Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1h

112-million-year-old insects emerge from ancient amber.

Scientists in Ecuador find first evidence of Cretaceous insects from South America. Trapped within resin from Cretaceous trees, the flies, beetles and wasps capture life from the lost forests of Gondwana.

https://f.mtr.cool/hbodjjbbil

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2h

Getting out alive

Thanks to decades of safety improvements per-capita civilian fire deaths in the US have dropped by about two-thirds since 1980. Smoke alarms, sprinklers, safer furnishings, and “fire-safe” cigarettes have each helped drive the decline.

https://f.mtr.cool/wmyjczzgfg

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 7h

A moment we’ve been waiting for.

According to Ember’s 2025 mid-year report, renewables have produced more power than coal globally for the first time - a historic first. How? Solar output jumped 31% from last year. Wind added another 7.7%. Coal fell.

https://f.mtr.cool/oujuvyieww

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 18h

A boost to receive the sun's power.

As the energy transition ramps up, a global philanthropic coalition has secured $4.2 billion to expand renewables and energy access across Africa.

https://f.mtr.cool/ropwbhdkvv

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

Paris changed our course.

A decade after the Paris Agreement, global greenhouse gas emissions are barely rising, up just 0.3% a year since 2015, compared with 1.7% before.

https://f.mtr.cool/aaecoxwpkt

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

Subcontinental solar surge.

India races ahead with record solar surge, installing 17.5 GW between April and August 2025 - more than double last year’s pace. The boom is driven by cheap modules, strong demand and a 143 GW project pipeline.

https://f.mtr.cool/ncbzkponcc

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

Nigeria launches its largest-ever public health campaign.

A nationwide drive aims to immunise around 106 million children against measles, rubella and polio by early 2026, combining vaccines and other child health services under one programme for the first time.

https://f.mtr.cool/kpihxebxah

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

One more step towards ending child marriage.

Following years of increasingly effective advocacy, Burkina Faso has raised the legal age of marriage for girls to 18, aligning national law with international human-rights standards.

https://f.mtr.cool/fonbcaagaj

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

No fuss, just fast: Mozambique doubles electricity access in just 6 years.

In 2018, 31% of Mozambique’s population had access to electricity: by the end of 2024, that number had jumped to 60%, and the country’s now on track for 2030 universal access.

https://f.mtr.cool/yfuvrkjmfb

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Reposted by Angus Hervey

Wolfgang Obergassel @obergassel.bsky.social · 1d

The weekly fix of #goodnews is in. #Renewables on a roll globally, even in „Trump digs #coal“ country new mines are fetching almost nothing at auction, perceptions of personal safety at an all-time high globally, and more fixthenews.com/p/314-a-stak...

314: A Stake Through The Cold, Dark Heart of King Coal 🪦♥︎. Plus, global safety, the Pacific eliminates rubella, and robotic ballet.

Hidden stories of progress from around the world.

fixthenews.com

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

Cash transfers lifting Brazil's poorest out of poverty.

6.5 million people in Brazil’s northeast, historically its poorest region, were lifted out of poverty between 2022 and 2024. Economists say the Bolsa Família social transfer programme has played a decisive role.

https://f.mtr.cool/arnokimral

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 1d

Our latest edition of Fix The News is out!

fixthenews.com/p/314-a-stak...

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2d

Guaranteed free education from pre-primary through secondary?

58 countries are backing a new protocol to expand the free education guarantee of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Governments are currently only obliged to provide free primary schooling.

https://f.mtr.cool/dqukxfdkwb

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2d

Protecting infants from Malaria

Eight African countries are soon expected to approve a new low-dose, cherry-flavoured, anti-malarial treatment that can be given to newborns and babies, replacing the riskier practice of splitting tablets.

https://f.mtr.cool/rfxgypjewt

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2d

Time to meet the Martians?

The strongest evidence yet that life once existed on Mars: NASA’s Perseverance Rover drilled into Mars’s Jezero crater and pulled up a piece of mudstone covered in markings that resemble those left behind by metabolizing microbes on Earth.

https://f.mtr.cool/msfqayxkze

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2d

Reversing spinal cord injury.

After 25 years of research, scientists in São Paulo have developed a treatment that reactivates dormant nerve pathways, raising the prospect of a breakthrough for millions living with spinal cord damage worldwide.

https://f.mtr.cool/lgzozcagsz

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2d

One blood for all.

Researchers have engineered enzymes that strip away the sugars on red blood cells, effectively converting all donated blood into universal type O. The treated cells flowed safely with all blood types, opening the door to solving chronic shortages.

https://f.mtr.cool/lpbiwggvka

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 2d

Dr Doolittle files #2: Humpbacks

A Whale-SETI team studying non-terrestrial (aquatic), nonhuman communication systems to help parse cosmic signals for signs of extraterrestrial life, have documented humpbacks producing bubble rings in friendly encounters with humans.

https://f.mtr.cool/qtewludkuc

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 3d

Filling little bellies.

National school meal programmes now serve 466 million children worldwide, up 80 million since 2020. Low-income countries expanded access by 60%. The most encouraging statistic of all? 99% of funding is now coming from national budgets.

https://f.mtr.cool/zarzbiqdre

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 3d

China’s green “Marshall Plan” is reshaping global energy.

China has invested over $200 billion into green manufacturing projects in other countries since 2022, cementing the world’s commitment to clean technology & generating jobs and investments for decades to come.

https://f.mtr.cool/qkmkhexprh

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 3d

Sanctuary for humpbacks, dugongs and turtles.

Western Australia has created a 3,200 km² protected area along its northwest coast. The move follows years of community opposition to industrial expansion into one of the nation’s richest marine habitats.

https://f.mtr.cool/nbjjjrfatl

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 3d

How do you do, Mountain?

Taranaki Maunga, a mountain on New Zealand’s North Island, was granted legal personhood in January after a unanimous parliamentary vote, following years of advocacy by Māori iwi who regard the volcano as an ancestor.

https://f.mtr.cool/hdxdpguvan

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 3d

Filling little bellies.

National school meal programmes now serve 466 million children worldwide, up 80 million since 2020. Low-income countries expanded access by 60%. The most encouraging statistic of all? 99% of funding is now coming from national budgets.

https://f.mtr.cool/rljeyqmzct

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 4d

Diminishing deaths from disease.

An analysis of WHO data shows that, between 2010 and 2019, the probability of dying from a non-communicable disease before the age of 80 fell in 152 countries for women and in 147 for men.

https://f.mtr.cool/nquxhpvbnn

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Angus Hervey @angushervey.com · 4d

China taking care of birds.

Authorities are launching a three-year nationwide bird protection drive that will intensify crackdowns on poaching and illegal trade, while expanding sanctuaries for species such as the crested ibis and black-faced spoonbill.

https://f.mtr.cool/imtczhrqzy

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