💡 Warp News #286
🚭 Drug deaths plummet among young Americans. 🐅 Thailand's tiger population has increased fivefold. 🏭 Air pollutant emissions decrease significantly.
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Free newsletter with fact-based optimistic news about technology, science, and human progress with the angry optimist, Mathias Sundin. If you are not a subscriber, become one here.
🧱 Lego and Minecraft say something about humanity
As I walked around Legoland, taking in all the incredible things built from Lego, I started thinking about Minecraft. Just like Lego, Minecraft gives us the ability to build almost anything using human creativity.
In the year 2000, Lego was named the best toy of the last century, ahead of the teddy bear and Barbie. Minecraft is the most popular game of all time.
That says something about us humans. The toys we love the most are the ones that help us be truly creative. The ones that don’t limit, but set us free.
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
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💡 Optimist's Edge: Why we should make the future come sooner
From the archive.
Do you think fast progress is dangerous? Use the seat belt test. What if the seat belt had been invented ten years earlier? If progress in vehicle safety had been faster, thousands of lives would have been saved.
💡 Fact-based optimistic news of the week
🐅 Thailand's tiger population has increased fivefold in 15 years
The tiger population in Thailand's Western Forest Complex has increased from approximately 40 individuals in 2007 to between 179 and 223 last year. WWF calls the increase extraordinary. Major tiger population recoveries have also been noted in India and Nepal.
🚭 Drug deaths plummet among young Americans
Fatal overdoses among 20- to 29-year-olds decreased by 47 percent. The number of fatal overdoses among people under 35 years fell from over 31,000 in 2021 to approximately 16,690 in 2024.
💊 Scientists use bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol
Researchers have discovered that bacteria can convert plastic waste into paracetamol using genetically modified E. coli. The process works with material from plastic bottles and can produce paracetamol with up to 92 percent yield in under 24 hours.
👩🏫 AI tools give teachers six weeks of extra time per year
Teachers who use AI weekly save 5.9 hours per week, equivalent to six weeks per school year. Most teachers who use AI tools say the tools improve the quality of their classroom work.
📲 Mobile payments increase dramatically in Africa and contribute to economic empowerment
Mobile payments have grown from 13 million accounts in 2010 to over 640 million accounts in 2023. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the share of people with mobile money accounts has increased from 12 percent in 2014 to 33 percent in 2021.
⚡ 310 million people have gained access to electricity since 2015 – totally 92% of the world's population
310 million people have gained access to electricity since 2015, meaning that 92 percent of the world's population now has basic access to electricity. The greatest growth in access between 2020 and 2023 occurred in Central and South Asia.
🏭 Air pollutant emissions decrease significantly within the EU
All air pollutants had lower emissions in 2023 than in 2005, according to new report. Sulfur emissions decreased the most of all pollutants, down 95 percent since 1990 and by 14 percent since last year.
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