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 new study, bleached corals recovered in just seven weeks after coming in brief contact with healthy coral
In a scientific breakthrough, scientists at Stanford University found a promising new way to restore bleached coral reefs: touching them with healthy coral.
The discovery happened by accident last year, when a scientist noticed two pieces of coral had fallen against each other in a lab tank — where the two were touching, the bleached piece of coral was regaining color.
The scientist expanded the experiment to ten pieces of healthy and bleached coral from the same colony, and found that all five bleached segments put in direct contact with a healthy segment recovered within seven weeks.
Why is this good news? It can typically take coral months or years to recover — if they do at all. Rising sea temperatures due to human-caused climate change have led to more frequent and severe coral bleaching events, giving reefs less and less time to recover. While not yet applicable on a large scale, this breakthrough could help researchers find ways to mimic the results in the ocean and save more of these critical marine ecosystems.
70% of North America’s mussels are vanishing. Scientists just uncovered five new species in plain sight
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New research shows a steep, continual decline in the US prison population
Not only is the U.S. prison population declining at an accelerating rate, but prison admission rates are expected to fall an additional 50% within the next two decades.
A large portion of those in the criminal justice system came into it during the “crime boom” of the 1980s and 1990s — now, they’re aging out of it, and the generation behind them has seen far lower rates of crime and arrests. Since 2000, prison admission rates have fallen 53%.
The researchers noted the largest declines among Black men, whose prison admission rates fell by nearly two-thirds between 2000 and 2023 — it’s predicted to fall another 46% in the next decade.
Just 10 months in, the largest wildlife overpass in North America has reduced animal-vehicle collisions by 91%
On a stretch of highway between Colorado’s two biggest cities — Denver and Colorado Springs — there was a vehicle-animal collision about once a day. In the past 10 months, there have been 2 total.
That 91% drop is thanks to North America’s largest wildlife overpass across six lanes of Interstate 25. It features a 209-by-200-foot bridge, five underpasses, and miles of fencing designed to funnel animals toward the crossings.
Massive elk use the crossing, just as the smallest toads do — it connects 39,000 acres of wildlife habitat.
Why is this good news? People need to get around, and so do wildlife — neither can come at the expense of the other. Wildlife overpasses, which are more often becoming part of the initial road planning process in the first place, are incredibly effective at making sure both are possible.
You may also like: Construction underway for world’s largest wildlife crossing, 30 years in the making
Remote work actually brings colleagues closer together, new study finds
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Per-person electricity generation in the UK has fallen to late 1960s levels
While electricity generation per person has grown by more than 50% globally this century — the UK’s is falling. After peaking in 2003, it’s fallen by more than a third since.
While some of the decline is due to a change in electricity imports, it’s primarily a result of deindustrialization, from manufacturing to services, and improvements in energy efficiency, like shifting to LED light bulbs and the introduction of efficiency standards.
And the decline has been seen across industry, residential, and commercial electricity use.
Women are restoring mangrove forests in a region of Nigeria devastated by decades of pollution
More than five decades of oil spills and pollution in Nigeria’s exploited Niger Delta destroyed the region’s mangrove forests and the livelihoods of people in the surrounding communities.
Inspired by her mother’s activism, Martha Abgani founded the Lokiaka Community Development Center to help female farmers care for the environment and replant and restore the mangrove forests. Beyond that, their aim is to restore livelihoods, heal the land, and bring a sense of ownership to the community.
One of Abgani’s trainees, alongside a dozen other women, has planted more than 150,000 mangrove saplings.
Why is this good news? Mangrove forests are critical coastal marine ecosystems, and while the people who call the Niger Delta home should have never lost them to oil exploitation and pollution in the first place, restoring them is important for the community’s resilience — in every sense of the word.
Wildlife vets give rare hornbill 3D-printed beak in world-first: ‘It has never been possible before’
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Pedestrian fatalities in New York City reach lowest levels in over a century
Traffic deaths in New York City have reached new record lows in the first nine months of the year. It was also the second-safest period for overall traffic deaths in the five boroughs since the equivalent time period in 1910 — only 2020 had fewer.
