💡 21 fact-based optimistic news from June
🌎 The last ozone-depleting chemical is now decreasing. 🚀 First crash-free test of Starship. ✈️ Plane hijackings have decreased dramatically. 🏭 Has China’s CO2 emissions peaked? New stats suggest so. 🌳 Deforestation in the Amazon reaches lowest level since 2018.
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In June, there was a fair amount of disinformation. Not from me (hopefully), and not much from others either. As usual, many were alarmed that a wave of AI disinformation would sweep the world during this super election year.
Now, over 800 million have voted, and I wondered in a text where this wave went. Conveniently, a news report came out stating that disinformation doesn't reach that many people. Disinformation and fake news are indeed real problems, but probably less severe than most people think.
It is positive to see that Jonas Birgersson's Project Energy Society is moving forward. They are receiving funds to develop an open standard for energy sharing, and Elonroad will be the supplier of electric switches. Warp News' parent, the Warp Institute foundation, is part of the project.
Scroll down a bit and you'll find all of this month's fact-based optimistic news.
Mathias Sundin
The Angry Optimist
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💡 Fact-based optimistic news
✈️ Plane hijackings have decreased dramatically
The number of plane hijackings has significantly decreased since the 1980s. The number of fatalities in plane hijackings has also decreased. The last major hijacking occurred during the September 11 attacks in 2001.
🏭 Has China’s CO2 emissions peaked? New stats suggest so
China’s CO2 emissions decreased by 3% in March. Solar and wind covered 90% of the growth in electricity consumption, reducing the share of fossil fuels in electricity production. With the rapid increase in EVs, structural changes are occurring, suggesting that emissions may have peaked in 2023.
🚀 First crash-free test of Starship
Another successful test flight of Starship, and this time both parts of the rocket safely returned to Earth. Starship is not just a new cool rocket; it has the potential to transform humanity.
🦠 AI discovers nearly 1 million new antibiotics - progress in the fight against antibiotic resistance
Researchers used AI to analyze genetic data from tens of thousands of bacteria and other organisms. Nearly one million potential antibiotic compounds were identified, with 79% able to kill at least one microbe. AI has drastically accelerated the process.
👀 New study: Few see disinformation online - and the debate around it lacks support from science
Exposure to false information is concentrated among narrow extremist groups. Algorithms play less of a role than individual choices in exposure to extremist content. Social media has not been shown to be the main cause of polarization.
🚑 New Indian traffic safety model to save lives in poor countries
Zero Fatality Corridor has reduced road fatalities by over 50 percent on specific stretches in India. The model is adapted to the conditions of low- and middle-income countries. The Indian government plans to expand the model to the country’s 15 most dangerous highways.
🛰️ NASA has discovered a way to predict flash droughts months in advance
Flash droughts occur suddenly and quickly, but now researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have found a way to detect them early. Plants' "glow" diminishes before a flash drought, and this change can be observed by satellites.
🌳 India's forests have steadily increased over the past 15 years
India ranks globally as third in net gain of average annual forest area between 2010 and 2020. They have prioritized biodiversity and conservation with an expanded network of protected areas.
🌼 A periodic table for flowering plants has been created – includes 9,500 species
Researchers analyzed 1.8 billion genetic letters from over 9,500 species of flowering plants. The research reveals the evolutionary history of flowering plants.
👨🏫 Microsoft to train a quarter million Swedes in AI
The largest investment from Microsoft in Sweden to date. Among other things, 20,000 GPUs will be installed in the company's data centers and 250,000 Swedes will be trained in AI.
🌎 The last ozone-depleting chemical is now decreasing
The levels of the ozone-depleting chemical HCFC have been declining since 2021. The ozone layer is recovering, and the dangerous ozone hole is shrinking. The Montreal Protocol, adopted in 1987, has been crucial in reducing the use of ozone-depleting substances.
🐦CyberTracker helps indigenous communities document biodiversity
CyberTracker's software, developed in collaboration with indigenous communities, enables nearly anyone to collect complex biodiversity data. Even individuals who are illiterate can collect detailed data.
