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Good News
SeaWorld San Antonio recently welcomed 7 rescued beluga whales, following a nearly 2,000 mile journey, as part of an urgent, unprecedented international effort to relocate 30 belugas from a closed marine park in Canada t
Richard Pulley was still working delivery shifts at 78. After a doorbell camera clip touched the internet, a fundraiser snowballed to $965,868.
Gunner and Kohen, both 13, were just out riding when they spotted an elderly woman who had fallen in her yard the day before.
Community
Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerf
Good News
10 years ago today, Ichiro Suzuki joined the “3,000 Club” of collecting 3,000 hits across an MLB career in style, hitting a triple off the right-field wall of Coors Field against the Colorado Rockies. In doing so he also
Dan Cuthern had been under a Missouri overpass with his dog Bentley for more than a decade — until five women decided to change that.
The Planet
A reality check for ‘AI slop’, the US’s plummeting murder rate, and a victory for an uncontacted tribe, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Did you know that every time the brain learns something, it changes physically? A study in PLoS Biology is the first to track exactly what those changes are, and found two separate pr
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Here’s some food for thought: for students, free lunch ends when school does. For the millions of children who rely on subsidized cafeteria meals during the year, nothing automaticall
Good News
When a man who loves things that go ‘boom’ met a men who loves things that go ‘bloom,’ they realized there was much to gain from an alliance. Hence, Ryukoku University professor Takahiko Nakaoki and president of Kakinoki
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From Turkiye’s Mediterranean shore comes the remarkable story of how a group of unsupported conservationists and fishermen received a helping hand from an NGO and restored 300 miles of coastline into a biodiverse marine
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A man who dresses up every year as Santa Claus to spread Christmas cheer has just delivered a very special present. Though central Virginia is far too hot for Santa’s reindeer to flyover, the gift couldn’t wait until Dec
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A company which learned that Singapore’s recycling rates have “plateaued” around 11% is deploying over 100 refill machines for cleaning products around the city. Reducing the cost of packaging has allowed the household p
Community
Robert Lindemann is a 32-year-old accountant from Germany. He’s also had a heart transplant, a life-changing experience shared by just a few hundred people each year in his country. But at the Transplant Games, he doesn’
Drop Dead Generous gives ordinary people real money with one rule: use it creatively to help others.
The Planet
The British singer-songwriter and frontman of alt-J on capturing creative sparks and the rise of the far-right The post Life lessons: Joe Newman on what life so far has taught him appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
100 years ago today, American Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Called “The Queen of the Waves,” she was an Olympic gold medalist, and former world record-holder in 5 events for w
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The U.S. Indian boarding school system spent decades trying to remove Native American languages from Native children. Kids were separated from their families and punished, sometimes v
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Picture yourself running late to a dreaded appointment. Your shoulders climb toward your ears, your jaw tightens, and every red light feels like a targeted attack. Now picture driving
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Two famously toxic plants—known also to treat pain, malaria, cancer, and pests—may have had those medicinal properties synthesized in a lab for the first time. The researchers behind the discovery believe “plants are the
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New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths are at their lowest levels in more than 30 years, a special report released by UNAIDS shows. Released in time for the 26th International AIDS Conference taking place in Rio de J
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Grady-White Boats market their vessels as the “finest boats ever crafted” which is quite the statement. GNN can’t comment on boat quality, but they certainly don’t make humans like Grady-White’s ex-CEO much anymore. For
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In what must rank as one of the rarer fossil assemblages ever discovered, an incredible moment where the whole top-third of the Cretaceous era marine food chain was being sorted out has been presented by scientists. Foll
Community
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Crossing to safety Habitat lo
The Planet
The government is overhauling school food standards in England for the first time in more than a decade The post How schools are winning children over to healthier lunches appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
120 years ago today, American actor, director, and screenwriter John Huston, was born. He also wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 film classics he directed, like The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Czech researchers at the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague are building titanium joint implants with a porous internal structure designed to hold medication and release
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A study published in Nature provides the first experimental evidence that inherited genetics shape not just whether cancer starts, but how it evolves once it does. Researchers led by
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A major, early-stage advancement in vision technology comes to us now from South Korea, where researchers created a contact lens that repairs scratches automatically when exposed to sunlight. A scratched lens can mean an
Community
This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here. Since most homicides in the U.S. are committed with guns, gun violence and the na
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In 2022, the longest “predator exclusion fence” anywhere in the Pacific was completed on Kauai, encircling 168 acres of prime seabird nesting habitat. The nesting birds include endangered species that were under constant
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In a story that shows how it’s never too late to learn, a man in the UK has graduated from nursing school at 64. His education actually saw the Nigerian immigrant, who is a father of 5, studying alongside his son, who wa
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Newly released camera trap footage from a recent study captures the oldest Sunda clouded leopard ever recorded in the wild. This 8.5-year-old female in Borneo’s rainforests offers a new and exciting glimpse into the life
The Planet
At Groundswell, experts debated how to get more nature-friendly foods on shelves. Here are three key takeaways The post Will regeneratively grown food become mainstream? appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
125 years ago today, the beloved American jazz trumpeter, composer, and singer Louis Armstrong was born in New Orleans. Nicknamed Satchmo, or Pops, Armstrong was one of the most influential figures in jazz, with a trail-
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Rivers are how plastic gets to the ocean. Stop it there, and you stop it for good. The Great Bubble Barrier, a Dutch company, built a technology to do exactly that. A perforated tube
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s nothing quite like wandering around your garden with scissors in hand, ready to cut fresh herbs to season your meals. The aromatic scents and flavors are unparalleled. However
Good News
Invasive species of Asian mussels have met their match in Alberta’s riverine sniffer dogs. These K9 conservationists have been employed by the provincial government for over a decade to help catch zebra and golden mussel
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From Colorado comes the story of a child prodigy pianist whose career was kick-started by a jaw-dropping donation from a complete stranger. Brought to us via CBS News “On the Road” with Steve Hartman, the story began on
Good News
On July 31st, mine developer Canada Nickel Company announced it had received final permitting approval from the Ontario government for its gargantuan nickel mining/carbon capture project The approval is the first issued
The Planet
A new album made from the echolocation calls of bats is inviting listeners to hear the misunderstood mammals differently The post The musicians turning bat calls into club music appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp is the latest wild wonder of the USA to make UNESCO’s hallowed World Heritage Site list. It joins the Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Everglades, and Yellowstone national Parks on the same list, and ref
Community
One day in late June, a forest patrol deep in the jungles of Central India came across a distressing sight. Twelve spotted deer and two sambar deer lay dead around a poisoned pond. This was among the biggest cases of sus
Good News
On this day 100 years ago, Tony Bennett, the famed jazz and pop singer, who passed away just last year, was born. Winner of 19 Grammys, he grew up in a poor family of Italian immigrants, but his uncle was a vaudeville ta
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A dog owner says her pooch saved her life, by repeatedly pawing at her armpit, which eventually alerted her to breast cancer. The 61-year-old says her chihuahua Flag started the odd behavior years ago, constantly hitting
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Six years ago, fewer than one in six rural homes in India had a tap water connection. As of mid-July, more than four in five do, and the difference adds up to 124 million additional h
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The sustainable fashion industry has spent years trying to reduce harm: less water, fewer synthetic chemicals, more recycled material. A research team at the Shenzhen Institutes of Ad
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The rookie lifeguard didn’t flinch. A giant wave slammed into the California shore and a 10-year-old boy was instantly swept up. Luckily, a 16-year-old lifeguard ran to help, rushing toward a rescue that would go viral o
Good News
A touring heavy metal band almost met disaster in the middle of nowhere, until a 60-year-old stranger reminded them that there’s still a magical thing called ‘Midwest Nice’. The Autumn Kings trio had just finished perfor
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An Englishman says he lives with the world’s oldest cat—a tortoiseshell born in 1995, making her 31 years-old. The puss named Millie was first owned by Leslie Greenhough’s late wife, who took her in as a 3-month-old kitt
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83 years ago today, in combat with the Japanese during the Solomon Islands Campaign in World War II, Patrol torpedo boat PT-109 was rammed by the Japanese Destroyer Amagiri. Its commanding officer, a certain Lieutenant J
Good News
As NASA’s Curiosity rover ascended the Martian valley named Valle Grande back in June, it sent back images of a landscape covered in honeycomb-like textures. “We’ve seen a lot of fascinating landscapes through Curiosity’
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A Eurasian lynx rescued from misery in Ukraine took her first steps on grass —and soon rolled over onto her back—after being rescued by a UK animal sanctuary. The big cat named Ursa was found seriously ill in January aft
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New research shows that blowing bubbles helps sperm whales to sleep soundly, hidden beneath the waves. It actually stops them from floating to the surface during nap time. While little is known about how sperm whales sle
Good News
Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
