AIDS deaths reach their lowest level since 1993 https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/fact-sheet

A vaccine against Malaria has reached the final stage of human trials https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-malaria-jab-b175068.html

Denmark has announced that it will cancel all future permits for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea https://www.positive.news/society/positive-news-stories-from-week-50-of-2020/

Satellite data shows that the UK’s woodlands have been restored to cover as much of the country as they did during the Middle Ages https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/woodland-back-to-medieval-levels-j097fqtkw

Once hunted to the brink of extinction, the Bowhead Whale’s population has returned to almost pre-commercial whaling numbers https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/12/bowhead-whale-arctic-recovery-scientists

Global carbon emissions are down by 7% in 2020, the largest drop ever recorded https://www.dw.com/en/global-carbon-emissions-down-by-record-7-in-2020/a-55900887

The Newark police force did not fire a single shot in 2020 after successful de-escalation training

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/no-police-shots-fired-2020-newark/

In 2020, Norway became the first country to sell more electric than petrol or diesel cars

https://www.positive.news/society/positive-news-stories-from-week-1-of-2021/

50 countries just joined new coalition to protect 30% of the planet’s land and oceans by decade’s end

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/50-countries-just-joined-new-coalition-to-protect-30-of-the-planets-land-and-oceans-by-decades-end/

UK debuts geothermal power plant that supplies electricity to 10,000 homes

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/cornwall-site-of-the-uks-first-geothermal-power-plant/

Pollution laws may have saved 1.5 billion birds over the last forty years in the US alone

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/air-pollution-laws-saved-billion-birds-says-cornell/

Adidas to launch shoes made from sustainable mushroom leather

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mushrooms-new-adidas-plant-based-shoes-mushrooms-2021/

Implants allow a quadriplegic man to control prosthetic arms with his brain

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-brain-implants-enable-simultaneously-prosthetic.html

And on a personal note, the first whispers of sensation have started to return to the part of my leg that was replaced by a tissue graft, showing that the nerve transplant is growing in ahead of schedule.

Man regains sight after receiving world’s first artificial cornea: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/man-receives-first-ever-artificial-cornea-knet-from-corneat/

New lab-grown wood could help cut down on deforestation: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mit-is-growing-wood-in-labs-for-furniture/

 $14 Billion raised to continue planting trees across Africa to keep the Sahara Desert from expanding and destroying villages and habitat: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/14-billion-raised-for-great-green-wall-to-continue-planting-trees-across-africa-to-keep-sahara-desert-at-bay/

 NASA estimates there are 300 million habitable planets in the Milky Way: https://au.news.yahoo.com/300-million-habitable-planets-163743646.html

Kenyan woman finds a way to recycle plastic into bricks that are stronger than concrete: https://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-woman-finds-way-recycle-053411779.html

There were just 24 cases of Guinea Worm Disease in 2020, down from 52 in 2019 and 3.5 million in 1986: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/338699/WER9601-02-eng-fre.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Scottish scientists develop a laser system that removes cancer cells without damaging healthy tissue: https://www.irishnews.com/magazine/science/2021/01/25/news/scientists-developing-laser-system-to-remove-cancer-more-precisely-2197131/

Yale scientists repair injured spinal cords using patients’ own stem cells: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210222124524.htm

In world first, scientists manage to breed endangered Harlequin toads: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/harlequin-toad-has-captive-breeding-center-in-manchester-museum/

First school ever built with 3D printing set to be made in Madagascar, to cost half as much as traditional construction: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/worlds-first-3d-printed-school-to-be-built-in-madagascar/

69 dams were removed in the US last year, reconnecting over 1000km of waterways and revitalizing ecosystems and local economies: https://www.americanrivers.org/2021/02/69-dams-removed-in-2020/

El Salvador becomes the first Central American country to eliminate Malaria: https://globalfund.exposure.co/el-salvador-triumphs-over-malaria#ZeroMalaria

Infant mortality in the Philippines has fallen by almost 80% since the 1950s: https://www.borgenmagazine.com/philippines-birth-practices/