Alzheimer’s proteins beaten back by sleeping pill in small study
The pills showed promise in combating the substances that lead to the harmful tangles and plaques in the brain that contribute to the disease.
Today (2017 C.E. - 2025 C.E.)
This archive spans one of the most eventful periods in recent history, from 2017 through 2025. Browse more than 4,100 articles documenting scientific breakthroughs, policy wins, social progress, and human ingenuity from the present era. Each story highlights what people and communities around the world are building, solving, and achieving right now.
Germany to ban new gas and oil heating beginning in 2024
A recently approved bill stipulates that any heating system installed in new or old buildings after January 1, 2024 must be 65% based on renewable energy.
Apple will use 100% recycled cobalt in batteries by 2025
In addition, all Apple-designed printed circuit boards will use 100% recycled tin soldering and 100% recycled gold plating by 2025, and magnets in its devices will be made completely of recycled rare earth materials.
Convictions cleared for nearly 850K Michiganders as ‘Clean Slate’ program takes effect
The bipartisan “Clean Slate” legislation, as advocates call it, wipes clean a range of convictions from people’s records after a defined waiting period.
The world’s first rewilding center opens in Scotland
The Dundreggan Rewilding Centre in Glenmoriston offers a gateway to the U.K.’s largest nature recovery site. The 10,000-acre landscape is being nursed back to health by the charity Trees for Life, which bought the site in 2008.
New Jersey governor protects trans youth seeking health care with executive order
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order preventing people in the state from being extradited for providing, receiving, or facilitating gender-affirming care.
Cyclists now outnumber motorists in London
The number of motorists has fallen by 64% since 1999, while the number of climate-friendly cyclists has increased by 386%.
Ghana first country to approve ‘world-changer’ malaria vaccine
Ghana’s approval of the R21 malaria vaccine — the first anywhere in the world — clears the way for children as young as five months to be protected against a disease that kills roughly 620,000 people every year, mostly young kids in Africa. Developed at Oxford’s Jenner Institute, R21 showed up to 80% effectiveness in early trials and is expected to cost just a couple of dollars per dose. The Serum Institute of India is preparing to produce up to 200 million doses a year, with a factory rising in Accra so supply stays close to home. After a century of scientific near-misses, an African regulator stepped forward and said: this one is ready.
Global wind energy to surpass 1 terawatt milestone by end of 2023
By comparison, the total installed energy capacity worldwide (including renewables and fossil fuels) is still less than 8 terawatts.
The Cook Islands decriminalize homosexuality
With the Crimes Amendment Bill, the group of 15 islands located in the South Pacific has rescinded a 1969 law that said men who have sex with men could be jailed for up to five years.