Good News
61 years ago today, Frank Herbert’s epic science-fiction novel Dune was published. Set in the distant future amidst a feudal interstellar society in which various noble houses control planetary fiefdoms, it tells the sto
Good News
An inspiring story of solidarity between pet owners comes from Japan, recently rattled by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake. In the wake of the disaster that destroyed homes and claimed over 3 dozen lives, an organization that
Science Wins
Episode Description: Dolphins fatally swim into fishing nets because the nylon is acoustically too similar to water for their echolocation to pick up. A researcher at Newcastle University wondered if attaching something
Good News
Arizona State University researchers are testing ways to neutralize mining’s biggest environmental liabilities. At present the mining sector is experiencing a surge in interest and investment, as America has seemingly wo
Good News
Miraculously, all 11 souls walked away with their lives after a seaplane both crashed and caught fire in the Puget Sound. Operator Kenmore Air said in a statement that one of its planes, a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter, was o
Good News
The rapid adoption of heat pumps in the United States is becoming little short of a revolution, such that these clever HVAC devices in a few years will effectively replace previous systems. Indeed of all new homes built
The Planet
From knife-crime prevention to mental health support, grassroots football is being taken seriously as a tool for social change The post How community football is helping youth stay out of trouble appeared first on Positi
The Planet
Scientists flew into the heart of 'fire clouds', Finland cut emissions with a sand battery, and food banks turned waste into millions of meals, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters app
Community
Up until a few years ago, Jodi Whitt’s trips to the Shawnee County jail in Topeka, Kansas, began with an arrest and an anxious wait in a bare intake cell for up to 72 hours. Her incarcerations lasted 30 days or so, until
Good News
240 years ago today, Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect by Robert Burns, the National Poet of Scotland, was published in Kilmarnock. It was a hit, and catapulted him to Scottish Stardom. Among the collection is one o
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Youth sports in the United States now cost the average family about $1,016 a year per child, up 46 percent since 2019, according to the Aspen Institute’s 2025 State of Play report. In
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Summer has a way of sneaking up on you. In May, you were excited about everything: the outdoor concert, the friend’s rooftop birthday, the weekend trip to the coast. Now it’s the end
Good News
It’s been almost 20 years since Argentina launched what was at the time the world’s first attempt at reintroducing the giant anteater to a landscape it had disappeared from. 19 years later, and the initiative has been no
Good News
A woman was able to help a partially disabled airport worker retire after she witnessed him hobbling across the tarmac on a flight out of Los Angeles. Heartbroken watching him limp up to the plane she was sitting on, she
Good News
For the 3rd consecutive year, global hunger as measured by malnourishment among continental populations has fallen. It’s also the first time that the malnourished as a share of global population has fallen below 8% since
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A sprinkle of crushed basalt rock has turned out to be the fairy dust that newly planted forests need to develop faster and absorb more carbon. That’s what scientists from Imperial College London are reporting in a new s
Community
A guy goes into a bar, and leaves with one less kidney. That’s a joke Mark Scotch tells about his life. It’s only a slight exaggeration: A chance encounter in 2020 did lead to him donating a kidney — although not quite i
Good News
On this day 96 years ago, at the conclusion of the inaugural FIFA World Cup, La Celeste, or Uruguay, won the trophy. Rarely considered as favorites in the tournament’s editions these days, Uruguay was on a tear by the ti
The Planet
As Edinburgh introduces a visitor levy this week, we look at what a decade of tourist tax-funded investment has done for one of Europe’s resorts The post Did a tourist tax save Magaluf? appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM India launched its first hydrogen-powered train earlier this month. It was built domestically and is now operating in Haryana. Two hydrogen-powered driving cars, eight passenger coach
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Gillnets catch dolphins by accident. The nylon mesh hangs nearly invisible in the water, and dolphins’ echolocation, the system they rely on to navigate and hunt, can fail to detect i
Good News
From Big Sky Country comes a rescue story so cliche that even Hollywood scriptwriters would pass it over. A 14-year-old obsessed with roping cattle rescued a man who’d fallen into a river Indiana Jones-style, catching hi
Good News
A changing climate seems to be shortening Africa’s dry season, resulting in less land scorched during the wildfire season according to new science. For all the column inches devoted to the record wildfire seasons in Fran
Good News
Once upon a time, in a little town called Atlanta, there was a dad who decided on a lark to take his 4-month-old baby girl to the library. He didn’t know it at the time, but the Georgia native had planted the magic bean
Good News
A hospital in Trinidad and Tobago was the site of an incredible, 12-day surgical marathon. When the scrubs were finally hung up, 3,000 people had regained vision free of charge thanks to the Church of the 7th Day Adventi
The Planet
In east Africa, Maasai men are redefining what it means to be brave by helping people and lions co-exist The post A new measure of courage: how Maasai warriors became lion guardians appeared first on Positive News .
Community
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Homeward bound As the U.S. po
Good News
On this day in 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created. The US Congress was spurred to create the federal agency by the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik, the first orbital satellite. Tw
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM It’s usually around this time of the summer season when you find out which plants you’ve been taking for granted. You stroll through your garden, and there it is: your favorite leafy
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Every time you stream something, pay a bill, or ask an AI a question, a server somewhere is putting in the work. Those servers live in data centers: large, unglamorous buildings full
Good News
Last year, GNN reported on the toolkit of patience and garden rakes needed to get through the 100 million-strong crab migration season on Christmas Island. Taiwan, itself also an island, has found that a healthy dose of
Good News
Internet access has increased 20-fold and broadband costs have fallen by 99% on the archipelago of Micronesia thanks to the ending of government monopoly in the sector. Market liberalization has dropped the cost of inter
Good News
Protection and conservation programs have recorded a banner year for the eastern imperial eagle, as majestic a bird as you’re likely to see in Europe, and the national bird of Serbia. Emblazoned on the flag of the Balkan
Good News
High schools funded and/or managed by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) have achieved the highest average graduation rates yet recorded in its history. 8 high schools saw every senior in the 2025/26 class graduate, wh
Good News
133 years ago today, the Vizcaya Bridge, Spain’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site of industrial heritage was completed. Spanning the two banks situated at the mouth of the Nervion River, connecting the towns of Portugalet
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Researchers have planted 9,000 milkweed plants along roads in six North Florida counties, with 6,000 more going in before 2029. Monarchs are already showing up at the sites. The work
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Holding in a sneeze carries more risk than most people assume. The injuries it can cause include ruptured eardrums, damage to the tissue lining the throat, and in rarer cases, air tra
Good News
Submitted By Jeff G. Rottman About 80 miles east of San Angelo, Texas, a young astrophotographer named Bray Falls is running one of the largest ‘telescope ranches’ on Earth. Stargazers from around the world ship their te
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As soon as Aleksander Wolszczan confirmed the observation of the first planet outside of our solar system, he immediately reasoned that thousands more would be discovered in the coming decades. On that prediction the ast
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From China’s Anhui Province comes a story that reminds us it’s never too late to learn. 71-year-old Liu Defang remembers chatting with her friends while out one day near a bridge in her hometown in Suixi County. She sudd
The Planet
Replacing real leopard skins with synthetic furs has helped leopards recover in western Zambia, researchers say The post Leopards recover in Zambia as communities swap skins for synthetics appeared first on Positive News
Good News
For the 4th year in a row, Indian grey hornbills have successfully bred in Gujarat state where they’d been absent for more than 50 years. Despite being listed as a species of “Least Concern” by the IUCN, the animal has h
Community
Only knee-deep in parts yet relatively wide, the Bièvre gently flows with transparent waters that shimmer in the afternoon sun. A shoal of fish lazily linger beside a large stone in one section. Further along, birds and
Good News
86 years ago today, Bugs Bunny, the wisecracking Warner Bros cartoon character, first debuted in an animated short entitled A Wild Hare. Supervised by Fred ‘Tex’ Avery, it featured a hunter named Elmer Fudd pursuing a wi
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You know the feeling: you walk toward the hall closet with good intentions, reach for the handle, and stop. The coats are in there, somewhere. So are the shoes that were trendy two se
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s something strange about where the clean energy transition has gotten stuck. Generating power from the sun and wind? Mostly figured out. Storing it? That’s the part nobody has
Good News
Off the coast of Catalina Island for 15 years, the fishing vessel Midnight Hour has sat on the ocean floor—its sunken wreckage becoming a tangle of abandoned fishing nets, the kind that drift in the current while trappin
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Air quality continues to improve across Europe, with emissions from most of the major pollutants declining by significant amounts. “The overall picture remains positive,” according to the annual Assessment Report on Euro
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A lazy retirement was bestowed upon the last circus elephant in Portugal who just became a resident of the country’s first sanctuary dedicated to working pachyderms. After 40 years of performing, Julie was transported on
Good News
134 years ago today, Dadabhai Naoroji was elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain. A merchant, scholar, writer, and political leader who served as a founding member of the Indian National Congress, Na
Good News
The outline of a ‘lost’ 17th century garden has been revealed at a stately British home following the record heatwave and long drought. Beneath the parched grass was an ornate garden design being rediscovered after more
Good News
The elusive vaquita porpoise swims in the wild only in shallow northern waters of Mexico’s Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez)—and it’s one of the rarest and most endangered marine mammals on Earth. With
Good News
Conservationists were holding their breaths this Spring as the last remaining colony of puffins was in danger of being lost altogether, but relief turned to joy as, not only did the adult puffins return, a baby was born.
