Every day the Good Good Good team collects the best good news in the world and shares it with our community. Here are the highlights for this week!
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The Best Positive News We’re Celebrating This Week —
In a medical first, US doctors rewrote the DNA of an infant with a severe genetic disorder
Doctors in the U.S. just became the first to treat a baby with a customized gene-editing therapy after the infant was diagnosed with a sever genetic disorder.
The infant was born with CPS1 deficiency, a condition that impacts one in 1.3 million people, and means they lack a liver enzyme that converts ammonia, causing a buildup that can damage the liver and other organs. It kills about half of those affected in early infancy.
While previously, patients could receive liver transplants, babies with severe disease can suffer too much damage by the time they are big enough to operate on. The breakthrough was possible thanks to “years and years of progress” in gene editing research.
Why is this good news? The international medical community says this medical milestone has the potential to treat many other genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA after an affected child is born.
Scientists invent ‘smelling gel’ that seduces coral to dying reefs in restoration efforts
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For the first time, clean energy has caused China’s carbon dioxide emissions to drop despite an increase in demand
A new analysis found that carbon dioxide emissions in China were down 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, and by 1% in the past 12 months.
Typically, emissions declines have been because of less demand — but for the first time, it happened while demand was surging and was because the electricity supply came from new wind, solar, and nuclear energy sources.
The analysis found that growth in clean power generation has overtaken the current and long-term average growth in demand, further pushing out fossil fuels. And this trend is expected to continue all year.
Thousands of community members rallied to reinstate a trans teacher in California after they were fired
A high school teacher in Los Angeles, Henry Zahid, came out as trans in their second year of teaching. Despite resounding support from students and colleagues, he received notice earlier this year that he was fired from his teaching position.
They were terminated through a process called “non-reelection,” which includes reasons like “immoral or unprofessional conduct, conviction of a felony, or substance abuse issues.” None of those reasons applied to Zahid.
Zahid was determined to fight his “discriminatory” firing. And after two emotional addresses to the school district board, an investigation by the Equal Opportunity Section, and over 2,000 letters of support from community members, he has been reinstated.
Why is this good news? If not for Zahid bravely standing up to fight their wrongful termination, we probably would have never heard their story, and thousands wouldn’t have had the opportunity to stand behind them in support. Zahid’s story is a reminder that, as attacks like these continue, we all have the opportunity to stand up and fight back — and we won’t be alone.
A prison that once held suffragists was transformed into affordable apartments a century later
Violent crime is falling rapidly across the U.S., driven by success in places like Baltimore
According to one analyst, 2025 is on track to be the least murderous year nationwide since the 1960s. That trend is being driven by cities like Baltimore.
So far this year, there have only been 45 homicides in the city— down by one-third from the same time last year. In all of last year, there were 199 total homicides — the fewest the city had seen in over a decade. In 2021, that figure was 344.
Experts and activists point to various explanations, both local and national, for the decline, but one unique to Baltimore was its local “Group Violence Reduction Strategy” that brought together community groups, prosecutors, and the police department.
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A ‘historic’ step for Indigenous rights, Colombia formally recognized Indigenous local governments across the Amazon
In a precedent-setting decision that both secures Indigenous rights and protects the Amazon rainforest, Colombia took a leading position in Latin America by formalizing Indigenous local governments.
In a process that’s been ongoing since 2018, not only does the formalization give Indigenous communities land titles, it also grants them self-governing authority — implementing a legal framework that lets them function as official local governments.
One Indigenous leader called the decree “historic,” saying it’s been something communities have been seeking “for over 30 years,” and there are hopes that it will inspire other countries to do the same.
Why is this good news? Other Latin American countries typically only grant land titles, with Indigenous territories intersecting municipalities and forcing them to navigate conflicting public systems.
By giving Indigenous groups direct authority over their territories, it will help streamline governance and, importantly, help protect forests critical to combating climate change.
Transgender musician sings a duet with themself before and after hormone therapy: ‘It’s all me’
Deforestation reached a new record low in Brazil in 2024
In 2024, deforestation declined in all six nature biomes in Brazil for the first time in six years — and total deforestation was 32.4% lower than in 2023.
It’s the second year in a row of lower deforestation, breaking 2023’s record drop of 11% over 2022.
