๐Ÿ’ก 21 fact-based optimistic news from June

๐Ÿ’ก 21 fact-based optimistic news from June

๐ŸŒŽ The last ozone-depleting chemical is now decreasing. ๐Ÿš€ First crash-free test of Starship. โœˆ๏ธ Plane hijackings have decreased dramatically. ๐Ÿญ Has Chinaโ€™s CO2 emissions peaked? New stats suggest so. ๐ŸŒณ Deforestation in the Amazon reaches lowest level since 2018.

Mathias Sundin
Mathias Sundin

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In June, there was a fair amount of disinformation. Not from me (hopefully), and not much from others either. As usual, many were alarmed that a wave of AI disinformation would sweep the world during this super election year.

Now, over 800 million have voted, and I wondered in a text where this wave went. Conveniently, a news report came out stating that disinformation doesn't reach that many people. Disinformation and fake news are indeed real problems, but probably less severe than most people think.

It is positive to see that Jonas Birgersson's Project Energy Society is moving forward. They are receiving funds to develop an open standard for energy sharing, and Elonroad will be the supplier of electric switches. Warp News' parent, the Warp Institute foundation, is part of the project.


Scroll down a bit and you'll find all of this month's fact-based optimistic news.

Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist

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๐Ÿ’ก Fact-based optimistic news

โœˆ๏ธ Plane hijackings have decreased dramatically

The number of plane hijackings has significantly decreased since the 1980s. The number of fatalities in plane hijackings has also decreased. The last major hijacking occurred during the September 11 attacks in 2001.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿญ Has Chinaโ€™s CO2 emissions peaked? New stats suggest so

Chinaโ€™s CO2 emissions decreased by 3% in March. Solar and wind covered 90% of the growth in electricity consumption, reducing the share of fossil fuels in electricity production. With the rapid increase in EVs, structural changes are occurring, suggesting that emissions may have peaked in 2023.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿš€ First crash-free test of Starship

Another successful test flight of Starship, and this time both parts of the rocket safely returned to Earth. Starship is not just a new cool rocket; it has the potential to transform humanity.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿฆ  AI discovers nearly 1 million new antibiotics - progress in the fight against antibiotic resistance

Researchers used AI to analyze genetic data from tens of thousands of bacteria and other organisms. Nearly one million potential antibiotic compounds were identified, with 79% able to kill at least one microbe. AI has drastically accelerated the process.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ‘€ New study: Few see disinformation online - and the debate around it lacks support from science

Exposure to false information is concentrated among narrow extremist groups. Algorithms play less of a role than individual choices in exposure to extremist content. Social media has not been shown to be the main cause of polarization.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿš‘ New Indian traffic safety model to save lives in poor countries

Zero Fatality Corridor has reduced road fatalities by over 50 percent on specific stretches in India. The model is adapted to the conditions of low- and middle-income countries. The Indian government plans to expand the model to the countryโ€™s 15 most dangerous highways.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ›ฐ๏ธ NASA has discovered a way to predict flash droughts months in advance

Flash droughts occur suddenly and quickly, but now researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found a way to detect them early. Plants' "glow" diminishes before a flash drought, and this change can be observed by satellites.

Read more on Warp News

๐ŸŒณ India's forests have steadily increased over the past 15 years

India ranks globally as third in net gain of average annual forest area between 2010 and 2020. They have prioritized biodiversity and conservation with an expanded network of protected areas.

Read more on Warp News

๐ŸŒผ A periodic table for flowering plants has been created โ€“ includes 9,500 species

Researchers analyzed 1.8 billion genetic letters from over 9,500 species of flowering plants. The research reveals the evolutionary history of flowering plants.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿซ Microsoft to train a quarter million Swedes in AI

The largest investment from Microsoft in Sweden to date. Among other things, 20,000 GPUs will be installed in the company's data centers and 250,000 Swedes will be trained in AI.

Read more on Warp News

๐ŸŒŽ The last ozone-depleting chemical is now decreasing

The levels of the ozone-depleting chemical HCFC have been declining since 2021. The ozone layer is recovering, and the dangerous ozone hole is shrinking. The Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987, has been crucial in reducing the use of ozone-depleting substances.