Good News
Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
Good News
61 years ago today, the 60s folk singer Bob Dylan walked onstage at the Newport Folk Festival, plugged in his Fender Stratocaster and “went electric,” tearing into the song “Maggie’s Farm.” Although many folkie-loving ti
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Dozens of Beatles fans were left stunned after Paul McCartney pulled up alongside their Fab Four-themed tour bus. The Beatle-maniacs spotted the musical legend while aboard the Magical Mystery Tour bus that guides touris
Science Wins
Episode Description: Watching a tense soccer match nearly doubles cardiac event risk, and cortisol could start rising fourteen hours before kickoff. With Spain just taking the World Cup, a fair portion of the world’s pop
Good News
As the AI infrastructure build-out continues to meet headwinds from concerned citizens, three states recently signed laws ending what had been the largely-standard practice of exempting data center operators from paying
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A British bee scientist recently explained that setting up ‘hydration stations’ for bees doesn’t work, as the commonly-proffered mixture of sugar in water doesn’t revive tired bees at all. Bees need our help, says Dr. Ri
Good News
As Karolina Urbanova broke the log of white pine she was standing on in half with her axe, she notched the 2nd world record for women’s speed lumberjack events she set that day. The 11 inches of white pine was severed in
Community
This article was originally published by the Daily Yonder, which is dedicated to uplifting the stories of rural people. Holly Warren was recently leafing through one of her old medical school textbooks, trying to recall
Good News
51 years ago today, Giorgio Armani and Sergio Galeotti founded Giorgio Armani SpA (joint stock company) in Milan, Italy. Armani had no education in design, and instead studied medicine in advance of a two-year stint in t
The Planet
The world’s roads got much safer, global hunger levels eased, and Brazil set a welcome record for deforestation, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Great news! The (adorable) numbat is no longer endangered. The IUCN has moved Western Australia’s animal emblem from Endangered to Near Threatened on its Red List, after more than 40
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Do eight weeks of salsa classes sound like an intervention to you? Show up, learn the footwork, rotate partners, move to music with a room full of people you probably don’t know. And
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When GNN reported last week that Canadian and US authorities approved the emergency transfer of some 30 beluga whales from a closed theme park in Ontario, little had been released about how one goes about moving a severa
Good News
In 2022, India beat long-time spacefarers Russia to become the 3rd nation to see a privately designed and built rocket successfully reach space. Now just 4 years later, and the Hyderabad-based Skyroot Aerospace has outdo
Good News
In what is being described as an “important first step,” for marine protections in the island nation of New Zealand, 5 new marine preserves will enter into force next month. Surrounding a district called Otago near the s
The Planet
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has brought renewed urgency to the climate solutions campaigners have been pushing for years The post The upside of the energy crisis appeared first on Positive News .
Community
Two cubes of pale wood sit on either side of a small, accessible lounge. Inside each, a bed folds down from the wall, a desk swings out and shelves hold books, plants and family photos. But nobody lives here — at least,
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Scientists trudging through Nicaragua’s rainforest have identified a “hotbed” of avocado species diversity. The fruit was first transported hundreds of miles to Central America from South America around 5,000 years ago,
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Happy 55th Birthday to the amazing musician and singer Alison Krauss, who has won more Grammys than almost anyone. A teenage prodigy in Decatur, Illinois, she was attracted to bluegrass music and was winning contests at
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Large fashion companies in the EU can no longer destroy unsold clothing, shoes, or accessories. As of this week, that’s illegal. The change is part of the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainab
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Most people treat sleep debt as a tiredness problem. Get some extra rest on the weekend, recover, move on. The reality is messier. Missing sleep for several nights triggers a cascade
Good News
A man who was paralyzed from the chest down is now regaining hand and arm control thanks to a double neural bypass surgery—by using a computer to connect his brain with the nerves in his hand and arms. Hardly doomed to b
Good News
According to current predictions, Mexico may be free from a multi-year drought at the end of its current rainy season. Running from May to October, a wetter-than-normal El Niño phenomenon has led to rich rains across Mex
The Planet
As Premier League prices rise, growing numbers of supporters are seeking out something closer, cheaper and more human in non-league football The post The rise of community-led football appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
In some of those really old countries: Greece, Turkey, China, history has a funny way of piling up and losing some of its intrigue. Take this kitchen table for example—it’s actually a kind of diploma issued in the Qing D
Good News
From Arizona comes the story of a young man helping an elderly woman whose dementia had left her disoriented, wandering about in 103°F heat. 14-year-old Royal Cothrun was riding his bike down empty sidewalks through his
Community
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Uprooted When trees are in th
Good News
30 years ago today, The Daily Show began satirizing and skewering politicians and broadcasters on cable TV’s Comedy Central. “Nobody had done it before,” said former head writer and co-creator Lizz Winstead. “We became t
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A brush swab of the mouth. Four genes. Results in under an hour. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London, working with partners in India, have shown that this simple approach
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Most people treat happiness as something that arrives when conditions are right. The last decade of psychological science tells a different story. Happiness isn’t mainly a mood or a s
Good News
From the Dallas Morning News comes the story of a firefighter who went above and beyond the call of duty, even though he was off duty. Out in the family boat on the 4th of July, Jason Horne rescued 3 drowning children tr
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When news reaches the public that a new species has been identified, the chances really are 9 times out of 10 that it’s some deep sea slug or a spider. From the Congo comes the story of the exception—a new species of col
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Scottish runner Josh Kerr just put in the fastest mile time in human history, breaking a record that had stood for 27 years after clocking 3:42.66. Set at the recent London Diamond League athletics meet, Kerr finished a
Good News
A coral reef long presumed dead has been rediscovered “teeming with life” off the coast of West Africa. Surveys conducted in the 1960s that were focused on identifying promising fishing areas, flagged a possible deep-wat
Community
This story has been co-published by Reasons to be Cheerful and the Outrider Foundation. At the turn of the century Beijing had one million vehicles. By 2010, just a decade later, the Chinese capital had registered five t
Good News
36 years ago today, Roger Waters performed The Wall in Berlin for 350,000 fans to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier. Staged on a vacant lot between Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenburg Gate, the
The Planet
A bold new building in the Netherlands promises to showcase solutions to global problems – and encourage positive action The post ‘A place of hope and solutions’: the building promising a better future appeared first on
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Cuba has long been known for its vintage cars — the American ones that kept rolling through decades of embargo and scarcity, repaired with ingenuity and improvised parts. That ingenui
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM It’s hard to believe it’s almost August; if you’re anything like us, you’re probably wondering where June and July went. It happens every year: the long days, the plans you made back
Good News
From Salt Lake City comes the touching story of a 5-year-old girl saved thanks to a bone marrow transplant from none other than her 2-year-old sister. Emma Meline was diagnosed with an extremely rare bone disease after h
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At the intersection of big data, forestry, and genomics, a biotech startup has birthed a generation of “elite” blight-resistant American chestnut trees without deep genetic tinkering. The company is inspired by saving Am
The Planet
Inspired by olden days ice houses, this underground fridge uses the earth’s stable temperature to keep food cool The post The underground fridge that keeps food cool – even in a heatwave appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
Tom McKievick says his job is challenging yet entertaining, a good combination for a perspective career. Yet when he saw the newspaper ad for the job at Fredericka Manor senior living community in Chula Vista, California
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1,000 feet below the North Sea, blast after blast brings Norwegian engineers closer and closer to completion of the longest undersea road tunnel on Earth. No one better to do it than Norway either, given that their citiz
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Swiss architect Barbara Buser has spent decades proving that the greenest building is often the one already standing. When one unscrews a section of the bright red sheet metal façade from K.118, a former carpentry factor
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57 years ago today, men first stepped on the moon during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission; Neil Armstrong first, at 10:56pm EST, because he was closest to the door and Buzz Aldrin second. WATCH a look back from the 50th annivers
Science Wins
Forty-eight teams. Sixty-four matches. A final played yesterday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The 2026 World Cup was the most expansive in the tournament’s history, and for US, Canadian, and Mexican fans, the first p
Science Wins
Cancer immunotherapy has transformed treatment for some patients. For the 60 to 80 percent who don’t respond, the problem often isn’t the killer T cells at the end of the immune chain. It’s the cells responsible for trai
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Video footage of a fireman giving oxygen to a pigeon following a fire has gone viral on social media. After attending to a vehicle fire on Wednesday evening, the E29 crew of Oakland Firefighters noticed a pigeon in distr
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On May 10, when someone stole the e-bike that this cancer survivor needed to get to her oncology appointments, Officer JP Young of the Kansas City Police Department told her he would do everything he could to find it. Ev
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For decades, experts have disputed whether weapons found in ancient burial chambers of Egyptian princesses were actually their tools or placed there in a purely symbolic way. Now, a reassessment of five royal women who l
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50 years ago today, Sagarmatha National Park was established in Nepal as the country’s first National Park. Enshrining the summit and breadth of the mountain known in the west as Everest, its total area encompasses 443 s
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Although everyone urged the giant man to pursue a basketball career as a 7-foot-3-inch athlete, but that was never his dream. Jordan Wilmore would rather help others, so he trained to become a Texas policeman. He was one
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A daughter helped save her father’s vintage Italian shoe shop by posting about a pair of Y2K kitten heels on TikTok—and now it has lines outside the door. For over 30 years Rachid Lazraq has owned Rich Collection Italia,
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A drug, that has previously been shown to be safe and tolerated by humans, reduces multiple disease-linked features of Alzheimer’s in a lab model of the disease, say neuroscientists in London. The team from King’s Colleg
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Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
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58 years ago today, the Intel Corporation was founded in Mountain View, California. One of the largest manufacturers of computer hardware, Intel was a key component of the rise of Silicon Valley as a high-tech center, as
Community
Collective action is the product of individuals leading the way, showing what’s possible, and shifting our understanding of what ought to be accepted as normal.
