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• You can officially delete that Amazon app (if you haven’t already) — there’s an alternative that lets you shop exclusively from thousands of Black-owned businesses.
• Via a ban on drag shows being held at its special event venues, Texas A&M tried to stop the college’s “Draggieland” performance set for Thursday — but a federal judge said the show must go on.​

Science & medicine

In a world-first medical success, a man lived for 100 days with an artificial titanium heart

An Australian man made history as the first person in the world to receive a total artificial heart transplant and lived with the device for more than 100 days before receiving a donor heart transplant earlier this month.

It’s a significant milestone for heart failure treatment and the longest-recorded survival with the artificial heart technology.

The device is made from titanium and is designed to replace both ventricles of a failing heart, pumping blood to both the body and lungs.

Why is this good news? More than 23 million people suffer from heart failure annually, and only about 6,000 receive a donor heart. This medical breakthrough could help give more people in need time to wait for a donor heart transplant, too — becoming a long-term solution in itself.

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More Good News

​More U.S. states are requiring paid medical leave, which has been shown to reduce stress and improve productivity. There is no federal law requiring paid leave in the U.S., only unpaid time off — and it doesn’t apply to everyone, like employees of small businesses — which makes the U.S. a “major outlier” amidst 95% of countries providing some form of paid leave for personal health.

​In a “historic milestone for rewilding,” Chile and Argentina collaborated to save a giant flightless bird from extinction. The three-foot-tall Darwin’s rhea is locally endangered in Chile, and in turn, the country’s grasslands deteriorated, as the birds play a crucial role in dispersing seeds and renewing vegetation.

​The largest supermarket in the U.K. is trialing giving away expiring food to shoppers at the end of the day. In an effort to further reduce food waste, applicable items would be offered to customers after first offering it to charities, food banks, and shop workers — and those donations could even help them make more money.

​Filling in for workers who joined the war effort, women in Ukraine are working as coal miners to keep the country’s power on. While the country is still ramping up its renewable energy transition, coal is needed to meet existing demands for energy — and Ukrainian women are taking on the task, which was once considered only suitable for men.

Homelessness

A Goodwill van pulled up to a homeless man and offered a meal and $50 for four hours of work — and it completely changed his life

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People doing good

A Colombian marine biologist has spent his life protecting endangered pink river dolphins and their ecosystems

Colombian marine biologist Fernando Trujillo co-founded the Fundación Omacha to conserve freshwater dolphins, manatees, and other aquatic animals and ecosystems.

River dolphins are some of the most endangered cetaceans in the world — and by monitoring their health, Trujillo and his team also get insight into the health of the ecosystem around them.

Trujillo and his team test for elements like mercury, which is naturally occurring in the Earth’s crust, but becomes highly toxic when released into the air or water through things like deforestation, wildfires, and mining. Their work not only protects the endangered animals, but the rivers they live in and humans who rely on the rivers, too.

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More Good bits

🐟 Everybody stay calm: It’s officially fish doorbell season.​

🌳 Send a virtual hug to the Tree of the Year!​

🥈 Lindsay Vonn made history with this comeback.

☀️ Even the fossil fuel industry knows renewables are the future.

🏀 You’re gonna want to know these names — and how to pronounce them properly. (Instagram)

What’s good?

I was honestly shocked to learn that supermarkets that donate expiring food (rather than discount or toss it) actually make higher profits! And it feeds people in need? Win-win.

Which good news story did you like best today?

— Megan