There have been 67 pedestrian fatalities through the end of September, a 15% decline from the same time period last year. The Mamdani administration expanded on a prior administration’s “Vision Zero” program to eliminate traffic deaths entirely.
Notably, deaths and injuries involving e-bikes and e-scooters are increasing — which the city council is working to address with a package of more than 20 bills aimed at e-bike safety.
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Wisconsin opened a ‘braille trail’ to make nature more accessible for blind and visually impaired people
In an effort to make the outdoors more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired, Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources opened a new “braille trail” at a state forest in Milwaukee.
The trail is a third of a mile long and features braille signs, audio guides, and white canes available for guests to borrow.
Thanks to a $15,000 grant, DNR staff developed the trail for about a year, making and installing the accessible features themselves.
Why is this good news? Everyone, regardless of ability, deserves to enjoy the outdoors and engage in physical activity. This trail ensures that blind individuals aren’t excluded, and as one blind outdoor enthusiast said, the project means someone else thought it “was important enough,” too.
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DIY repair clubs are helping Americans save money and fight big tech
Sudan increases vaccination coverage to 71% in a single year, despite civil war
Even in the middle of a years-long civil war and humanitarian crisis, Sudan has increased its third-dose vaccination coverage from 39% to 71% in a single year, giving more children full protection against five deadly diseases.
Nearby in Somalia, along with re-establishing its national medicines regulatory authority after more than three decades, the country has reduced cholera deaths by 93%.
Both countries are part of the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, which has also seen improvements in maternal mortality rates, three countries eliminate trachoma as a public health problem, and more.
Chiricahua National Park was officially named the United States’ newest national park
Protected as a national monument since 1924, Chiricahua is located in southeast Arizona, spans more than 12,000 acres, and is home to rock formations that are around 27 million years old.
Called the “Wonderland of Rocks,” Chiricahua is also now officially the newest national park in the United States. The designation provides it with the federal government’s highest protection.
The land carries rich cultural significance as the homeland of the Chiricahua Apache, and is home to some of the best bird-watching in the world.
What’s the nuance? This designation comes after years of bipartisan effort to elevate Chiricahua to national park status amid a Trump administration that has been working to roll back conservation protections at other national parks, and even reduced the size of other federally protected sites.
→ Read more (Gifted link)
Historic win: Nurses fought to secure the nation’s first countywide 12-week paid parental leave policy
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is at its lowest in almost four decades, a ‘stratospheric drop’
In a historic milestone, Brazil has recorded its lowest level of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in nearly four decades, with 1,288 square miles of forest cleared between August 2025 and July 2026.
The latest data also shows a nearly 42% drop from the same time period last year, when 2,212 square miles were deforested.
Experts said the progress was the result of “sustained commitment” by the government to protect the environment, and is proof that with political will, other parts of the world can see the same success.
More good news of the week —
Fishermen are combing the Chesapeake Bay for abandoned 'ghost' traps and saving wildlife thanks to a $225,000 grant. In the last two years, local watermen of Maryland and Virginia have drudged up roughly 24,000 abandoned fishing traps.
The FDA approved a new once-daily oral pill treatment for Parkinson’s. The current gold-standard Parkinson’s medication requires multiple doses per day at increasingly frequent intervals as the disease progresses.
Illinois has erased over $1.1 billion in medical debt for more than half a million residents. People who have received relief had, on average, over $1,200 in debt eliminated — with some benefiting from tens or hundreds of thousands in relief.
Since the conflict in Iran began, solar panels have been fitted on U.K. homes and buildings every three minutes. There were more than 27,000 solar power installations in March, the highest monthly total for 14 years. The number of applications for heat pump grants also jumped to its second-highest monthly level ever.
A ‘book brigade’ in Ottawa, Canada moved 7,400 books by hand to a local bookstore’s new space. Around 280 volunteers formed a human chain to move the books in around two and a half hours.