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Homegrown catnip plants have proven to be as effective as DEET for repelling mosquitoes in rural Uganda. Presented at an international science conference in Florence, Italy, a collaborative team of Welsh and Ugandan rese
Science Wins
Episode Description: Greece just launched the world’s first satellite constellation built specifically for wildfire detection. It can spot a fire measuring only a few feet across, a huge improvement on conventional satel
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There’s an old saying that it takes a village to raise a child. That was true for this lonely 4-year-old in North Carolina. What his neighborhood didn’t know, however, was that it sometimes takes a child to raise a villa
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During the recent heat dome over Europe, multiple regions of Spain were scorched by wildfires. But in the idyllic Iberian ecosystem of Doñana National Park, things were calm and lush. There hasn’t been a wildfire in the
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When the BBC visited China’s frigid northeastern province of Heilongjiang (Black Dragon River) in 2008 hoping to catch a glimpse of the river’s famous giant sturgeon, the English documentarians learned that there were no
The Planet
Advances in forensic science are disrupting the illegal wildlife trade – and are documented in a new photo series The post In pictures: How forensic science is helping tackle wildlife poaching appeared first on Positive
Community
Sometimes the most consequential innovations are fueled by frustration. When she was in her early thirties, Ridhi Tariyal asked her gynecologist for a fertility test. Her doctor dismissed the request, saying such a test
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70 years ago today, the MGM musical comedy High Society was released. Starring Bing Crosby and a young Frank Sinatra, it was the first time the pair ever collaborated. It was a musical remake of Philadelphia Story, and w
The Planet
Heath wins for El Salvador and Cambodia, a ‘step forward for ocean protection’, and an elusive new species, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A lotion made from catnip oil matched DEET in field trials in Uganda, according to research presented at the Society for Experimental Biology conference in Florence last week. Catnip
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In 2025, researchers publishing in Nature Medicine found microplastics in human brain tissue at concentrations considerably higher than in the liver or kidneys. The year before, scien
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The US and Canadian governments recently approved a plan for the transfer of captive beluga whales which have been stranded for years at a closed theme park. Shuttered years ago when the captivity for intelligent marine
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For the most train-dependent transportation system in the world, the debut of its first high-speed or “bullet” train, is now tantalizingly close. It’s set to begin phased passenger operations starting from August 15th, 2
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Scientists have detected a simple sugar found in raspberries within the gas and dust at the center of the Milky Way. It’s the first time a sugar molecule has been identified in interstellar media, having previously been
The Planet
An empowering initiative teaches people with limb loss how to farm sustainably, enabling many to start businesses The post How a farming programme in Sierra Leone helps amputees rebuild lives appeared first on Positive N
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A beloved local fish staple that was illegal to harvest as recently as 2012 has seen an incredible recovery in Maine’s rivers following the removal of several large dams. Particularly on the Penobscot River, the removal
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This article was originally published by Stateline. About a dozen states offer “medically tailored meals” to people with conditions such as diabetes and heart disease who get their insurance through Medicaid. Such progra
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1404 years ago today, the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH), journeyed with his followers from Mecca to Medina. As an event it’s known as the Hijrah, and the start of the Islamic calendar. The whole departure spanned abo
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Nearly one billion people across Africa cook over charcoal or firewood every day. $3.1 billion in commitments is what it’s going to take to change that, and the number keeps climbing.
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Think about the last time you ate lunch without also doing something else. Not at your desk, not in the car, not scrolling. Just sitting with food and letting it be the thing. For a l
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The population of humpback whales around the world continues to climb ever higher, as do the records for numbers of sightings in single whale-watching seasons. In Brazil’s renowned Guanabara Bay, whale watching trips are
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Another month, another big discovery in Luxor—this time of a tomb with preserved interior frescoes dating back around 3,200 years. The T-shaped tomb was discovered by a team of Dutch-Egypt archaeologists in the middle of
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A restauranteur who found $12,000 in cash got in touch with the rightful owner live on the news to explain he wanted to turn it over. Sak Yiengjuntuek knew as soon as he saw the stack of $100 bills that they belonged to
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These two incredible animals are bobkittens, and they’re lucky to be alive. They are 2 of 4 baby bobcats rescued within days of each other, from as many as 3 different mothers—all of whom either died, or lost or abandone
The Planet
Shut out of the sport for generations, women, disabled players and minority groups are flooding into grassroots clubs The post The marginalised groups finding community through football appeared first on Positive News .
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Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. From high waists to low waste
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71 years ago today, 18 Nobel laureate scientists signed the Mainau Declaration publicly decrying nuclear weapons. Within one year, 34 others—mostly chemists and physicists—joined the German nuclear scientists Otto Hahn a
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM If you’re a parent, you’ve had these moments. Not the big, dramatic parenting failures, the ones easy to identify and easier to learn from. The small ones. You held it together throug
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Every air conditioner does the same thing: pull heat from inside a building and dump it outside. On a hot day, millions of units doing that together push street temperatures up, which
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GNN has reported on studies that have found coffee to improve health outcomes in a variety of disease realms, including heart disease, dementia, and even cancer in an observational finding. Now, a new study of hundreds o
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Bloomberg Philanthropies has identified a funding shortfall in the implementation of many countries’ ocean protection plans, and has attempted to fill it with a quarter-billion dollar donation. The aim writ small is to t
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The chronic disease schistosomiasis wreaks havoc on more than 220 million people around the world, with the vast majority of cases being in sub-Saharan Africa. New research published in Nature Sustainability by scientist
The Planet
Share the stories of change you’ve witnessed that took patience, persistence and time The post What positive change have you seen unfold over many years? appeared first on Positive News .
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11 years ago today, Earth’s scientists completed the first survey of our solar system as the New Horizons spacecraft completed a flyby of distant Pluto. It took ten years for the little space probe to arrive at our most
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton set up a series of financial wellness conversations with women around the state. She expected to hear about rent, wages, and the cost of groceries.
