🦿 New robot model can handle unfamiliar objects with natural language
Figure robots equipped with Helix can pick up almost any small household object by following natural language commands. Helix can successfully handle thousands of new items in cluttered environments without any prior demonstrations or custom programming.
🧠 New technology enables almost real-time speech from brain signals
The technology can help people with severe paralysis communicate in a more natural way. The system works with different types of brain interfaces and can generate sound within 1 second after the person attempts to speak.
⚡ Wind power is big in Texas – expected to double during 2025
Together with solar power, wind power accounted for a record share of 29.8 percent of total electricity production in Texas during 2024. Texas is the largest wind power producer in the USA.
💡 Warp News #276
🥶 Fewer people dying from cold. 🐟 AI finds ghost nets. 🧒 Child mortality halved in these nine Asian countries.
🐻 Wild predators make successful comeback in Europe
The Iberian lynx, which 25 years ago had fewer than 100 individuals left, has now recovered and its status has changed from "critically endangered" to "vulnerable." Brown bears have increased by 17% to 20,500, Eurasian lynx by 12% to 9,400, and wolverines by 16% to 1,300 since 2016.
💒 Decrease in child marriages in Malaysia
The number of child marriages in Malaysia has decreased by 37 percent between 2019 and 2023. The government is implementing a national strategic program to address the causes of child marriage.
🤰 Several new obesity drugs on the way
Studies show that combination treatments of new drugs can lead to weight reductions of up to 24 percent. Over 100 new drug candidates against obesity are under development, including medications that preserve muscle mass during weight loss.
🥶 Fewer people dying from cold worldwide – global progress in combating hypothermia
The number of cold-related deaths globally has decreased significantly since 1990, showing progress in protecting vulnerable populations. Effective preventive measures such as heating assistance, better insulation, and community programs save lives during cold periods.
🔬 AI improves protein sequencing for medicine, environment, and archaeology
New AI technology has identified 42 percent more peptides than previous methods in complex protein samples. Researchers are now using AI protein sequencing to identify unknown proteins in both medical samples and archaeological findings.
🧒 Child mortality halved in these nine Asian countries
Afghanistan shows the largest decline from 13 percent to 6 percent, while China now has the lowest level at only 1 percent. Improvements in nutrition, clean water, sanitation, vaccinations, and poverty reduction have contributed to this positive development.
🐟 AI finds ghost nets – lost fishing nets in the oceans
The AI-supported technology analyzes sonar images with 90 percent accuracy to mark locations where ghost nets are likely found. WWF Germany has manually sifted through images captured by a side-scan sonar and recovered a total of 26 tons of nets from the Baltic Sea.
💡 Warp News #275
🐢 Sea turtles increasing in numbers. 📉 Iraqi poverty decreases. 💉 How a vaccine turned the tide in the fight against Ebola.
📉 Iraqi poverty decreases
The poverty level in Iraq has decreased from 21.5 percent in 2022 to 17.6 percent in 2024. The Iraqi government's economic support measures are cited as the main reason for the improvement.
🖌️ AI images now work as they should
AI-generated images have taken a huge step forward, and previous problems are now almost completely resolved.
🌍 Renewable energy sources growing twice as fast in Global South compared to Global North
Investments in clean energy are now seven times larger than in fossil energy in the Global South's electricity production, compared to an even split ten years ago. One-fifth of countries in the Global South have already surpassed wealthy nations on solar and wind power usage or electrification.
📚 Top Reads
We're honored to present these top reads from world-class writers, who contribute to Warp News because they believe in our mission of spreading fact-based optimism all over the world.
🆙 Warp Levels - an idea to level up humanity
Humanity is doing the high jump without a bar. We have no goal. With Warp Levels, we determine what the next level for humanity should contain, so we can level up and make progress faster.
📚 Kevin Kelly: Focus on the biggest opportunities, not the biggest problems
We talk about some of the 450 advice in his new book, but also about his new project: Protopia - the hundred-year desirable future. And Kevin Kelly give advice for how Warp News should grow faster: "Wrap it around people and their dreams."
💡 A new mindset for humanity can impact billions of people now and in the future
If we succeed in giving humanity more optimism about the future, it will not only affect those living now but also all generations and billions of people who will live in the future.
💰 Wall Street legend: “Pessimists sound smart – optimists make money”
Jim O'Shaughnessy is a legendary investor on Wall Street. He shares what he thinks is the biggest opportunity for the future and explains how the world is going through a great reshuffle.
🔋 Northvolt and the benefit of understanding the future
The story of Peter Carlsson and Northvolt teaches us two lessons: You need to understand the future to see all the possibilities, and you must be a fact-based optimist to grab them.
💡 David Deutsch: Optimism, Pessimism and Cynicism
With so much progress in the world, how can pessimism still be widespread? It is because of cynicism, denying that “so-called-progress” is progress, argues David Deutsch, professor at Oxford University and one of the world's leading intellectuals on optimism.
