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.
A decade ago, New Caledonia established its entire 502,000-square-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as a marine protected area. However, only 2.4% of the park prohibited fishing, drilling and mining. Now, the New Caledonian government has designated an additional 7.6% of its EEZ to be highly protected.
The researchers from the University of Cambridge found that, on its own, the blood test could diagnose up to 30% of patients with BD, but combining it with the online psychiatric assessment significantly improved the diagnosis rate, especially in people whose diagnosis was not obvious.
The Indonesian federal government has recognized 55,700 acres of ancestral forests on the northern tip of Sumatra for the first time. Indigenous communities in the region have welcomed the recognition, saying it will give them legal protection to manage their forests in a sustainable manner.
The new all-electric rail line, between the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Bandung, cuts journey time from around 3 hours, down to just 45 minutes. There are plans to continue the line onwards, from Bandung city node, all the way to the eastern end of Java.
In its decision, the court said that the requirement forces trans people to make the “cruel choice between accepting the sterilization surgery that causes intense bodily invasion and giving up important legal benefits of being treated according to their gender identity.”
New York is investing in a massive 6.4 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy, made up of three offshore wind farms and 22 onshore clean energy projects. It’s going to be enough to power 2.6 million New York homes and deliver around 12% of the state’s electricity needs once it’s all online.
Cervical cancer survival rates could improve dramatically after a major clinical trial found that adding a short course of chemotherapy before standard treatment reduces the risk of death or recurrence by 35%. Led by University College London researchers and funded by Cancer Research U.K., the trial showed 80% of women using the new approach were alive at five years, compared to 72% receiving standard treatment alone. The finding is considered the biggest advance in cervical cancer outcomes in over 20 years. Crucially, the drugs involved are already approved, widely available, and inexpensive, meaning the protocol could be adopted globally without new approvals or manufacturing delays.
In just a span of five months since EO 21 was issued, the number of offshore wind energy service contracts awarded to qualified investors went from 38 to 78. The biggest growth in terms of gigawatts and allocation happened between August to October when the number of rose from 63 to 78 contracts with a total of 61.6 GW.
The Benban Solar Farm near Aswan, Egypt, is now the largest solar park in Africa and the fourth largest solar farm globally. At least 20,000 jobs were created for the construction of the park and 6,000 permanent jobs were created for maintenance and management.
The legislation creates a registry for carbon credit projects within the National Directorate of Climate Change to serve as the official record of every carbon credit program active in Paraguay and ensure that land isn’t being registered more than once — a common problem in the global carbon credit market.