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You might already have eucalyptus oil at home, maybe for the diffuser or a bundle you hang in the shower. It also happens to be something pests avoid. The scent is sharp and herbal, n
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A 15-year-old in the Indian capital of New Delhi created an AI-powered app that allows citizens to report potholes, grade their severity, and instantly report them to the authorities. What’s more, the AI gives the citize
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A nuclear energy firm has broke ground on the first advanced nuclear reactor plant in the country, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Set to come online in 2030, it will help stymy the growth in energy costs from several large dat
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A protein associated with longevity in humans has recently been found at high concentrations in an extraordinarily long-living mouse. The discovery makes the case for more research into a poorly-understood, potentially g
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A decade ago, a young American began recording interviews with World War II combat veterans to satisfy his curiosity about the war. That curiosity became something of an obsession, and 3,000 veterans later, his hard driv
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“There used to be a massive block of concrete here, there was an advertising column, it wasn’t so beautiful,” says Gilles Namur, waving his hand along the length of Cours Lafontaine, a street that runs through the histor
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Happy Birthday to Sir Patrick Stewart who turns 86 years old today. The English actor of stage and film grew up poor, yet not only excels in Shakespeare, but plays the lead in his own science fiction series—Captain Jean-
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A research team in Colorado has developed a suite of new therapies that prompt aging or damaged joints to repair themselves within weeks, according to animal studies. The new osteo-arthritis treatments include a single,
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The story of women in art history is mostly a story of not getting seen. Not because women weren’t making art —they were—but because the structures that decided which art got shown, b
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Conventional satellites can’t detect a wildfire until it’s roughly the size of a cruise ship. Greece just launched four that catch them when they’re four meters (about 13 feet) across
Good News
A perfectly preserved Roman statue which was deliberately buried 1,600 years ago has been unearthed near Hadrian’s Wall. The 1.5 ft-high figure carved from sandstone is a ‘protective spirit’, also known as a ‘genius’, wh
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An Indiana man accomplished the unimaginable after setting an audacious goal fourteen years ago: to walk the Earth’s circumference—24,901 miles. It took dedication and consistency over the course of thousands of days, bu
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Japanese scientists have discovered a naturally-occurring bacteria in a frog species with remarkably-potent anticancer activity—in fact, it destroyed cancer tumors in one dose. Led by Professor Eijiro Miyako, the team at
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131 years ago, the architect, visionary, and writer Buckminster Fuller was born. Fuller developed numerous inventions, mainly architectural designs, and popularized the widely known geodesic dome structural shape, which
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Two new rapid tests, EndoSure and Endotest, can drastically reduce the wait time for a proper diagnosis of endometriosis—from an average nine-year wait to just days. The saliva test just approved for use by the UK’s nati
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A London artist has created a series of amazing artworks—including a scene from Wimbledon’s centre court—using just keystrokes from a vintage typewriter. From his studio in Canning Town, East London, James Cook says he t
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Britain’s most unique hospital is now open—where the “patients” are houseplants. Some are “put on drips” and some may go into quarantine, but all get the same loving care from Rosanna Costello, who started the business t
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Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
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90 years ago today, the RFK Bridge, also known as the Triborough Bridge, opened to traffic in New York City. Together, the series of bridges and viaducts span over 5,000 feet and link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, a
Good News
From South Florida comes the story of an intrepid teenager who’s developed a mini curriculum on hurricane preparedness to fit into school lessons. Having suffered (or perhaps been enriched) from the impact of Hurricane I
Science Wins
Episode Description: Every player at this year’s World Cup is wearing the end result of 500 years of iteration on a single piece of equipment. It started with factory workers hammering hardware store nails into their boo
Good News
A Quebec chemical firm has developed a cyanide-free, and generally non-toxic method to extract gold from mineral ores—an option that could potentially relieve companies from a significant portion of current environmental
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This year will see the Sagrada Familia basilica finally finished in Barcelona, on the 100th anniversary of the death of its charismatic architect, no less. It will also mark the release of LEGO’s largest entry in its arc
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There’s been a lot of reminiscing about the founding of the nation this year—a year which also saw the first edition of the Pittsburgh Gazette printed 240 years ago. Now the Post-Gazette, it was set to become the latest
The Planet
Young people are not just optimistic about the world, but full of ideas for making it kinder, fairer and greener, research finds The post Children are overwhelmingly positive for the future, says survey appeared first on
Good News
Happy Birthday to the gospel and blues singer Mavis Staples, who turns 86 years old today. Born in Chicago, she started singing with her family’s band The Staple Singers as a young girl, and her deep-throated voice catap
The Planet
The world’s ‘greatest forest recovery’, a new test for womb cancer, and Europe’s environmental progress, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s something almost absurd about how we’ve always measured wildlife. Two trained ecologists visit the same river, spend days cataloguing what they can see, and come back with com
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s a specific kind of “off” that’s difficult to capture or express in words. No, you’re not feeling sick or sad. You’re not stressed exactly. Just… off. A little irritable, a lit
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A Colorado town’s new electric school bus fleet also doubles as a backup battery to help out during peak power demand. Charging at night, using power to pick up, drop off, and then drop off children again, the buses woul
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Respect cardiologist Dr. Benjamin Levine said last year in an interview that exercise “needs to be part of your personal hygiene, like brushing your teeth or taking a shower.” That’s because it prevents our muscular repa
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According to an inaugural report on the health of bees in Oregon, scientists at Oregon State University have found no incidences of pesticide-related bee deaths since 2021. This significant achievement underscores the ca
Good News
Renovators recently washing an arch high up on the ceiling of St. Mary’s Basilica in Minneapolis were left stunned when a sheen of gold suddenly began to gleam from beneath a paint layer. Below the dull, tannish mauve, g
The Planet
Asian cities have shot up the latest Global Liveability Index, which has just been released. Where does your city rank? The post Revealed: the world’s most liveable cities in 2026 appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
Happy 70th Birthday to actor Tom Hanks. Known for both his dramatic and comedic roles (Big, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, and You’ve Got Mail), he is one of the most popular film stars in the world—and in
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM California just closed a gap that’s been undermining its clean energy numbers for years. Governor Newsom signed SB 1350 into law, qualifying green hydrogen electricity as a renewable
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Nobody watches the World Cup to think about footwear. But the shoes on the pitch at the 2026 tournament are the end result of about 500 years of iteration, and the story is stranger t
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An England fan who used his life savings to take his grandad to the World Cup has been left stunned after a company inspired by their story gifted him the entire $13,000 back. Jacob Allmendinger sacrificed the cash he ha
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Reprinted with permission from World at Large Scientists in Canada have discovered that ancient underground rocks are naturally producing hydrogen gas—and lots of it, and it may be everywhere—and it may be cheap. The roc
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There’s an old saying: cut a man’s hair, and he’s fresh for a month. Teach a man to cut hair, and he’s fresh for a lifetime. Er, wait—wasn’t it something about fish? For Queensland barber Jon James, stepping off a small
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An 11-year old in Kentucky is credited with saving a man who fell unconscious in an apartment swimming pool last week. Seeing that nobody was doing anything about the situation, Avory Woolery took the burden of action up
The Planet
Editor Tom Pattinson introduces the new issue of Positive News magazine, which is out now The post Reclaiming the game. What to expect in the new issue of Positive News magazine appeared first on Positive News .
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A man from Murcia in Spain couldn’t believe his luck when a gallery told him the painting he found propped up against a wall in Sevilla was an original by 19th century Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla. Yet as soon as he s
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A man from Murcia in Spain couldn’t believe his luck when a gallery told him the painting he found propped up against a wall in Sevilla was an original by 19th century Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla. Yet as soon as he s
Good News
250 years ago, the Liberty Bell was rung in Philadelphia to call citizens to hear the newly-signed Declaration of Independence, or at least that’s what is said to have happened. No contemporary account of the ringing is
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You know that thing where you sit down to find one photo from last summer, and somehow it’s thirty minutes later, and you’re in 2019? Digital clutter does that. A chaotic phone or a l
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Most Alzheimer’s research goes after the toxic proteins directly. This study asks a different question: what if the brain’s own clearing system could be fixed instead? Research from M
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It’s an early-summer’s night and you left your truck at the bar because you chose not to drive drunk—well someone’s noticed. That someone is the Montana Barfairies, a volunteer effort that is going viral for tucking $5 g
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As America celebrated its 250th Birthday, Kelsey Pflendler celebrated her own significant milestone—becoming the first American woman to row a boat from California to Hawaii alone. As she pulled into Ala Wai Boat Harbor
Good News
Among the rolling hills of Uganda’s Masaka region, robusta coffee plants are producing larger, tastier yields thanks to a pilot program utilizing regenerative agriculture to battle droughts or erratic rainfall. A catch-a
The Planet
In the US, refugees are being hired to make candles, helping them earn money, practise English and build a CV The post How the ancient art of candle making is creating a brighter future for refugees appeared first on Pos
Good News
36 years ago today, The Three Tenors performed live for the first time at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. The recording made from the show became the best-selling classical album of all time, while an astonishing 800 mil
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Kaitlin Jeffrey was 18 when her face and hair caught fire at a fraternity party at Western University last December. She ended up at the burn unit at Hamilton Health Sciences in Ontar
