project Syndicate
Why do human beings have such long childhoods? This article by forensic osteologist Brenna Hassett argues that it's not just about play; it's about the intensive learning and social development that sets us apart. She also highlights the unique roles that pair bonding and grandparenting play in our species. If you're curious about the science of growing up, or just love a good science story, then we think you'll really like this. Aeon
To mark the imminent release of Oppenheimer, here's the first 2,700 words of American Prometheus, the biography on which the film is based. "From the ages of seven through twelve, Robert had three solitary but all-consuming passions: minerals, writing and reading poetry, and building with blocks. Later he would recall that he occupied his time with these activities 'not because they were something I had companionship in or because they had any relation to school—but just for the hell of it.'”
And finally...
why creativity and art are so important
That's it for this edition, thanks for reading. We'll see you next week.
With love,
Gus and Amy
