2023, The Positives

2023 was a rough year for many, but it wasn't all bad. There were some great things going down this year. I thought I'd point out some thanks to the Good News Network:

- Scientists 3D-printing stem cells to make new brain tissue.
Scientists have been working on a way to incorporate 3D-printed stem cells (basically "blank cells" that eventually become more centralized cells, like intestinal, heart, nerve, etc) that can eventually be used to grow new brain tissue. This could be a potential new way to treat brain injuries. 70 million Americans live with a traumatic brain injury, so yeah. And treating injured brains aside, I think this could also be a potential cure for Alzheimer's. 

- Plastic jugs can now be made into soap.
Guoliang Liu, a researcher at Virginia Tech, has discovered how to take plastic jugs and make them into soap. How? Polyethylene. Polyethylene is one of the most common plastics around. It also is similar in chemical structure to the main fatty acid used in soap. Thing is, the chemical chains of polyethylene are long, and the fatty acid's chemical chains are short. Liu found a way to break those longer chains into the shorter ones, inspired by watching firewood burn. The process uses a special oven that "burns" plastic and leaves behind a wax residue which can be used to make soap. Imagine in the future that the soap you use being made from discarded plastic milk jugs. 

- James Webb Telescope detects water vapor hanging out in space. 
Using said telescope, scientists have discovered water vapor floating around in space around the star known as PDS70. But it's not just the fact that there's water vapor out there, but the distance from the star. It was found in the star's "Goldilocks Zone", the range of orbits around a star in which a planet can support liquid water. Earth is in our own star's Goldilocks Zone. This is an important step in understanding in how our planet even managed to get water on it. 

- Oldest known cave paintings found in France.
Markings have been found in the walls of the La Roche-Cotard cave in the Centre Val de Loire. These paintings could provide new understanding of the culture of Neanderthal man.

- Hong Kong restaurants help restore oyster reefs. 
Oyster reefs around Hong Kong have been in a bad state for decades. However, there is a solution. Since 2020, the Hong Kong chapter of The Nature Conservancy have been collecting used oyster shells from various hotels, restaurants, and markets. They then use those shells to help restore the reefs. These oysters help filter pollution from the waters and provide homes for various marine life. The Conservancy has recycled 80 tons of oyster shells this way.

- Elderly woman gets to pet a penguin.
Christine Cross is a 76-year-old woman who loves penguins. She collects penguin merchandise, toys, and has even donated to zoos to care for them. On Christmas day, her daughter Lindsay got her a very special gift: A trip to SeaWorld in California, and a chance to pet a penguin. I think she likely owns this LEGO set: 60384 Penguin Slushy Van. I got this set for Christmas.

 

- Schools in the United States are using more electric buses.
From 2022 to June 2023, the number of electric school buses operating in the US have doubled to almost 1300. These buses have helped not only provide travel, but they're not putting out any emissions helps make the air cleaner and help reduce diseases like asthma. 

- The saiga is no longer critically endangered. 
The saiga antelope is an antelope that is native to Russia and Kazakhstan. After decades of conservation work, the species' numbers have greatly bounced back, from almost 50,000 known antelope in 2005 to nearly two million. That is an insane recovery. 

So, yeah. 2023 had some good things going for it, and these were just a few examples of the cool things. Hopefully next year will see even more great things happening. Happy New Year, everyone! See you next time!