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Men’s grooming has always occupied a strange middle ground. Too much and you’re vain. Too little and people notice. For most men, the default settled around soap, a razor, and deodora
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Battered by energy shocks, private Pakistani investment in rooftop solar panels has skyrocketed to the point that they now contribute one-fifth of the total national power supply. The Guardian reviewed data on Pakistan’s
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Shell have unveiled an all-electric concept car to inspire the next generation of European-made mass-market EVs by focusing on lighter weights and better charging technology. Known as the “Triple 10 Challenge Car,” its d
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Blind people have been offered fresh hope of seeing again after lab-grown cells restored retinal function in mice. When injected into mice with retinal disease, the special retinal blood cells integrated into the damaged
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A police raid on suspected drug dealers turned up a stolen painting by Pablo Picasso worth tens of millions of dollars. That’s because it is reported to depict Picasso’s “golden muse” Marie-Therese Walter, a French model
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Happy 91st birthday to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Born in Taktser, China, and named at a young age to be the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, he also became a spiritual guide for non-Buddhists—especially as the author of seve
The Planet
A national youth dance programme is bringing together 16–24-year-olds from across England to perform on major stages The post The national dance company opening doors for young performers appeared first on Positive News
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Shade from solar panels installed above two California irrigation canals reduced water evaporation by up to 70 percent and cut aquatic weed and algae growth by up to 85 percent over a
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For years, the go-to response to career difficulty was optimization. If work felt stagnant, or a job wasn’t coming through, the prescription was the same: update your resume, sharpen
Good News
The surprise was waiting at the wedding reception. Max Creamer and Jordan Rosenberg met at a Halloween party about ten years ago when they were in college at San Diego State University. They got engaged on a California b
Good News
Hero neighbors raced into a burning home to save an 87-year-old grandma after her daughter watched the terrifying fire on a doorbell camera. Phyllis Day, who has Alzheimer’s, was asleep when a blaze broke out in the util
Good News
A starving baby crow with barely any feathers is being nursed back to health—and another older bird has taken him under his wing. The tiny English crow known as the jackdaw was found in a “sorry state” and close to death
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A rare 1776 printing of the US Declaration of Independence — one of just 11 known to survive and the only copy outside the United States — has been discovered by a volunteer sorting historical letters and papers at The N
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32 years ago today, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in the garage of his home in Bellevue, Washington. Originally founded as “Cadabra,” it was famously limited to book sales, the nearby distribution chains for which was why Be
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One of Britain’s biggest mazes is celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday by creating a spectacular design in the shape of a mountain gorilla. Wistow Maze in Leicestershire, England, came up with the design t
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Voice changes measured with a mobile phone can detect an oncoming potentially-deadly asthma attack up to three days in advance, according to new research. Scientists from Maastricht University in the Netherlands say thei
Good News
From purple mountain majesties to amber waves of grain, America’s 4 million square miles of jaw-dropping landscapes is matched only by the audacity of its founding premise: 250 years ago, British colonists looking for in
Good News
Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
Good News
Happy Birthday to the United States of America. On this day 250 years ago, the leaders of the Continental Congress of the 13 American colonies voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, breaking with the King of Eng
Good News
A representative for America’s favorite showgirl said that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have made donations totaling $26 million to over a dozen nonprofit organizations and charities. Though it’s not entirely clear when
Good News
In one of Australia’s premier wine regions, a woody tourist icon closed for 3 years has reopened to the relief of locals. The second-tallest “fire-lookout tree” in the world, climbing the Gloucester Tree is something of
Good News
You can reduce your diesel engine’s emissions by 60% with THIS surprisingly simple solution—just add water. In all seriousness, according to a review of studies from around the world published by a research team from Nig
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More insights into Classical literature have been recovered from the burned papyrus scrolls destroyed in the same eruption that buried Pompeii. They include ruminations on Stoic philosophy by an unknown author, and the t
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As the United States celebrates its 250th birthday this weekend, many of its residents can sense the big, ideologically divided elephant in the room. But while the country reckons with its national identity, on a local l
Good News
251 years ago today, George Washington assumed command as “General and Commander in Chief of the army of the United Colonies,” having been nominated for the post by John Adams the previous month. Following the engagement
The Planet
Europeans breathed easier, silenced US scientists hit back, and a healthy diet was linked to lower dementia risk, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Good News
A team of materials scientists in China have developed a solar-powered device that can produce freshwater from seawater with better economics than bottled water. By creating a weave of nanomaterials and organic polymers
Science Wins
Episode Description: Stanford researchers took cartilage from patients already getting knee replacements (about as degraded as joint tissue gets) and discovered how it could regenerate itself. The cells weren’t replaced
Good News
Early in June, international experts joined leaders from Southeast Asia for a summit in Laos, where they discussed the “last mile” of malaria elimination from the eastern-most sector of the region. Burgeoning economicall
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A week after two magnitude 7 earthquakes struck Venezuela’s capital of Caracas, search and rescue teams from around the world are still rescuing people from the jaws of death. This includes Aaron Levi Cantillo, who was t
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With plenty to see across the firmament this month, one event surely stands out for stargazers: when 2 meteor showers bombard the sky over the last nights of July. The first is the Southern Delta Aquariids, and though th
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Welcome back to The Spark, our monthly celebration of how people just like you are creating positive change, one meaningful step at a time. The Spark is generously supported by Laura Rice. Sign up to Reasons to be Cheerf
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On this day, 250 years ago, a dying man rode all night through a storm so America could be born. Caesar Rodney, a delegate to the Continental Congress from Delaware, was tending to loyalist activity on the night of July
The Planet
Why a climate narrator is using OnlyFans to help climate messages reach new audiences The post Can provocative climate messaging on OnlyFans cut through social media’s noise? appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
Deaths linked to air pollution in London fell an estimated 40 percent between 2019 and 2024, according to a new Imperial College London study. That’s the good news. The more complicated part: the same research revised th
Science Wins
You brought them home, stuck them in a vase, and two days later they were drooping. Happens to everyone, and it’s frustrating when you paid good money at the farmers’ market. The thing is, sunflowers aren’t that demandin
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A sophisticated AI-powered examination of coral reef resistance extrapolated into the future found that there’re about 64,000 square miles of coral reefs on Earth that could still be resisting climate change by 2050. The
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It was 7 years ago that the heavy wooden doors of transport crates slid open, and 12 European bison who had grown up in zoos suddenly were looking around, blinking at an unfamiliar wild landscape. They were standing on t
Good News
In Michigan, a prospective law would eliminate virtually all regulations on that ole’ chestnut: the childhood lemonade stand. If it can be believed, state house Representative Cam Cavitt (R-Cheboygan), had the issue brou
Good News
It took a new and special space telescope to parse out each one of these individual stars gleaming in a dizzying mass at the center of our own dear Milky Way galaxy. The European Space Agency’s Euclid Telescope, orbiting
Community
Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Not easy being green The saga
The Planet
Burnt out by the apps, Angela Garwood has taken her quest for love offline, and embarked on a series of ‘in real life’ dating events. Here's how she got on The post Love unplugged, IRL dating, without the apps appeared f
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123 years ago today, the starting pistol rang out for the first Tour de France, the most prestigious cycling competition today. Set up and sponsored by the newspaper L’Auto, ancestor of the current daily, L’Équipe, it ra
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM More than 1,300 people die from extreme heat in the United States each year. The events behind the worst of those deaths usually share the same explanation: a heat dome, a ridge of hi
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A Stanford Medicine study has identified a protein that roughly doubles in aging joints and blocks cartilage from repairing itself. Blocking that protein in older mice regenerated hya
Good News
9 female white rhino have been reintroduced to one of Mozambique’s southern national parks as part of a mammoth undertaking to bring back species the country has lost. Mozambique was the victim of one of Africa’s worst p
Good News
It was a 1969 Mustang Mach 1, Daniel Allen would tell his boys; the best car he’d ever owned. And he traded it away to make room for his growing family. Every time Mr. Allen told the story, one of his six sons was listen
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The Great Smokey Mountains is set to get just a little bit greater thanks to a 600-acre donation from a south-focused nature nonprofit. Foothills Land Conservancy (FLC) recently completed the acquisition of the Oliver Tr
Good News
In Queensland, a father of 2 is alive to see his daughters again thanks to a horde of Good Samaritans who rushed to his side after he was pinned under a car during a collision. Lifting with “all their might,” the bystand
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Bruce Devlin’s tech career is flourishing. He’s been promoted twice in the past four years, most recently to the role of senior quality engineer at 2i, a software testing company. Devlin, 26, has even built his own syste
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These five simple steps can help you respond more effectively to a child’s anxiety The post Five ways to support a child’s anxiety appeared first on Positive News .
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On this day 71 years ago, The Johnny Carson Show debuted on CBS television. The prime-time variety show was a traditional potpourri of monologue, comedy, music, dance, and skits. The series was short-lived, but planted t
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Finally, Nepal has marriage equality. On June 18, 2026, the Supreme Court issued a binding directive ordering the government to guarantee equal marriage rights for gender and sexual m
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Mosquitoes don’t pick targets randomly. They run a multi-stage sensory scan, and new research is beginning to explain what that scan detects and why it favors some people over others.