While Brazil still lost the equivalent of 8,000 football fields daily in 2024, the progress is notable and important as the country works toward eradicating illegal deforestation by 2030 to become a leader in the fight against climate change.
A new 7-mile-long underwater art exhibit in Miami raises awareness and helps save coral reefs
Just a couple hundred feet offshore, Miami Beach is home to the Great Florida Reef, the third-largest coral reef in the world and the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States. It also desperately needs protecting.
Like its global counterparts, the Great Florida Reef has been in sharp decline since the 1980s. But experts are experimenting with a new approach to save it: art.
With construction starting this year, the reef will soon feature a 7-mile public art installation: The Reefline. Both a sculpture park and a snorkeling trail, the development will also serve as an artificial reef to offer shelter to fish, which will, in turn, help corals thrive.
Why is this good news? Like reefs around the world, the Great Florida Reef faces threats like bleaching due to elevated water temperatures, sea-level rise, and the spread of disease, which all put both coral and the other organisms that thrive in the reef at risk of extinction.
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‘I’m in love with the birds and the river’: how ecotourism helped a small Colombian town recover from war
In the last 50 years, measles vaccines have prevented over 90 million deaths worldwide
Sixty years ago, over 90% of children globally were infected by measles, and for those who developed symptoms, a quarter would be hospitalized. In just the U.S., there were 3 to 4 million cases every year, which resulted in tens of thousands of hospitalizations and hundreds of deaths.
The first effective measles vaccine was developed in 1963 and made its way around the world over the next two decades. In just the last 50 years, those vaccinations have prevented over 90 million deaths globally.
Without those vaccines, 2 to 3 million people would die annually from measles, making them likely the most life-saving vaccines currently on offer in the world.
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A U.S. House committee removed a budget bill amendment that would require the sale of nearly 500,000 acres of federal public land
When lawmakers added an amendment to a major budget bill that would have required the sale or transfer of around 500,000 acres of federal public land in Utah and Nevada — conservationists, outdoor enthusiasts, and citizens in general were outraged.
Now, under pressure from House Republicans who said they wouldn’t support the budget at all if it included the land-sale amendment, leadership from the House Rules Committee removed it — ensuring these lands stay protected.
The lawmakers and advocates both feared that it would lead to a new precedent for selling federal lands, and removing access for hikers, anglers, and other outdoor enthusiasts who enjoy them, and could lead to it happening elsewhere.
What’s the nuance? The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed the House and is now headed for the Senate. While it’s very good news that the land-sale amendment was removed, the bill still contains devastating cuts to health care, food assitance, and clean energy, adds to the national deficit, and contains major tax breaks for corporations and top earners.
For the first time since the 1950s, Detroit is leading the state of Michigan in population growth
In a “historic turnaround,” the city of Detroit’s population grew for the second year in a row, jumping by around 12,500 people, after consistently declining for over 50 years.
It’s also leading the entire state of Michigan in population growth. The milestone demonstrates the city’s “comeback” after decades of people fleeing and the historic 2013 bankruptcy.
Some of the key factors in the city’s “surging growth” are improved neighborhoods, better city services, new job centers, crime reduction, and a “world class sports and entertainment district.”
More good news of the week —
Japan’s Ayami Sato made history as the first woman to play for a Canadian professional men’s baseball league. Sato has also led Japan’s women’s national team to six World Cup medals, is the only woman to win three consecutive MVP awards in 2014, 2016, and 2018, and was selected as an All-Star twice at the Women’s Baseball World Cup.
Helping the shipping industry eliminate its emissions, the world’s first commercial-scale e-methanol plant opened in Denmark. Up until now, zero-emission shipping fuels, such as green ammonia and e-methanol, which are produced using renewable energy, have tended to be more expensive than conventional fuel, largely because they are not produced at scale.
A “lost” gecko species thought to be extinct — or not exist at all — was rediscovered after 30 years. Two Endangered Wildlife Trust researchers found specimens of the Blyde Rondavel flat gecko, which was first identified in the same canyon in Mpumalanga Province in northeastern South Africa in 1991, never to be seen again.
A museum opened in the Czech Republic where German businessman Oskar Schindler saved 1,200 Jews during World War II. The site, a former textile factory, was stolen by the Nazis from its Jewish owners in 1938 and turned into a concentration camp, and is now the Museum of Survivors dedicated to the Holocaust and the history of Jews in this part of Europe.