New York City announced its free 2-K program will expand by another 12,000 seats next fall. The expansion will bring the program to 22 of the city’s 32 school districts, including all of the Bronx and Staten Island after the two boroughs were left out of the city’s inaugural 2,000 seats.
Scientists discovered how to create a never-ending supply of cancer-fighting cells. By growing and modifying immature immune cells rather than mature ones, researchers developed a system that can continuously produce tumor-fighting cells inside the body.
The European Union is giving free rail travel passes to 41,000 teens. The program is intended to give young people “the opportunity to travel across Europe by rail, while gaining new experiences and meeting people from different countries.”
In a major milestone, the largest private conservation project in the U.S. sees 1,000 free-roaming bison. A conservation nonprofit is working to stitch together the largest contiguous wild stretch of North American Prairie in the country for the purpose of conservation and recreation.
After a smuggling raid in Bali, Indonesia returned 20 green sea turtles to the ocean. The turtles are a protected species in Indonesia, and two of the turtles rescued are still recovering.
A church in Austin donated $75,000 to eliminate $14 million in medical debt for more than 10,000 neighbors. Covenant Presbyterian Church also recently donated to organizations working on financial stability, reflecting a broader strategy of attacking different financial barriers.
Researchers discovered five new frog species in one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet. The five species, found at elevations ranging from 183 to 1,778 meters, ranged from the Amazon lowlands of Huánuco to the slope of Junín in central Peru.
After 30 years, scientists have a treatment for a rare, deadly brain disease. The FDA has approved the first drug that directly targets Alexander disease, a devastating neurological disorder affecting fewer than one in a million people.
After rescuing them from wildfires, Indonesia relocated eight orangutans to a protected forest. The endangered orangutans, including three mothers with infants and two adolescent males, were rescued after wildfires destroyed most of their habitat.
A community rallied to replenish a donation jar for a four-year-old with cerebral palsy after it was stolen. The theft prompted calls and donations from people looking to help, with some dropping off $100 bills or mailing money.
Greenland’s Parliament unanimously voted to ban deep-sea mineral extraction. The resolution was passed after President Trump announced large-scale exploration for mineral deposits on the island, and requires the government to introduce regulations effective through at least 2029.
The five largest counties in Texas have shattered their previous early voting records. Harris, Dallas, Bexar, Travis, and Tarrant counties all eclipsed early voting records for at least two of the last three elections.
In the last seven years, millions of Ethiopians have planted more than 47 billion trees across the country. One of the world’s largest environmental restoration campaigns, the program aims to plant 50 billion seedlings by 2030 to rebuild native forests and integrate them into farmland.
Mozambique has officially protected Mount Mabu, which is home to more than 200 species of butterflies. The location is a hotspot of endemic wildlife, and stewardship of the land was granted to the local communities that have preserved the forest for generations.
A pioneering same-day test has been used to detect hidden and drug-resistant infections in children in intensive care. (May require login) Metagenomic testing can identify bacteria, viruses, and fungi from a single sample, which can influence what doctors prescribe.
In Michigan, 3 Native tribes are on a mission to bring back a fish that disappeared 100 years ago. It’s part of a movement of tribal nations across the country that are trying to restore culturally important species, like the Arctic grayling, while grappling with climate change.
Electric car fleets have saved oil-importing countries $20 billion since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran. Globally, battery-electric vehicle sales are up by 11% year-on-year for the first eight months of 2026 despite policy changes slowing EV uptake in the U.S. and China.
An “adult high school” in Texas is giving adults opportunities to earn their diplomas and receive workforce training. The school and pilot program are located in the Rio Grande Valley, which has the largest concentration of adults who didn’t finish high school anywhere in the country.
India reduced the cost of 137 cancer drugs by up to 70%. It builds on price controls introduced in 2019 on 42 anti-cancer drugs that cut prices by as much as 90%.
Steve and Terri Irwin transformed an old avocado shed into a wildlife hospital that’s helped over 136,000 animals. The hospital opened in 2004 after the death of Steve’s mother, a wildlife care and rehabilitation activist, who expressed her desire to create a place for wildlife to find refuge in times of need and receive treatment.
