What’s going on right now that most people have no idea about? Check out this amazing (and scary) data to find out. Make sure you do not miss number 18.
1. The Greater One-Horned Rhino Population Has Increased To More Than 4,014 Now
The greater one-horned rhino population in India and Nepal is growing, as highlighted in the State of the Rhino Report 2023 by the International Rhino Foundation. Collaboration among India, Bhutan, and Nepal, along with strict government protection and management, has led to an increase in their population over the past decade.
2. The Ocean Cleanup Initiative Has A New System
The Ocean Cleanup initiative has a new system to clean up an area the size of a football field every 5 seconds. The previous one has extracted 282,787 kg of trash from the Pacific Ocean so far.
3. Fighting Multiple Sclerosis
Great news! A new stem cell injection that halts the progression of multiple sclerosis is in clinical trials.
4. The California Redwoods Are Recuperating
The complex of one United States national park and three California state parks located along the coast of northern California weathered the wildfires better than scientists expected. Luckily, they are recovering very well.
5. The FDA Approved A Treatment That Cures Sickle Cell Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Vertex and Bluebird’s gene editing therapies for sickle cell disease (SCD). This is the first approval of a new class of drugs to cure sickle cell disease.
6. NASA Is Sending Data Transmissions Further Than Radio Frequencies
NASA has developed technology for sending data transmissions much further than radio frequencies. Moreover, recently, they sent their first transmission 10 million miles away.
7. Lab-Grown Cooking Oils
Scientists are going to start experimenting with lab-grown cooking oils. This could help curb a lot of the environmental damage caused by mass soy, corn, and palm oil farming.
8. Natural Sponges That Soak Up Nanoplastics
Made from starch and gelatin, the biodegradable sponges remove as much as 90 percent of microplastics in tap water and seawater. In tests, the researchers show that when a specially prepared plastic-filled solution is pushed through one of their sponges, the sponge can remove both microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics from the liquid.
9. Child And Adult Literacy Crises
Did you know that we are experiencing both child and adult literacy crises predating but exacerbated by COVID-19? This crisis disproportionately affects students of color, and that cannot be ignored.
10. Cancer’s Days Are Numbered
Almost every cancer has had treatments and drug breakthroughs in the last decade, and it keeps improving with more funding and research. Some good news!
11. Lake Mead Water Levels Are 20+ Feet Higher Than Last Year
Together, Nevada, Arizona, and California have managed to increase water elevation in Lake Mead by nearly 20 feet compared to two years ago and conserved more water in 2023 than in any previous year since 1984. Lake Mead still has a long way to full recovery, sitting at 33% capacity.
12. The Cure Is Near
The co-director of the Melanoma Institute in Australia and world-leading melanoma pathologist Prof Richard Scolyer is fighting a terminal brain cancer, glioblastoma. He and his co-director Georgina Long are using the research and knowledge that have gained through fighting melanomas to find a cure for this currently incurable cancer.
13. They Are Putting The Final Touches On The Rubin Observatory
Astronomers are now putting the final touches on the Rubin Observatory, which will see “first light,” aka start looking at the sky, in a year or so. It is an eight-meter-diameter telescope mirror that will image the ENTIRE sky every night visible where it is!
14. The War On Water Resources
The world’s water is in trouble. Freshwater pollution, coupled with climate change, population growth, and increasing demand, threatens water quality and availability.
15. The Great Extinction Event
This means that species are going extinct at a rate of up to 10,000 times the normal rate. We’re actually making the Earth into a monoculture. We’ve currently transformed 40% of the Earth’s landmass into crops and farms.
16. Major Corporations Cannot Buy Houses
Bill in the US Senate to ban major corporations from buying homes. Forgive us if we missed a detail. Hilarious how little coverage it’s getting.
17. The Snow Belt Is Getting Higher And Higher
These snow belts are usually higher elevations south and east of the lakeshore. The elevation rise causes water vapor from the lake to rise and condense into snow. Lake-effect snow and even rain occur when Lake Erie is warmer than the air above it.
18. Alex Batty Was Found
Alex, a young boy from Manchester, UK, who disappeared in 2017 in Spain whilst on holiday with his mother and grandfather, was found alive a few weeks ago in France after he’d been walking for 4 days to escape a religious commune and was spotted by a delivery driver in Toulouse. He returned home just before Christmas.
19. In Canada, The Public System Is On Strike
In Quebec, the entire public system (teachers, nurses, healthcare, etc.) has been on strike since November 13th. Kids have been out of school for close to 5 weeks now, and teachers have not gotten paid since.
20. The End Of The MRSA
They discovered a new antibiotic that kills MRSA. Wait! this is actually amazing! It takes 100x more time to develop a new antibiotic than any other medication.
21. The Total Commercialization Of The Internet
It started as a Wild West of entertainment, news, and information. Now, there is daily propaganda and agendas that are consumed en masse.
22. The US Healthcare System’s Crisis
The US healthcare system is actively collapsing. Roughly 15% of US patients simply cannot receive care, and that number is increasing.
23. The Massive Amount Of Carbon Stored In Permafrost
There’s a huge amount of carbon stored in permafrost. An estimated 1,500 gigatons, or twice as much as the atmosphere contains.
24. Maternal Death Rates Are Rising
Sadly, the highest rates are among black women. The rates have essentially doubled over the last 20 years.
25. Insects Are Disappearing
The fact that you can go on a 45 minute drive across the town and arrive with a clean grille should be insanely alarming to E V E R Y O N E. They are the bottom of the food chain. We all rely on them.
26. The Venezuela-Guyana War
There’s a third regional war being threatened. It’s between Venezuela and Guyana, with Venezuela threatening to invade what is essentially the western half of Guyana. This is an old dispute, one Venezuela originally gave up pushing on decades ago, but a few years ago a shitload of oil was discovered off the coast of western Guyana
27. We Are Eating Plastic
Over the past decade and a half, pretty much every person on Earth has been eating about 1-2 credit cards worth of plastic a year from microplastics. It’s getting worse and isn’t slowing down any time soon, it would seem.
28. Increasing Costs Of The Streaming Services
Twitch, YouTube, Amazon, and basically all streaming services are jacking up prices to no benefit for the customer. And to be honest, we kind of feel that that should be illegal.
29. The Gunnison Valley Dilemma
The Gunnison valley (Gunnison, Crested Butte, and Almont) in Colorado is where the Gunnison river starts. The Gunnison and the Upper Colorado rivers join to make the lower Colorado river, which is an extremely important source of water and power for the western states. So, if we don’t get snow in the valley then Las Vegas and the farmers out west are screwed.
30. A Vaccine For Breast Cancer
We are likely very close to a vaccine for breast cancer. There are several versions now in the human trial phase that seem to be working.
