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.

Person happily holding a trans pride flag, for article on gender-affirming care

Maryland to cover unprecedented number of gender-affirming procedures in “groundbreaking” win

By / / Good News For Humankind

Maryland’s Medicaid program now covers gender-affirming care that reaches far beyond hormones and surgery, including voice therapy, fertility preservation, hair and scar removal, and a wide range of procedures. Under a law that took effect January 1, 2024, patients can only be denied a covered service if a clinician finds it would harm their individual health — never on the basis of identity. The bill grew directly out of conversations at Pride festivals and support groups across the state, shaped by trans Marylanders describing the barriers they faced. For residents like Renee Lau, who had been saving toward surgeries she couldn’t afford, the relief is immediate. As other states move to restrict trans healthcare, Maryland offers a hopeful template for how Medicaid can meet people where they are.

A family grocery shopping together for an article about consumption poverty in the U.S.

U.S. consumption poverty has fallen 27 percentage points since 1980

By / / Good News For Humankind

Consumption poverty in the United States has fallen dramatically since 1980, according to a major new study from the University of Notre Dame. Researchers found the poverty rate dropped 27 percentage points when measured by what families actually spend rather than what they report earning. The official income-based measure, by contrast, showed only a 1.5 percentage point decline over the same period. The findings suggest decades of policy investment in Social Security, tax credits, and safety net programs have produced far greater results than conventional statistics indicate.

Person receiving nasal spray, for article on intranasal COVID-19 vaccine

Novel nasal COVID-19 vaccine offers longer, better immunity than jabs

By / / Good News For Humankind

A nasal COVID-19 vaccine developed at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore is showing real promise: in hamster studies, it produced more central memory T cells than standard injections, hinting at protection that could last considerably longer. By delivering the vaccine right where the virus enters the body, researchers also saw stronger antibody responses against newly emerging variants. The team has filed a patent that covers other respiratory pathogens too, opening doors for future flu and RSV vaccines. Human trials are still ahead, but for anyone weary of frequent boosters — especially elderly and immunocompromised people — a needle-free shot offering broader, longer protection could meaningfully reshape how the world lives alongside evolving respiratory viruses.

Solar farm, for article on U.S. solar supply chain

Microsoft places massive 12GW solar module order, bolstering U.S. solar supply chain

By / / Good News For Humankind

Microsoft just inked a deal for 12 gigawatts of American-made solar panels — enough to power more than 1.8 million homes a year. The eight-year agreement with manufacturer Qcells will be supplied by a Georgia factory that handles everything from raw silicon to finished module under one roof, a rarity in an industry where most panels travel across oceans before reaching a project site. By committing to such a long runway, Microsoft gives manufacturers the confidence to build out capacity that might otherwise sit on the drawing board for years. It’s a glimpse of what the clean energy transition looks like when corporate demand, smart industrial policy, and domestic factories actually pull in the same direction.

Cancer cells, for article on multi-cancer blood test

New protein test can detect 18 early stage cancers, scientists say

By / / Good News For Humankind

A new blood test can screen for 18 different cancers at once — covering every major organ in the body — using a single ordinary blood draw. Researchers at U.S. biotech firm Novelna found the test caught 93% of earliest-stage cancers in male samples and 84% in female samples, while also pinpointing which organ the cancer came from in more than 80% of cases. Instead of hunting for tumor DNA, the team analyzed proteins in blood plasma, picking up faint signals before a tumor does visible damage. Larger studies are still needed before it reaches clinics, but a cheap, accurate, broad screening tool would be a quiet revolution for global health — especially in places where late diagnosis is still the norm.

Gabriel Attal, for article on France's first gay prime minister

Gabriel Attal becomes France’s first gay prime minister

By / / Good News For Humankind

At 34, Gabriel Attal became France’s youngest-ever prime minister in January 2024 — and the first openly gay person to hold the role under the Fifth Republic. His appointment landed as a quiet but powerful signal that being gay is no longer a barrier to leading at the highest levels of French government. The advocacy group SOS Homophobie welcomed the moment while noting that real progress will be measured by what his government actually does for LGBTQ+ rights. Attal joins a still-short global list of openly LGBTQ+ heads of government, including Ireland’s Leo Varadkar and Belgium’s Elio Di Rupo. Visibility at the top doesn’t guarantee safety or equality below — but it slowly reshapes what leadership looks like, and who gets to imagine themselves in it.

Tourists on Main Market Square in Krakow, for article on coal boiler replacement

Poland’s Clean Household Energy Initiative projected to prevent 20,000 deaths annually by 2030

By / / Good News For Humankind

Poland’s coal boiler swap could prevent more than 21,000 premature deaths every year by 2030, according to a new assessment from the European Clean Air Centre. The country is replacing half of its 2.7 million coal and wood-burning home furnaces with heat pumps and cleaner alternatives, at a clip of roughly 6,000 retrofits a week. What started as a grassroots push in Kraków a decade ago has grown into a €25 billion national programme, with heat pumps making up about half of all installations so far. Researchers are calling it a triple win: cleaner air, lower bills, and a third less carbon from homes. It’s a hopeful answer to anyone who says ambitious climate policy is too hard for ordinary people.

Silhouette of an elephant, for article on African elephant populations

Elephant populations stabilize in southern Africa

By / / Good News For Humankind

African elephant populations across the southern range have stabilized for the first time in a century, with surveys of more than 290,000 savannah elephants showing a small but steady annual growth rate from 1995 to 2020. The most comprehensive study of its kind, drawing on 713 surveys across 103 protected areas, credits decades of anti-poaching work, community-based conservation, and expanded protected lands. Researchers also found that connected reserves, where elephants can move between habitats, produce healthier outcomes than isolated “fortress” parks. The takeaway feels quietly powerful: after generations of devastating loss, patient work by rangers, scientists, and local communities has interrupted the collapse — a reminder that stitching fragmented landscapes back together may be one of conservation’s most important tasks worldwide.

German flag

Germany reports lowest carbon emissions since the 1950s

By / / Good news links

In 2023, GHG emissions in Germany fell to 673 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to Agora Energiewende. That is down 46% compared to the reference year of 1990 and the lowest level since the 1950s. At the same time, carbon emissions were about 49 million tons below the German national target of 722 million tons as specified by Germany’s Climate Protection Act and 73 million tons lower than the prior year.