Today’s Top Good News Story

Thanks to successful rewilding efforts, Brazil’s most trafficked, endangered bird is making a comeback

The great-billed seed finch is thought to be the most trafficked endangered bird species in Brazil. It has long been coveted in the caged-bird trade, which has led to the local extinction of the species.

Experts estimate fewer than 2,500 mature individuals still exist in total — and no more than 250 in any given population.

Thanks to the help of a thriving community of legal breeders, conservationists are working to bring them back through research and environmental education — and ultimately, to bring the species back to the wild.

Why is this good news? Especially given a thriving market for captive breeders, there’s simply no reason for there to be an illegal trafficking market for these endangered birds. The collaborative effort of conservationists and breeders is great news to celebrate — especially because we know conservation efforts work.

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artificial intelligence

​AI is helping revolutionize closed captioning for people with disabilities. Declining error rates in transcribed captions are helping make videos accessible to the estimated 15.5% of U.S. adults with difficulty hearing.

​An entrepreneur is using AI to detect motor vehicles that may hit bicyclists. The device utilizes a camera and AI algorithms to spot and gauge the speed and location of approaching vehicles, as well as the type of vehicle and its projected trajectory.

​An innovative double-detection approach is using AI to both diagnose and treat tuberculosis. The method also ensures patients battling the disease receive high-quality care without suffering catastrophic costs.

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More Good News

​Soccer clubs in Spain are helping migrants flourish and find community in their new homes. In 2023, nearly 57,000 migrants arrived in Spain, and there were more than 160,000 first-time applications for asylum, including 2,505 minors.

​Chinese battery giant says it’s successfully flown a 4-ton plane using ultra-high density “condensed batteries.” CATL says it now expects to have an 8-ton electric aircraft with a range of 2,000 to 3,000 km (1,240-1,865 miles) operating in 3-4 years.

​Cutting the energy needed to make it by 600%, researchers made a breakthrough in using waste and sunlight to produce clean hydrogen. Hydrogen is considered by many experts to be a clean-burning fuel, producing mostly water vapor as a byproduct.

Looking for the Helpers

Taking them from reactive to proactive, an activist mom helped change child abuse laws in the U.S.

Erin Merryn is a mother and social worker who also endured abuse as a child. As an adult, her advocacy efforts have resulted in 38 states passing legislation named Erin’s Law that aims to prevent child abuse through education of children in schools.

Prior to Erin’s Law, much of the legislative response was limited to mandatory reporting of child abuse after it had occurred, which did little to prevent or detect abuse.

But Erin’s Law aimed to prevent abuse before it starts through education, which is a proactive approach, rather than a reactive approach that focuses on abuse that has likely already happened.

Thanks to Merryn’s tireless efforts to visit, interact with, and speak to lawmakers — she was able to present a protective, preventive, and empowering approach to protect children, rather than a reactive one.

And it’s helped protect countless children since.

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More Good bits

🏠 Outsmarting Airbnb, from small towns to NYC.​

💩 Detroit is using the power of poop to save lives.

😎 Germany’s problem is… it has too many solar panels.​

🦪 We know what we were definitely not doing in ninth grade.​

😊 The cast of Inside Out decodes what your emotions are doing.​

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— Megan & Branden