Researchers say “inverse vaccines” could be a “holy grail” treatment for autoimmune diseases. They are developing an approach that targets only the specific part of the immune system that’s gone rogue, known as “inverse vaccines” because they suppress a particular part of the immune system, rather than amplifying it, as existing vaccines do.
Guyana’s parliament passed an oil pollution bill that holds companies liable for damages caused by oil spills. The country became Latin America’s fifth-largest exporter of oil last year, and this new legislation includes penalties for companies that don’t comply with regulations, including suspending licenses to explore and produce oil.
Using COVID relief funds, a county and a nonprofit erased the medical debt of 310,000 residents of a Florida county. Similar to other local governments, Orange County commissioners approved a $4.5 million contract last August with Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt) to forgive bills totaling about $472.5 million.
Measuring 130 meters long, the world’s largest battery-powered ship was launched by an Australian boatbuilder. Calling it “a giant leap forward in sustainable shipping” and the “most important” project it has ever done, the ship will carry up to 2,100 passengers and 225 vehicles across the River Plate on the border between Argentina and Uruguay.
A new, first-of-its-kind guidance recommends more options for pain management at the gynecologist. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released new guidelines for physicians to better treat pain during common in-office procedures, including intrauterine device insertion, endometrial biopsy, hysteroscopy, intrauterine imaging, and cervical biopsy.
To alert drinkers to date rape drugs, a college student invented a color-changing straw — and it’s reusable. Providence College sophomore Neve Palmeri’s invention was born out of personal experience, after her cousin’s drink was spiked while she was on vacation in Aruba, leading to a “terrifying experience.”
Explorers discovered a new, metallic “striking blue” frog species on an expedition in the Amazon. It was a new species of poison dart frogs, which are small but hugely significant in the greater food web of the Amazon for helping control local insect populations and serving as an “indicator species” for ecosystem health.
A new system of tracking elephants wearing GPS collars is helping protect people and animals in Zimbabwe. Dangerous encounters between people and elephants have grown more frequent as climate change worsens competition for food and water.
A green space in Altadena that was damaged in the Eaton Fire is has been rejuvenated and is now a “super-park.” Funding to refurbish the park came from many different sources, including the FireAid benefit concert, which helped rebuild two new, three-story structures that are completely ADA accessible and the very first structures of their kind anywhere.
Once a sales associate at Lush, Dylan Mulvaney’s exclusive bath bomb has raised more than $30k for trans nonprofits. A pink rose-shaped accessory with notes of “feel-good florals, gorgeous pink luster,” 75% of each “Late Bloomer” bath bomb sold went to support trans-led organizations “working to ensure that trans people thrive.”
Developed “with the most vulnerable people in mind,” scientists in Mexico made a tortilla for people with no refrigerator. This wheat flour version contains probiotics that not only add nutrients to the Mexican staple food item, they preserve it for weeks without refrigeration, which is a luxury that many families in impoverished communities do not have.
In a “landmark moment for sexual health,” the world’s first gonorrhea vaccine is rolling out in England. Gonorrhea cases in England topped 85,000 in 2023, the highest since records began in 1918, and with warnings over some strains being resistant to antibiotics the vaccine hopes to tackle these rising rates of infection.
To demonstrate that “trans is natural,” drag queen Pattie Gonia unveiled the “largest-ever trans pride flag” at Yosemite National Park. It was also in response to the Trump administration’s actions against transgender individuals, which include excluding them from serving in the military, attempting to ban them from competitive sports, depriving them of gender-affirming care, and more.
In a “game-changing” procedure, surgeons at UCLA Health performed the first-ever human bladder transplant. The transplant recipient was a 41-year-old father of four who had previously lost most of his bladder during a tumor removal process, leaving the remainder too small and compromised to work.
A federal judge blocked President Trump’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education. The judge also ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass layoffs, which the groups who brought the lawsuit said amounted to an illegal shutdown of the department, leaving it unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress.
Zoo keepers raised an endangered rockhopper penguin after it was born as part of a breeding program. Wild populations of the penguin species have declined by more than 57% in the last 27 years, and this European breeding programme is vital in creating a healthy and genetically diverse backup population in conservation zoos.
