Eagle_Eye
Well-known member
1. Terrorism is on the decline.
The world sometimes seems like a terrifying place, but the good news is that one of the most feared types of violence, terrorism, is actually undergoing a sharp decline.
"Worldwide terrorist attacks fell by 33 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017, to the lowest level since 2011, a report released in January showed," reports Positive News. The positive numbers are largely driven by developments in the Middle East, such as the fall of Islamic State. Attacks by the group are down 71 percent.
2. Scientists learned to spot Alzheimer's years earlier.
Sadly, I can't report that doctors have found a cure for the disease, but this year they took a huge step closer to being able to treat those affected.
"Years before symptoms of Alzheimer's disease manifest, the brain starts changing and neurons are slowly degraded. In January, scientists from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases, the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research and the University Hospital Tübingen published a study that suggests a protein found in the blood can be used to precisely monitor disease progression long before the first clinical signs," notes Positive News. "It offers new possibilities for testing therapies."
3. A Galapagos tortoise isn't extinct after all.
It's been a terrifying year in environmental news, with one U.N. report warning that as many as a million species are threatened with extinction thanks to the impact of humans. But there have been spots of joy as well, such as scientists in the Galapagos islands spotting a female member of a tortoise species believed to have been extinct since 1906.
"The discovery of tracks and feces lead investigators to think there may be more members of the species on the island," adds Positive News.
4. The earth is getting greener.
Even planting a trillion trees won't save us from climate change, according to one new study, but a greener, leafier earth will certainly be healthier and more pleasant. It's even likely to make us humans happier, according to a raft of research. Humans seem to have gotten the message.
"The world is five per cent greener now than it was two decades ago, according to a study by Nasa. The US space agency claims that leaf cover on Earth has increased by two million square miles since the early 2000s, which is roughly equivalent to the area covered by the Amazon rainforest," Positive News happily reports.
5. Scientists got a step closer to curing diabetes.
"In a first, scientists have turned human stem cells into insulin-producing cells, raising hope for a cure for type 1 diabetes. Experts at the University of California San Francisco say they have created healthy, functioning beta cells in a Petri dish," says Positive News.
"This is a critical step towards our goal of creating cells that could be transplanted into patients with diabetes," commented Matthias Hebrok, director of the UCSF Diabetes Center.
That's excellent news for diabetes sufferers who have been squeezed by the skyrocketing cost of insulin. The drug, taken by more than seven million Americans daily, is 90 percent cheaper across the border in Canada.
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-5-happiest-headlines-of-2019-so-far.html
The world sometimes seems like a terrifying place, but the good news is that one of the most feared types of violence, terrorism, is actually undergoing a sharp decline.
"Worldwide terrorist attacks fell by 33 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017, to the lowest level since 2011, a report released in January showed," reports Positive News. The positive numbers are largely driven by developments in the Middle East, such as the fall of Islamic State. Attacks by the group are down 71 percent.
2. Scientists learned to spot Alzheimer's years earlier.
Sadly, I can't report that doctors have found a cure for the disease, but this year they took a huge step closer to being able to treat those affected.
"Years before symptoms of Alzheimer's disease manifest, the brain starts changing and neurons are slowly degraded. In January, scientists from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases, the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research and the University Hospital Tübingen published a study that suggests a protein found in the blood can be used to precisely monitor disease progression long before the first clinical signs," notes Positive News. "It offers new possibilities for testing therapies."
3. A Galapagos tortoise isn't extinct after all.
It's been a terrifying year in environmental news, with one U.N. report warning that as many as a million species are threatened with extinction thanks to the impact of humans. But there have been spots of joy as well, such as scientists in the Galapagos islands spotting a female member of a tortoise species believed to have been extinct since 1906.
"The discovery of tracks and feces lead investigators to think there may be more members of the species on the island," adds Positive News.
4. The earth is getting greener.
Even planting a trillion trees won't save us from climate change, according to one new study, but a greener, leafier earth will certainly be healthier and more pleasant. It's even likely to make us humans happier, according to a raft of research. Humans seem to have gotten the message.
"The world is five per cent greener now than it was two decades ago, according to a study by Nasa. The US space agency claims that leaf cover on Earth has increased by two million square miles since the early 2000s, which is roughly equivalent to the area covered by the Amazon rainforest," Positive News happily reports.
5. Scientists got a step closer to curing diabetes.
"In a first, scientists have turned human stem cells into insulin-producing cells, raising hope for a cure for type 1 diabetes. Experts at the University of California San Francisco say they have created healthy, functioning beta cells in a Petri dish," says Positive News.
"This is a critical step towards our goal of creating cells that could be transplanted into patients with diabetes," commented Matthias Hebrok, director of the UCSF Diabetes Center.
That's excellent news for diabetes sufferers who have been squeezed by the skyrocketing cost of insulin. The drug, taken by more than seven million Americans daily, is 90 percent cheaper across the border in Canada.
https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-5-happiest-headlines-of-2019-so-far.html