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From the halls of Westminster comes the news that English farmers may finally be covered under a national agriculture policy that extends beyond the next harvest. In what it described as “the most significant moment for
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Across Asia, children are living past their 1st birthday at record rates that underscore just how successful the region has been at raising the standards of living. In India, China, and Indonesia—the world’s 3 most popul
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This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here. Most Americans loathe data centers. Recent polling found that Democrats and Republicans alike would oppose having one in their nei
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A Critically-Endangered and critically important vulture species has been sighted in a Cambodian wildlife sanctuary for the first time in 10 years. After a poisoning incident decimated the local population of white-rumpe
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50 million Africans living in 40 countries now have access to electricity for the first time thanks to a $15 billion development initiative by the World Bank and African Development Bank Group (ADB). Called Mission 300,
The environment usually takes a backseat in times of conflict. But in Ukraine a rewilding project is sowing seeds for a greener, more peaceful future The post Why Ukraine is rewilding in the heat of war appeared first on
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70 years ago today, the Interstate Highway System was established in the US to create a national road grid that today totals 48,440 miles across all 50 states (78,000 km). It ushered in the first national road numbering
Science Wins
You know the skincare aisle. You’ve stood there long enough to know that the options are overwhelming and the prices are humbling: serums, creams, collagen-boosting masks, each one promising the same thing in a slightly
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Researchers at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources have developed a plasma-based process that converts wet coffee grounds into coal-grade biochar in under 90 seconds, with no pre-drying required. The
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A new high tech jacket developed by engineers at the University of Texas can pull drinking water from thin air. With the advance in fabric technology, the jacket can collect up to one-and-a-half pints of drinkable water
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Two ‘super-puff’ planets lighter than candy candy have been discovered by scientists—and they’re bigger than Jupiter. They are among the lowest-density giant planets ever detected, according to a new study. The two plane
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A 48-year-old woman who won a million in the lottery immediately gave her neighbors a gift of five thousand, so they can travel on their first family vacation abroad. Honorata Jamrozik scooped up the life-changing tax-fr
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A shipwreck off the British coast, including a treasure of hundreds of gold coins, has finally been identified after 30 years. The 400-year-old ship discovered off the coast of Devon, England, has now been identified as
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Happy 100th Birthday to Mel Brooks, the comic and writer who became the legendary director of comedies like Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers. One of the most successful film directors of the 1970s,
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Two “worthless” garden statues thought to be made of cheap concrete were discovered to be rare 18th-century Italian marble masterpieces, earning the homeowner a nice payday after their sale. An estate-sale expert spotted
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A Bavarian wildlife rescue organization is using thermal imaging drones to locate and rescue vulnerable fawns hidden in tall meadow grass ahead of the annual mowing season. Every spring, thousands of fawns are killed by
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A hospital in south London opened a garden on its rooftop where Critical Care patients can spend hours in the fresh air and sunlight. ICU patients visiting the rooftop garden receive “full life support” while experiencin
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Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
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176 years ago today, a hero of the Japanese nation was born on the Greek island of Lefkada. Scarcely could one find a life as strange and colorful as that lived by Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, who was the first Westerner to w
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As part of new wildlands protection law, the French Government has announced the creation of a new nature reserve in French Guiana spanning 370,000 acres. Called the Rocky Peaks of Armontabo, the reserve includes giant,
Science Wins
Episode Description: A study of more than 100,000 people across 125 countries found that people cooperate far more than they assume other people will. Hopeful news to receive in a world that feels so divided. This week A
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In what is believed to be the first surgical program of its kind in Australia, a pair of profoundly deaf twins have received cochlear implants at the same time. The marathon 8-hour surgery involved 4 implants on 4 ears a
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A 5-year-old who had her fingertips sliced off in a freak merry-go-round accident recently visited the station of the firefighters who saved them. As Olive was rushed to the hospital, a group of 8 “Red Watch” volunteers
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For the first time since the Middle Ages, Italy has more woodland than agricultural land. Forests now stretch across 60,000 square miles of the Italian Peninsula, overly concentrated in mountain areas, but which neverthe
The Planet
A London council was facing a big bill to solve a flooding problem – until beavers came along and fixed it for free The post ‘Step aside, humans’: how beavers solved a flooding problem in west London appeared first on Po
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When Chef Erin Wade learned that most of her staff had experienced sexual harassment at her restaurant Homeroom in Oakland, California, she was stunned. The inciting incident back in 2015 involved a father of four who re
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29 years ago today, the first installment of the Harry Potter book series – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the UK under Bloomsbury. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by c
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A vaccine ‘almost eliminated’ a cancer, the green economy surged, and London’s beavers solved a flooding problem, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Up to 40 percent of food produced in Africa is lost between harvest and market. Not from drought or pest damage, but from the absence of one thing: refrigeration. The early numbers fr
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Most people training for strength are working toward the wrong goal. The standard template of heavy loads, eight to ten reps, and cardio at the end (if there’s time) builds muscle. It
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GNN has previously reported on heritage American architecture finding new life as hospitality and entertainment centers. On the Kansas River, a 120-year-old railroad bridge has been infused with the labor and love of bot
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The world-famous Musée d’Orsay has opened the doors to a very unique gallery—its dream would be to get rid of all the paintings inside. That’s because it exhibits a rotating selection of 225 works that were stolen when t
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The largest renewable energy infrastructure project in US history is fully operational. The SunZia project is expected to generate and deliver more power than the Hoover Dam and be a reliable energy to the western United
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NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover just completed a special milestone as it recently marked 5 years on the Red Planet. The robotic science lab has put 26.2 miles under its wheels: in other words, a marathon. Having conducted
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In 2023, a stroke transformed Naresh Shanbhag, a 53-year-old smooth-talking sales professional in Bengaluru, into someone who was unable to speak words, let alone sentences. “I began physical therapy to regain strength i
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70 years ago today, the renegade travel host and chef Anthony Bourdain, was born. With his food and culture show, No Reservations, and the groundbreaking book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly,
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From an instant camera to a pocket microscope, here are six examples of low-tech hardware with a touch of nostalgia for your own childhood The post Six nostalgic gadgets to spark kids’ curiosity this summer appeared firs
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You’ve probably spent more time than you’d like to admit wondering if something is off with your gut. Not dramatically wrong, just persistently uncomfortable. Bloated after meals for
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Two lawyers filed a court case. Thousands signed a petition. Pakistan just agreed to scrap its sales tax on period products. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb announced the move thi
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A group in Los Angeles is ensuring that the city’s famous beaches retain enough nature to protect wildlife and the city from harsher storms. “Your beach is still your beach, only better.” That was Tom Ford’s message to a
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It was a rare snowy day in southcentral China’s Changsha—a city of ancient innovation—when flatbeds loaded with steel arrived at a building site. On January 7th, 2024, workers began to arrange stainless steel modules on
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A Minnesota artist who wanted to do more to help her peers built and installed a “Mini Art Vending Machine” at a local book store. Head inside Inkwell Booksellers at 426 E. Hennepin in Minneapolis, put 4 quarters in and
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After a marathon effort to digitize each of the 7.4 million plant and fungi samples in its herbarium, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew has said the result will help “democratize knowledge” while leveraging AI’s incredible c
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Chilangas FC is helping visually impaired women build confidence and sporting ambition in a game that has too often left them on the sidelines The post The blind football team opening up the world for women in Mexico app
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Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Crunching the data When Kevin
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125 years ago today, the shoe salesman Chuck Taylor was born in Indiana. While playing basketball in high school, Taylor began wearing the Converse All-Star shoe introduced way back in 1917. He became such a fan that he
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For years, the conversation around coral reefs has been threaded with grief. Bleaching events, rising ocean temperatures, one crisis folding into the next. The reefs have become a kin
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When the afternoon heat hits, and you’ve already had six glasses of water, sometimes the last thing you want is another sip of the plain stuff. Summer is when hydration actually matte
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For a philanthropic couple in Oregon, the sighting on a trail camera of one of North America’s most elusive animals was both surprising and not. Bill and Sarah Epstein had committed a large plot of family-owned land to c
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A new study by scientists at Yale University suggests that older individuals can and do ‘improve,’ in all the senses of that word, over time. Analyzing the results of a large study of older Americans that ran for a decad
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Most industrial processes need heat, and most heat comes from burning fossil fuels, but armed with €400 million in grants, the European Commission is hoping to change that. The commission has just seen the successful lau
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Some animals like salamanders can regenerate entire limbs, and by flipping a few genetic switches scientists have potentially unlocked innate human regeneration. The key is essentially to deprogram the natural response t
The Planet
Splashing seals, smiling whales and rusty shipwrecks – these subaquatic shots are among the winners of this year’s award The post Gallery: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2026 appeared first on Positive News .
