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.

Model of a heart, for article on muvalaplin Lp(a) cholesterol

World-first drug lowers genetic form of “bad cholesterol” by up to 65%

By / / Good News For Humankind

Muvalaplin, a new pill from researchers at Monash University, lowered a dangerous genetic form of cholesterol by up to 65% in just two weeks during early trials. The drug targets lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), a stickier cousin of LDL cholesterol that’s been called a “silent killer” because diet, exercise, and statins can’t touch it. Roughly one in five people worldwide carry elevated Lp(a), inherited risk they’ve long been told there’s nothing to do about. That muvalaplin works as a simple oral tablet, not an injection, could make it widely accessible if larger trials succeed. For global heart health, it’s a hopeful sign that even risks written into our DNA may not be the final word.

"Break free from fossil fuels" sign, for article on fossil fuel electricity

E.U.’s use of fossil fuels for electricity falls 17% to ‘record low’ in first half of 2023

By / / Good News For Humankind

Fossil fuels generated just 33% of the European Union’s electricity in the first half of 2023, the lowest share ever recorded. Coal had an especially striking moment: in May, it covered only 10% of EU power, and the Netherlands ran 17 straight days without burning any at all. Seventeen member states set new records for renewable generation, with Portugal and Denmark both crossing 75%. Solar kept climbing, and wind and solar together outproduced fossil fuels across the bloc in May for the first time. It’s a real glimpse of what a cleaner grid looks like — and a reminder that the next push is building enough renewables, storage, and grid capacity to power everything we’ll ask of electricity next.

Empty pedestrian-friendly city street with protected bike lanes for an article about Vision Zero traffic fatalities, for article on Bangladesh lithium battery

Bangladesh to begin producing lithium batteries and electric vehicles to cut emissions

By / / Good News For Humankind

Bangladesh’s push to manufacture lithium-ion batteries domestically is a meaningful step toward owning its clean energy future, not just participating in it. The new battery plant is designed to supply the core component for local electric vehicle assembly — a deliberate strategy to build an entire EV industry from the inside out. The real caveat: with fossil fuels dominating Bangladesh’s electricity grid, switching to EVs risks shifting emissions upstream rather than eliminating them. Still, research shows that EVs get cleaner automatically as grids improve — making early investment a bet worth placing.

Offshore wind farm, for article on floating offshore wind farm, for article on offshore wind auction

World’s new largest offshore wind farm opens in Norway

By / / Good News For Humankind

Floating offshore wind just powered an oil rig for the first time — Norway’s Hywind Tampen now supplies roughly 35% of the annual electricity for five North Sea platforms, cutting around 200,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year. Its 11 turbines float in deep water where fixed-bottom towers can’t reach, and the cost per megawatt came in about 35% lower than its 2017 predecessor, Hywind Scotland. Norwegian suppliers won 60% of the contracts, turning decades of offshore oil expertise into a new green industry at home. The deeper hope: floating wind could eventually unlock more than 80% of the world’s offshore wind potential — energy reserves that were, until recently, simply out of reach.

Virtual reality or cyberspace concept: digital human or robot head, for article on brain-computer interface

Paralyzed woman able to ‘speak’ through digital avatar in world first

By / / Good News For Humankind

A digital avatar has given a paralyzed woman her voice back — speaking at 78 words per minute, more than five times faster than the eye-tracking system she relied on before. Ann, who had a brainstem stroke 18 years ago, worked with UCSF researchers to train an AI to read brain signals from electrodes resting on her brain’s surface. The avatar speaks in a voice reconstructed from her wedding video, complete with facial expressions like smiles and frowns. There are real limits — the system still misreads words about a quarter of the time — but for millions living with ALS, locked-in syndrome, or severe stroke, this points toward a future where losing a voice no longer means losing a self.