Across the globe, good things are happening, notes Human Progress. People in Indonesia now overwhelmingly have enough to eat, unlike under their first ruler, Sukarno. Under his rule, most Indonesians were malnourished. Maybe that’s because he practiced an perverse ideology known as Nasakom, which he described as a blend of communism, nationalism, and Islam. Sukarno’s bad policies cut Indonesian industrial production by half, and left the country unable to feed itself. But after Sukarno was removed and replaced by a more capitalism-friendly ruler Suharto, Indonesia’s economy and agricultural output grew, and it is no longer a net importer of food.
Stunting Prevalence Slides in 28 Indonesian Provinces in 2022, reports Human Progress.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa’s third-most populous country, experienced a civil war that made six million people die. But today, violence has diminished, and school enrollment is on the rise in DR Congo.
Meanwhile, India is eradicating the second deadliest parasitic killer globally after malaria, known as Black Fever or Kala-azar. There has been a 98.7 per cent decline in cases of Kala-azar from 44,533 in 2007 to 834 in 2022 in India. India hopes to eliminate Kala-azar from the country by 2023.
A new study has discovered how to reverse hearing loss. Five years after getting newborn mice to regenerate the hair cells needed for hearing, researchers at the University of Rochester have now figured out how the process works — putting us closer to reversing the most common cause of hearing loss as people age.
A new study may help stroke patients regain movement in their hands. It suggests that electrical stimulation of the spinal cord could eventually help some of the many people disabled by strokes.
African health systems are improving, even in very poor countries like Malawi in southern Africa. Over 33 million children have have been vaccinated against wild polio in southern Africa.
More examples of good news:
- Startup Uses DALL-E to Make Food Menus More Appealing
- After a Big Recovery, the Wood Stork May Soon Fly off the Endangered Species List
- MIT Team Makes a Case for Direct Carbon Capture from Seawater, Not Air
- Mexican Wolf Program Is Making Strides after 25 Years of Effort
- The Farming Robots That Will Feed the World
- Amazon Collaborates with Hippo Harvest on New Sustainable Greens Line
- Uganda Sees Resurgence of Rhinos, Elephants, Buffaloes
- Gas-Pumping Robot Lets You Stay in Your Car When It’s Cold Out
- Zoox Deploys First-of-Their-Kind Robotaxis in California
- Startups Try to Turn Laser Fusion Success into Clean Power Plants
