Photo: Mateusz Suski/Unsplash (CC0)
In today’s edition: Croatia is free of landmines after 31 years of demining efforts, Denmark becomes the first EU country to end mother-to-child HIV transmission, and a former inmate purchases an old jail with the intention of redeveloping it into housing and a job training centre for fellow ex-prisoners.
During the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, roughly 1.5 million landmines were estimated to have been used by all sides of the conflict, with some 5,000 square miles believed to be contaminated by mines. Now, after three decades, the Southeastern European country has destroyed all known minefields using a mix of metal detectors, heavy machinery, and detection dogs.
Source: Good News Network
The WHO’s announcement confirms that Denmark met all required targets from 2021 to 2024, including low transmission rates and high coverage of prenatal testing and treatment for pregnant women. Denmark now joins 22 other countries validated by WHO for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis or hepatitis B.
Source: WHO
In a major clinical trial, over 80% of participants blinded by advanced age-related macular degeneration were able to regain some central vision with a tiny retinal implant. The 2x2mm wireless device replaced damaged light-sensing cells in the retina, converting light into electrical signals and repairing communication between the eye and the brain.
Source: Science Daily
Similar vaccination programmes have seen high success rates across the globe, with more than 86 million girls in high-risk countries receiving the shot since 2023. The vaccination will be free of charge, and aims to reduce deaths from cervical cancer, which claim over 42,000 lives in the country every year.
Source: Times Of India
An immunotherapy drug called VIR-5500 has shown promise in an early stage trial, shrinking tumours in some patients with advanced prostate cancer. VIR-5500 only becomes activated within the tumour, minimising the side-effects caused by other T-cell engagers, which have been found to trigger severe inflammatory responses.
Source: The Guardian
A phase II clinical trial has found dimethyltryptamine, one of the psychoactive components traditionally used in the Amazonian psychedelic ritual ayahuasca, might be a promising therapy for depression. In the trial, participants who received DMT saw a greater reduction in depressive symptoms than those who received a placebo.
Source: The Guardian
A new study conducted by Queensland-based psychologist Danielle Kennedy suggests that intergenerational friendships can help to reduce age-based discrimination in both directions, while also offering other benefits such as reduced loneliness and social isolation.
Source: ABC
Omar Yaghi’s environmentally friendly invention provides clean water if central supplies are knocked out by a hurricane, and could be used on vulnerable islands. The device uses reticular chemistry to create molecularly engineered materials, which can extract moisture from the air and harvest water in arid and desert conditions.
Source: The Guardian
Kerwin Pittman has become the first former inmate to purchase a prison in US history. After his release, Pittman turned to social justice advocacy work, founding a nonprofit which will develop the Recidivism Reduction Campus: a housing and job training facility for formerly incarcerated people on the grounds of the former Wayne County Correctional Center.
Source: Good Good Good
In preparation for the reintroduction of tigers – who disappeared from the region over 70 years ago – the country has planted a total of approximately 1.4 billion trees since 2021. Officials say they are on track to reach 2 billion trees by 2027, with the newly planted trees serving as a foundation for recovering ecosystems that sit alongside already-forested lands.
Source: Live Science