🧫 They win the $10 million Longitude Prize – combating superbugs
Swedish-Japenese Sysmex Astrego has won the Longitude Prize of $10 million for its rapid test of bacterial infections. The test reduces the time to determine the correct antibiotic from three days to less than 45 minutes, and can be used directly at the first doctor's visit.
💰 Funding to create an open energy protocol for energy sharing
The City of Lund is awarded $2 million, part of which will go to Project Energy Society and the development of an energy protocol. This will enable energy sharing and a low fixed cost for all the electricity you need.
🐎 Wild horses return to the Kazakh steppes after 200 years
The world's last wild horses, Przewalski's horses, have returned to their original home in Kazakhstan. The horses come from zoos in Berlin and Prague. The plan is to transport a total of 40 horses to central Kazakhstan over the next five years.
🌳 Deforestation in the Amazon reaches lowest level since 2018
Deforestation in the Amazon has decreased by 40 percent compared to 2023. May 2024 recorded the lowest deforestation level since March 2018. The accumulated deforestation over the past year has decreased by 54 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
🔭 New space telescope could potentially see city lights on exoplanets
NASA's new space telescope will search for habitable exoplanets. The telescope will be able to detect both biological and technological signs of life. It may also potentially search for city lights on the night side of habitable exoplanets.
🗳️ Human rights have improved in all world regions over the past hundred years
Human rights have improved in all regions over the past hundred years. Europe and Oceania have the highest levels of human rights protection. Africa and Asia have lower levels but have made significant progress.
🔋 Elonroad delivers electric switches to the energy society
The key to a low and fixed price for green electricity is the sharing of energy. This requires batteries and other energy storage solutions - and an electric switch. Elonroad will become the supplier for such a switch. Another piece is added to the energy society.
📉 The number of countries with high economic inequality is decreasing
The number of countries with high inequality has decreased from 77 in 2000 to 52 in 2022. High inequality is mainly concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. Reduced inequality can lead to increased economic and human development.
☢️ Bill Gates invests in next-generation nuclear power in Wyoming
Bill Gates and his energy company TerraPower are starting the construction of an advanced nuclear power plant in Wyoming. The project uses sodium for cooling instead of water, making it safer and more efficient. The plant is estimated to cost up to 4 billion dollars.
Other texts
⛓️ Chain of Thought prompts yield astonishingly good results (watch out, Gordon Gekko!)
HERE IS THE PROMPT THAT BEATS WALL STREET AND WILL MAKE YOU BILLIONS!!! (I'm not kidding.)
📚 The Angry Optimist's summer reading tips
It was a product that was supposed to transform cities as much as the car did, praised by Steve Jobs, and fought over by investors eager to invest, created by a technical genius. A product so revolutionary that it only appears once per generation. That and other book tips for lazy summer days.
📞 Phone scams could become harder to pull off
If I were a criminal, I would focus on scams using AI. This is a real AI problem, unlike the fantasies about the end of humanity. But as often is the case, the solution can be found in the very technology that contributes to the problem.
🙅♀️ Prebunking - how Taiwan resisted China's information warfare
Showing people in advance what the manipulators will claim gives people mental antibodies to resist disinformation.
📗 Wow, so many bad things have peaked – and more peaks are coming
She left university without hope. But then she happened to see one of Hans Rosling's talks, and it changed her life. Now she wants to become 'Rosling' for sustainability and believes that we can become the first generation to live completely sustainably.
📱 Ukrainian Qela organizes democracy activists with an app
Running a startup is hard. Running a startup in Ukraine is brutal. But that's what Tamara Tachynska is doing. With the Qela App, democracy activists and other communities can organize themselves.
🔎 We were supposed to be flooded with AI disinformation... now 800 million have voted, where is it?
We faced a "tech-driven Armageddon" and experts ranked AI disinformation as the second biggest global threat this year. Have you noticed much of it?
🗳️ The startup VINICI creates a rhetorical timeline of what politicians have said - fighting for democracy in Georgia
Georgia has passed a Russian-inspired law that classifies many democracy activists as foreign agents. A step towards harsher repression. But there are many who are fighting back. VINICI is building a tool that can influence the election in Georgia this fall.
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