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01 / 05
1,000 Bits of Good News You May Have Missed in 2023

Blog Post | Human Development

1,000 Bits of Good News You May Have Missed in 2023

A necessary balance to the torrent of negativity.

Malcolm Cochran —

Reading the news can leave you depressed and misinformed. It’s partisan, shallow, and, above all, hopelessly negative. As Steven Pinker from Harvard University quipped, “The news is a nonrandom sample of the worst events happening on the planet on a given day.”

So, why does Human Progress feature so many news items? And why did I compile them in this giant list? Here are a few reasons:

  • Negative headlines get more clicks. Promoting positive stories provides a necessary balance to the torrent of negativity.
  • Statistics are vital to a proper understanding of the world, but many find anecdotes more compelling.
  • Many people acknowledge humanity’s progress compared to the past but remain unreasonably pessimistic about the present—not to mention the future. Positive news can help improve their state of mind.
  • We have agency to make the world better. It is appropriate to recognize and be grateful for those who do.

Below is a nonrandom sample (n = ~1000) of positive news we collected this year, separated by topic area. Please scroll, skim, and click. Or—to be even more enlightened—read this blog post and then look through our collection of long-term trends and datasets.

Agriculture

Aquaculture

Farming robots and drones

Food abundance

Genetic modification

Indoor farming

Lab-grown produce

Pollination

Other innovations

Conservation and Biodiversity

Big cats

Birds

Turtles

Whales

Other comebacks

Forests

Reefs

Rivers and lakes

Surveillance and discovery

Rewilding and conservation

De-extinction

Culture and tolerance

Gender equality

General wellbeing

LGBT

Treatment of animals

Energy and natural Resources

Fission

Fusion

Fossil fuels

Other energy

Recycling and resource efficiency

Resource abundance

Environment and pollution

Climate change

Disaster resilience

Air pollution

Water pollution

Growth and development

Education

Economic growth

Housing and urbanization

Labor and employment

Health

Cancer

Disability and assistive technology

Dementia and Alzheimer’s

Diabetes

Heart disease and stroke

Other non-communicable diseases

HIV/AIDS

Malaria

Other communicable diseases

Maternal care

Fertility and birth control

Mental health and addiction

Weight and nutrition

Longevity and mortality 

Surgery and emergency medicine

Measurement and imaging

Health systems

Other innovations

Freedom

    Technology 

    Artificial intelligence

    Communications

    Computing

    Construction and manufacturing

    Drones

    Robotics and automation

    Autonomous vehicles

    Transportation

    Other innovations

    Science

    AI in science

    Biology

    Chemistry and materials

      Physics

      Space

      Violence

      Crime

      War

      The Guardian | Forests

      Brazil’s Atlantic Forest Records Lowest Deforestation in 40 Years

      “Brazil’s Atlantic forest, the country’s most threatened biome, last year recorded its lowest level of deforestation since monitoring began 40 years ago, a new report shows.

      The forest is Brazil’s most populous biome, and home to 80% of the population and major cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In 2025 it recorded 8,658 hectares of deforestation, marking the first time it has fallen below 10,000 hectares since 1985.”

      From The Guardian.

      Mongabay | Forests

      Listening to Forests Reveals Signs of Recovery Beyond Tree Cover

      “While satellite data have shown an increase in forest cover, it’s been more challenging to assess whether the recovered forests have life thriving within them. More often than not, forest cover regeneration is considered the key metric of success in PES programs. Biodiversity assessments, however, are more difficult and expensive to implement over large areas…

      Enter bioacoustics. For years, scientists have used this noninvasive technology — essentially placing microphones throughout the forest to record animal sounds — to conduct large-scale biodiversity assessments over wide swaths of forests. It’s also used to understand the behavior and communication patterns of animals…

      Delgado and his team captured close to 16,658 hours of audio data from 119 sites across the Nicoya Peninsula in northwestern Costa Rica. They placed their audio recorders in protected areas, forests recovering under the PES program, monoculture plantations, and pastures, and retrieved them a week later. The sites that were sampled include 50 forests that were allowed to regrow naturally without any human intervention. These forests have been recovering after being abandoned for cattle ranching and farming for anywhere between 25 and 42 years.

      After analyzing the data, they found that the sound profile of naturally regenerated forests under the PES program was very similar to that of protected forests. These patches were found to be ‘1.4 times more acoustically similar’ to protected forests than they were to pastures. ‘Healthy forests have strong peaks of acoustic activity right when the sun is coming up and going down,’ Delgado said. ‘Whereas in pastures, these are much less pronounced and the biggest peak is in the middle of the day when humans are active there.’

      Biodiversity in monoculture timber plantations was also found to be recovering, but not as strongly as in naturally regenerated forests.”

      From Mongabay.

      British Ecological Society | Forests

      Trees Resist Drought in Amazon with Shallow Water Tables

      “The intensity and frequency of severe droughts in the Amazon region have increased in the recent decades. These extreme events are associated with changes in forest dynamics, biomass and floristic composition. However, most studies of drought response have focused on upland forests with deep water tables, which may be especially sensitive to drought. Palms, which tend to dominate the less well-drained soils, have also been neglected…

      Our results indicate that forests growing over shallow water tables—relatively under-studied vegetation that nonetheless occupies one-third of Amazon forests—are remarkably resistant to drought. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that local hydrology and its interactions with climate strongly constrain forest drought effects, and has implications for climate change feedbacks.”

      From British Ecological Society.

      The Brussels Times | Forests

      Forest Growth Surpasses Harvesting Levels in Most of EU

      “Forest growth exceeded harvesting levels in 23 EU countries with available data in 2023.

      A simple way to gauge whether wood production is sustainable is to compare the amount of wood harvested or otherwise removed in a year with the forest’s natural growth, known as the net annual increment, Eurostat reported on Friday.

      In 2023, the largest surplus of growth over removals was recorded in Romania at 39.9 million cubic metres, followed by Sweden at 26.4 million and Poland at 26.3 million.

      Estonia was the only country where removals were higher than growth, with 11.6 million cubic metres removed compared with a net annual increment of 9.1 million.”

      From The Brussels Times.