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139 years ago today, The Rocky Mountains Park Act passed Canadian parliament, establishing Banff National Park, the nation’s largest and most famous park. It was modeled on the law that created Yellowstone National Park
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Between 2020 and 2024, not one woman between the ages of 20 and 24 in England died from cervical cancer. It was the first five-year window on record where that age group saw zero deat
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You probably have something on your to-do list that has been there long enough to feel embarrassing. An email you owe someone. A subscription that sneakily renewed again. A form you h
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An English sports reporter has been reunited with a wallet that he never knew he’d lost more than 30 years ago. Among the time capsule treasures was a Leeds United membership card from the 1992-93 Premier League season w
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It was essentially two post holes in the ground and a couple of trash dumps: but it’s still one of the greatest finds of archeologist Phil Harding’s career. Found near Wiltshire just 3 miles from Stonehenge, and dated to
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New legislation that will compel New York judges to consider domestic violence or child abuse charges and risks—above all else—in child custody decisions, could soon become law. Resulting from a decade of work from a ded
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A genetic therapy that’s already revolutionized cancer treatment has now sent five patients of lupus into remission, allowing one to fulfill her dreams of skiing. The uncurable autoimmune disorder lupus affects 1.5 milli
The Planet
Overseas volunteering can offer a practical route into global citizenship – one built through classrooms, communities and cross-cultural exchange The post Can volunteering abroad build the next generation of global citiz
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“I’ve been told a lot that this is the best coffee on this street,” says Sana Pishgoo, owner of Shiraz Patisserie in north London. “I’ve also been told I have the best Iranian cakes in London.” A skilled pastry chef and
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76 years ago today, Walt Disney Productions released Lady and the Tramp, then advertised as Disney’s “happiest motion picture yet.” The film follows Lady, the pampered cocker spaniel, as she grows from puppy to adult, de
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For the first time, gig workers have binding international labour protections. The International Labour Organization voted June 12 to adopt a convention setting enforceable employment
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a standardized behavioral experiment run with more than 100,000 people across 125 countries, 69 percent of participants chose to cooperate with an anonymous stranger on behalf of a
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British startup Bactery says its battery, powered by bacteria, uses nature’s microbes to generate an unending trickle of power—and by stringing the prototypes together they can generate a stream. Bactery founder and CEO
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It’s estimated that 30,000 Scottish football fans descended on the city of Boson last week, and the ensuing shenanigans have been so generational that folk songs are being written about it. The World Cup-winning friendsh
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At the age of 14, Dylan was diagnosed with Stage 4 kidney cancer—and doctors gave him just eight months to live. But he’s alive today thanks to Dr. Mary Austin, who not only treated his disease, but transformed his think
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A woman was stunned when Britain’s longest dragonfly stopped to hitch a ride—on her thumb. Sarah Hawkes came across the striking Golden-Ringed Dragonfly when walking near the Ceiriog River in Wales. The insects can grow
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Happy 59th Birthday to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. The computer geek entrepreneur became a billionaire at age 31 when the company’s stock was offered for sale to the public three years after the first eBay auction in 19
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Thawing permafrost is considered a growing source of greenhouse gases as our climate warms and releases ancient carbon once stored in the frozen soils. But a new study reveals an overlooked plus side: the process will al
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A California relief organization is sending more than a quarter million N95 respirators to help protect health workers on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Responding to widesprea
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In a triumph for conservation, thousands of flamingo chicks have hatched at one of the world’s key flamingo breeding grounds—a salt lake that had nearly dried up five years ago. Lake Tuz, once the second-largest lake in
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Our partner Rob Brezsny, whose latest book is Astrology Is Real: Revelations from My Life as an Oracle, provides his weekly wisdom to enlighten our thinking and motivate our mood. Rob’s Free Will Astrology, is a syndicat
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31 years years ago today, Greenpeace activists bolstered by international pressure forced Shell Oil of the UK into a dramatic reversal of its decision to dispose of a massive oil rig by submerging it beneath the sea. REA
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Chinese scientists have discovered the world’s largest “whale graveyard” in a trench deep below the Indian Ocean—and it teems with life. Bivalves, brittle stars, different kinds of worms, and jellyfish—many of which may
Science Wins
Episode Description: Tala and Farah Mousa received thousands of messages after they won the Earth Prize. “You gave us hope we had completely lost,” people wrote. “You showed us we can be seen.” They were sheltering in a
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An awesome study that could help clean up rivers world-wide at negligible cost leveraged fungi as a pollution control filter. The mushrooms in question were the very delicious and very helpful turkey tail, and the pollut
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See that red mark on Kaitlin Jeffrey’s neck below her left ear? That’s some indication of how serious it is to describe the treatment she just finished receiving as revolutionary. Jeffery’s hair and skin caught fire duri
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While many in New York City expended every breath in celebration of the Knicks NBA championship win, many others will have held theirs—knowing what happens when passionate American sports fans win titles. Sure enough, th
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This story originally appeared on The 19th and GBH News Rooted in Boston. On a sunny morning in June, about two dozen people walk the land of Soul Fire Farm in Rensselaer County in Upstate New York, during a tour. They a
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123 years ago today, Lou Gehrig was born. Playing first baseman across 17 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, Gehrig was renowned for his prowess as a hitter and for his durability, which earned hi
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Drug, alcohol and suicide deaths fell in the US, Colombia outlawed FGM and a bird staged a comeback, plus more The post What went right this week: the good news that matters appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Unlike Mother’s Day, which was swiftly embraced and made official in 1914, Father’s Day spent decades in limbo. Though it finally became a national holiday in 1972, the idea faced res
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM There’s a particular kind of law that changes nothing overnight. The classrooms look the same the morning after it passes. The teachers haven’t changed. The children getting on buses
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In a valuable milestone for the conservation of the Sumatran tiger subspecies, 3 cubs born to a UK zoo have grown old enough to venture out from the maternity den into the enclosure. It’s thought there are less than 400
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Who knew so much power lay behind the simple act of mowing the lawn. That’s what Spencer from SB Mowing, the prolific social media account, has shown us before, and is now showing us again as his yardwork channels $685,0
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After a Welsh council rejected plans to dig for 85,000 tons of coal, the UK has no outstanding proposals for coal mining anywhere in the country. Carmarthenshire council turned down the second application for expanding t
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With this year’s theme exploring identity and unity, Students Rebuild is showing young people how creativity can connect classrooms to communities around the world The post How student art is helping fund change appeared
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From the SpaceX Dragon capsule high above the Earth, astronaut Jessica Meir was left stunned and moved by what she was witnessing. As our own blue marble spun around to show its white underbelly, a blast of solar wind ha
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“Agh, I am only getting consonants,” sighs Nicole Riberolles, the 104-year-old doyenne of Les Artistes nursing home in the Batignolles neighborhood of northwestern Paris. There’s a Q, R, Y, W, N and an E lined up on her
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78 years ago today, Columbia Records introduced the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, characterized by a speed of 33+1⁄3 rpm a 12- or 10-inch, diameter, an
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM So many of us participate in the same morning coffee ritual: the machine warming up, the pressure building, the crema settling into the cup. It’s such a fixed sequence that it’s hard
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A dam fell in Iceland last December, the first the country has ever deliberately dismantled. The structure on the River Melsá had long since stopped generating power. Sheep were livin
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Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Networking Sixty-eight quadri
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Artists boost the economy and enrich society, yet many struggle to make ends meet. Enter Ireland's basic income scheme The post Ireland is now paying artists a basic income. Will the idea catch on? appeared first on Posi
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BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The California grid has a timing problem. Solar runs from mid-morning through early evening. Demand peaks later. Batteries have bridged part of that gap for years, but only about four
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM High fruit intake is associated with many wonderful health benefits, like protecting our lungs from air pollution and lowering diabetes risk. But did you know it’s also linked to a se
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From the outside, Demain looks like any other bakery in Paris. The bright blue storefront, featuring huge glass vitrines, frames a bready feast for the eyes. Behind it lie glorious piles of almond croissants, pistachio p
The Planet
These initiatives are empowering young people to discover their potential and shape their futures The post Three mentorship schemes that help youth develop skills appeared first on Positive News .
Science Wins
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The question seemed reasonable enough: what heat adaptation interventions were already working in Africa’s low-income communities? Lara Dugas, an epidemiologist, and climate scientist
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In a landmark move, the UK government has joined Australia in outlawing social media for under-16s. Will it work? The post ‘Less scrolling, more play’: UK to ban social media for kids appeared first on Positive News .
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For several years, when Pierre-Yves Loaëc left his office in Nantes in the evenings, he passed a woman sleeping rough in the parking lot near Nobilito, the marketing agency he runs. The contrast nagged at him. Outside, s
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‘There’s something radical about seeing people reclaim play later in life,’ say those behind an over-50s circus The post In pictures: the circus artists rewriting the rules of ageing appeared first on Positive News .
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On most mornings, the line in front of Masaka City Hall forms before the door opens. There are those in search of jobs and others looking to grow small businesses. A few come with complaints about broken streetlights, un
The Planet
A ‘global turning point for mangroves’, a new France-sized marine reserve, and how EVs save lives, plus more The post What went right this week: a ‘turning point’ for mangroves, plus more appeared first on Positive News
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The clothes hanging in Lydia Wendt’s loft atelier in Los Angeles’ Fashion District shimmer in earthy tones: an orange sleep set dyed with California poppies, a coral lounge set colored with madder root, undyed tees in of
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The ruling class is striving to take everything from us – including our future.
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Clean energy is being reshaped by cross-industry thinkers, from aerospace engineers to banking boffins, and beyond The post Corporate courage: how cross-sector talent is powering renewables innovation appeared first on P
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Welcome back to our weekly behind-the-scenes glimpse at what’s getting our team talking. Tell us what you’ve been reading at info@reasonstobecheerful.world and we just might feature it here. Fill your cup During the Worl
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A UK festival is swapping big-name acts for beach cleans, wildlife walks and community-led events that ‘nourish the soul’ The post At this grassroots festival, nature is the headline act appeared first on Positive News .
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This story was originally published by Next City, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on solutions for equitable and just cities. Get Next City’s stories in your inbox: nextcity.org/newsletter. America’s fastest-growing new b
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Ten years ago this spring, an Indigenous-led movement against an oil pipeline transformed the consciousness of the country.