Read more on Warp News

๐ŸฆCyberTracker helps indigenous communities document biodiversity

CyberTracker's software, developed in collaboration with indigenous communities, enables nearly anyone to collect complex biodiversity data. Even individuals who are illiterate can collect detailed data.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿงซ They win the $10 million Longitude Prize โ€“ combating superbugs

Swedish-Japenese Sysmex Astrego has won the Longitude Prize of $10 million for its rapid test of bacterial infections. The test reduces the time to determine the correct antibiotic from three days to less than 45 minutes, and can be used directly at the first doctor's visit.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ’ฐ Funding to create an open energy protocol for energy sharing

The City of Lund is awarded $2 million, part of which will go to Project Energy Society and the development of an energy protocol. This will enable energy sharing and a low fixed cost for all the electricity you need.

Read more on Warp News

๐ŸŽ Wild horses return to the Kazakh steppes after 200 years

The world's last wild horses, Przewalski's horses, have returned to their original home in Kazakhstan. The horses come from zoos in Berlin and Prague. The plan is to transport a total of 40 horses to central Kazakhstan over the next five years.

Read more on Warp News

๐ŸŒณ Deforestation in the Amazon reaches lowest level since 2018

Deforestation in the Amazon has decreased by 40 percent compared to 2023. May 2024 recorded the lowest deforestation level since March 2018. The accumulated deforestation over the past year has decreased by 54 percent compared to the same period the previous year.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ”ญ New space telescope could potentially see city lights on exoplanets

NASA's new space telescope will search for habitable exoplanets. The telescope will be able to detect both biological and technological signs of life. It may also potentially search for city lights on the night side of habitable exoplanets.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ Human rights have improved in all world regions over the past hundred years

Human rights have improved in all regions over the past hundred years. Europe and Oceania have the highest levels of human rights protection. Africa and Asia have lower levels but have made significant progress.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ”‹ Elonroad delivers electric switches to the energy society

The key to a low and fixed price for green electricity is the sharing of energy. This requires batteries and other energy storage solutions - and an electric switch. Elonroad will become the supplier for such a switch. Another piece is added to the energy society.

Read more on Warp News

๐Ÿ“‰ The number of countries with high economic inequality is decreasing

The number of countries with high inequality has decreased from 77 in 2000 to 52 in 2022. High inequality is mainly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Reduced inequality can lead to increased economic and human development.

Read more on Warp News

โ˜ข๏ธ Bill Gates invests in next-generation nuclear power in Wyoming

Bill Gates and his energy company TerraPower are starting the construction of an advanced nuclear power plant in Wyoming. The project uses sodium for cooling instead of water, making it safer and more efficient. The plant is estimated to cost up to 4 billion dollars.

Read more on Warp News

Other texts

โ›“๏ธ Chain of Thought prompts yield astonishingly good results (watch out, Gordon Gekko!)

HERE IS THE PROMPT THAT BEATS WALL STREET AND WILL MAKE YOU BILLIONS!!! (I'm not kidding.)

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ“š The Angry Optimist's summer reading tips

It was a product that was supposed to transform cities as much as the car did, praised by Steve Jobs, and fought over by investors eager to invest, created by a technical genius. A product so revolutionary that it only appears once per generation. That and other book tips for lazy summer days.

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ“ž Phone scams could become harder to pull off

If I were a criminal, I would focus on scams using AI. This is a real AI problem, unlike the fantasies about the end of humanity. But as often is the case, the solution can be found in the very technology that contributes to the problem.

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ™…โ€โ™€๏ธ Prebunking - how Taiwan resisted China's information warfare

Showing people in advance what the manipulators will claim gives people mental antibodies to resist disinformation.

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ“— Wow, so many bad things have peaked โ€“ and more peaks are coming

She left university without hope. But then she happened to see one of Hans Rosling's talks, and it changed her life. Now she wants to become 'Rosling' for sustainability and believes that we can become the first generation to live completely sustainably.

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ“ฑ Ukrainian Qela organizes democracy activists with an app

Running a startup is hard. Running a startup in Ukraine is brutal. But that's what Tamara Tachynska is doing. With the Qela App, democracy activists and other communities can organize themselves.

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ”Ž We were supposed to be flooded with AI disinformation... now 800 million have voted, where is it?

We faced a "tech-driven Armageddon" and experts ranked AI disinformation as the second biggest global threat this year. Have you noticed much of it?

Read on Warp News

๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ The startup VINICI creates a rhetorical timeline of what politicians have said - fighting for democracy in Georgia

Georgia has passed a Russian-inspired law that classifies many democracy activists as foreign agents. A step towards harsher repression. But there are many who are fighting back. VINICI is building a tool that can influence the election in Georgia this fall.

Read on Warp News

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