Swiss scientists invent system that produces jet fuel from carbon dioxide, water, and sunlight
The amount of CO2 emitted during kerosene combustion in a jet engine equals that consumed during its production in the solar plant.
Today (2017 C.E. - 2025 C.E.)
This archive spans the years 2017 through 2025, a period marked by rapid advances in clean energy, medicine, technology, and social equity. It collects documented breakthroughs, policy wins, and scientific achievements from the present era. If you want evidence that progress is real and ongoing, this is where to look.
Andorra becomes the 33rd country with marriage equality
The tiny nation’s new law also creates a system for transgender people to update the name and gender marker on legal documents without providing proof of medical care.
Greece bans genital surgery on non-consenting intersex babies
The surgeries are often unnecessary for the health of the child and are performed so that adults feel better about how the child’s genitalia look, even though the child often cannot consent to the procedures.
Nuclear fusion recieves $2.8 billion in investments over last year, more than entire past decade
The solution produces clean energy by fusing together atomic nuclei. Unlike nuclear fission, there is also no risk of radioactive waste and reactor materials can be recycled within 100 to 300 years.
Droupadi Murmu becomes India’s first tribal president
Droupadi Murmu became India’s first president from a Scheduled Tribe community when she took office in July 2022, representing roughly 104 million people whose voices have rarely reached the country’s highest institutions. Born in a small Santali village in Odisha, she was the first girl from her village to attend college and began her career as a schoolteacher and government clerk before entering politics in 1997. She later served two terms in the state legislature and as Governor of Jharkhand. While the presidency is largely ceremonial, who holds it shapes how India tells its own story — and her rise sends a powerful signal about belonging in public life, echoing far beyond India for every community still waiting to see itself reflected at the top.
Cheetah reintroduction in Malawi brings vultures back to the skies
Four species of critically endangered vulture have returned to a park in southern Malawi from which they disappeared more than 20 years ago, due to the reintroduction of cheetahs, lions, and the carcasses they left behind.
Nintendo announces it will recognize same-sex partnerships even though Japan doesn’t
The Japanese video game company Nintendo has announced that it will extend marriage benefits to employees who are in same-sex partnerships.
Kenya’s Kuruwitu corals make remarkable recovery, thanks to local conservation drive
In 2005, residents of the area took the unprecedented step of setting aside a 30-hectare Marine Protected Area (MPA). Seventeen years on, the area has made a remarkable recovery.
Rwanda’s mountain gorillas make strong comeback in conservation win
When American naturalist Dian Fossey moved to Rwanda half a century ago to study mountain gorillas, their numbers were dwindling, down to just 254 individuals, but today they’re up to over 600.
Australian Capitol Territory becomes first state in Australia to ban conventional cars
Australia’s Capital Territory is sending a clear signal to the rest of the country: the fossil-fuel car has an end date. The region surrounding Canberra wants at least 80% of new light vehicles sold there to be zero-emission by 2030, as a stepping stone to the full 2035 ban. Interest-free loans up to $15,000 and registration fee exemptions are already helping residents make the switch today. When a high-visibility jurisdiction at the heart of national politics demonstrates this transition is manageable, neighboring states face far less risk in following — and that ripple effect is exactly how national change begins.