To close out the week, we’re talking about the gene-editing breakthrough that could change the lives of countless babies with genetic disorders, the grassroots no-catch zones saving Mexico’s fish populations, and the tiny NGO helping trafficking victims reunite with their Chilean birth families.
US doctors rewrite DNA of infant with severe genetic disorder in medical first
Doctors in the US have become the first to treat a baby with a customised gene-editing therapy after diagnosing the child with a severe genetic disorder that kills about half of those affected in early infancy. International researchers have hailed the feat as a medical milestone, saying it has the potential to treat an array of devastating genetic diseases by rewriting faulty DNA soon after affected children are born.
Clean energy puts China’s CO2 emissions in reverse for first time
The fast growth in China’s clean power generation has caused the country’s carbon dioxide emissions to drop. New data suggests that emissions were down 1.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, and by 1% in the past 12 months.
Mexico’s fishing refuges are fighting back against poaching
Tired of government inaction, conservationists and fishing communities are taking it upon themselves to set up and keep an eye on no-catch zones to tackle species depletion due to overfishing.
Landmark driving simulators are improving road safety and helping Springfield immigrants targeted by Trump officials. The Ohio state highway patrol’s crash dashboard shows that crashes in Springfield so far this year are set to fall compared with 2024. In the first four months of 2024, 598 crashes were reported. Over the same period this year, the number fell to 542.
California inmates are training as mental health assistants behind bars
In Los Angeles County jail, roughly 5,901 people – nearly half of its population – struggle with mental health issues. A peer programme of mental health assistants, founded by some of the inmates themselves, offers a lifeline.
Outlook improves for South Africa’s endangered wattled crane
After their population fell to a low of fewer than 200 birds, the species has seen its conservation status improve from “critically endangered” to “endangered”. The result is thanks to decades of hard work from activists – namely, reducing fatalities along power lines and working with farmers and landowners to protect cranes present on their farms.
The free roadside library in Ozar run by a school dropout
Fondly known as Aaji, Bhimabai Jondhale has been running Ajjichya Pustakanch Hotel (Grandmother’s library) since 2010. The free library features a depository of over 5,000 books in three different languages: Marathi, Hindi, and English.
Throughout the rule of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s and 80s, thousands of Chilean infants were illegally kidnapped, trafficked and adopted to overseas families. Today, many are trying to trace their birth families, and hundreds have been reunited thanks to a small Santiago-based NGO, Nos Buscamos.
