Recently, Reddit user u/Roast_Master_2000 asked the good people of r/AskReddit, "What’s going on right now that most people have no idea about?". We were pleasantly surprised by how uplifting many of the replies were, so here are some of the most upvoted responses:
1. "The California redwoods weathered the wildfires better than scientists expected and are recovering very well."
2. "The co-director of the Melanoma Institute in Australia and world-leading melanoma pathologist Prof. Richard Scolyer is fighting a terminal brain cancer glioblastoma."
"He and his co-director (and best friend) Georgina Long are using the research and knowledge that they have gained through fighting melanomas to find a cure for this currently incurable cancer. He is the first human trial for a cancer vaccine alongside personalised immunotherapy. Pretty amazing that someone with so much knowledge in the area of cancer treatments can fast-track a potential cure for this brain cancer. I hope it goes well for him."
3. "The Ocean Cleanup initiative has a new system to clean up an area the size of a football field every five seconds. The previous one extracted 282,787 kg of trash from the Pacific Ocean so far."
"They're also working on interceptors for rivers that have collected over 840 tonnes of trash and counting.
There's a long way to go but they have lots of support and they're making amazing progress!"
4. "Scientists discovered a new antibiotic that could kill MRSA."
5. "The greater one-horned rhino population in India and Nepal is growing."
"The collaboration between India, Bhutan, and Nepal, along with strict government protection and management, has led to an increase in their population over the past decade. The Greater One-Horned Rhino population, which once numbered as low as 100 in the early 1900s, has increased to more than 4,014 now."
6. "The FDA approved the first gene therapy treatment that treats sickle cell disease."
7. "NASA has developed technology for sending data transmissions much further than radio frequencies and recently sent their first transmission 10 million miles away."
8. "Scientists have created natural sponges that can soak up microplastics."
9. "Clinical human trials for a drug that can regrow teeth start July 2024 and will run until 2030."
10. "A bill has been introduced in both houses of Congress that would prevent big corporations from buying up homes."
11. "Astronomer here! We are now putting the final touches on the Rubin Observatory, which will see 'first light', AKA start looking at the sky in a year or so. It is an eight-metre diameter telescope mirror that will image the ENTIRE sky every night visible where it is!"
"It’s hard to emphasise what a game-changer this will be for astronomy. We will literally catalogue all the asteroids, see millions of supernovae a year, map the Milky Way, maybe even learn about what dark matter and dark energy are… put it this way, if JWST is like boring a hole into one tiny spot on a shutter to let light through, this is gonna be like opening an entire window.
Can’t wait!"
12. "We have recently achieved controllable nuclear fusion that doesn’t level entire cities."
13. "Honey bees aren't endangered anymore, even if other bees are."
“'There are likely more honey bees on the planet now than there ever have been in history,”' said Scott Black, executive director of the Xerces Society, a nonprofit that advocates for pollinator conservation. 'There’s not a conservation concern'," Vox reports.
14. "A complete stegosaurus fossil with skin still intact has been unearthed."
15. "Scientists are going to start experimenting with lab-grown cooking oils, which could help curb a lot of the environmental damage caused by mass soy, corn, and palm oil farming."
16. "Dr. Miyazaki Toru is finishing up the AIM injection that targets chronic kidney disease in cats. This might significantly lengthen their lifespan!"
"Here’s their paper from 2018. The injection is now in clinical trials, expected to arrive by 2025 with the goal of a low cost. My understanding is that they’re already seeing marked improvement in cats that they believed only had a week left. Dr. Miyazaki also developed a brand of cat kibble that contains the amino acid A-30, a protein that cats don’t produce which aids in kidney cleanup."
17. And finally... "A fox and a deer are friends in my backyard. They like to cuddle together by my shed."
18. "Lake Mead's water levels are 20+ feet higher than last year!"
"It's a reservoir on the Colorado River that's held back by the Hoover Dam in Nevada. It supplies water to 20+ million people in Nevada, California, and even parts of Mexico!
edit: Apparently to Arizona and Utah too!"
Thanks to u/Roast_Master_2000 and r/AskReddit for having this discussion.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.