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Powered by ButtondownChile has gone 54 years without a rabies case from a dog, and it can now prove it
The Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization have validated Chile as having eliminated dog-transmitted rabies as a public health problem, the first country in South America to be verified. Its last human case from the dog-carried variant of the virus was in 1972.
Bhutan has eliminated dog-transmitted rabies, the first country in its region
The World Health Organization has validated Bhutan as having eliminated dog-mediated human rabies as a public health problem, the first country in its South-East Asia Region to do it, after more than three years without a death.
Timor-Leste has eliminated trachoma, and cleared it from an entire WHO region
The World Health Organization validated Timor-Leste on 3 September 2026 as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. It was the last country in WHO's South-East Asia Region where the disease still counted as one.
The first oral drug approved for dermatomyositis doubled the share of patients whose skin cleared
For decades, people with dermatomyositis have been treated with steroids and with drugs borrowed from other diseases. On 27 August the US Food and Drug Administration approved a once daily tablet aimed at this one. Among trial participants whose skin was worst affected, 45.7 percent reached clear or almost clear skin after a year, against 21.8 percent on placebo.
A daily statin cut heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent in healthy over-70s
For decades, the trials behind cholesterol-lowering pills left out the people most likely to have a heart attack. A study of 9,971 Australians aged 70 and over has now asked the question directly, and found that heart attacks, strokes and cardiac deaths fell to 6.0 percent from 8.3 percent over almost six years.
A drug aimed at RAS has nearly doubled survival in advanced pancreatic cancer
The FDA has approved daraxonrasib, the first medicine targeting the RAS family of proteins to reach pancreatic cancer. In a 500-patient trial, median survival was 13.2 months against 6.7 on chemotherapy.
Babies in intensive care with RSV halved in England in the first full winter of vaccinating in pregnancy, 63 against 132 the year before
Across the 20 English hospital trusts that count them, 63 babies under six months needed intensive care for RSV last winter, against 132 the winter before. It was the first full season after the NHS began offering the vaccine to pregnant women, and about six in ten took it.
A nearly complete skull from north east China has been identified as a Denisovan, giving a face to a group known since 2010 only from fragments
For fifteen years the Denisovans were known from teeth, jaw pieces and fragments of bone, and nobody could say what one looked like. Ancient proteins and DNA have now identified a nearly complete skull from north east China, at least 146,000 years old, as one of them.
A treaty to protect the high seas is in force, and the number of parties has risen from 60 to 93
The agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction, known as the BBNJ Agreement, is the first legally binding instrument for conserving marine life in the two thirds of the ocean that lies beyond any country's control. It entered into force on 17 January 2026, and the United Nations register now lists 93 parties, up from the 60 ratifications that triggered it.
Rubin Observatory filed 20,000 candidate asteroid discoveries in a single night
On the night of 5 February 2026 the Vera C. Rubin Observatory filed about 20,000 candidate asteroid discoveries at once, drawn from roughly 246,000 observations. Its entire previous haul, across 1.6 years of test observing, was 12,700.
Battery storage passed 100 gigawatts in a single year for the first time
The world added 108 gigawatts of battery storage in 2025, 40 percent more than in 2024, leaving its fleet eleven times the size it was in 2021. Batteries are now the fastest growing power technology there is.
US overdose deaths fell for a third straight year, to 69,973 in 2025
The CDC's first count for 2025, still incomplete, puts drug overdose deaths in the United States at 69,973, down almost 14 percent from 81,313 the year before and roughly 40,000 below the pandemic peak.
The number of people with no toilet at all has fallen by 429 million since 2015
WHO and UNICEF's official count puts open defecation at 354 million people, a fall of 429 million since 2015, and 91 countries have now ended the practice in their rural areas.
Bangladesh has cut maternal deaths by 79 percent and met a global target early
The World Health Organization recognised Bangladesh on 8 September 2026 for reaching the Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality target ahead of the 2030 deadline. Its maternal mortality ratio fell from 523 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 115 in 2023.
EU deaths from fine particle pollution fell 57 percent, clearing a 2030 target seven years early
The European Union set out to cut premature deaths from air pollution by 55 percent by 2030, measured against 2005. Its environment agency counted a 57 percent fall for fine particles by 2023.
The black-faced spoonbill is no longer endangered, thirty years after 400 birds were left
A three day winter census across East Asia counted 7,081 black-faced spoonbills in January 2025, up from about 400 birds in 1995. The IUCN has moved the species from Endangered to Vulnerable.
A bacterium carried by mosquitoes has cut dengue in one Brazilian city by 88.8 percent
Seven years after Niteroi released mosquitoes carrying a dengue-blocking bacterium, reported cases are 88.8 percent below the city's own decade-long baseline, and the bacterium is still there.
India counted 891 Asiatic lions, up from 327 in 2001
Gujarat's four-day survey in May 2025 counted 891 Asiatic lions, up from 674 in 2020 and 327 in 2001, and the animals are spreading well beyond Gir National Park.
The first mRNA flu vaccine is licensed, after a quarter fewer illnesses than the standard shot
US regulators have licensed MFLUSIVA, the first influenza vaccine of any kind made from messenger RNA. In a trial of 40,703 adults aged 50 and over, confirmed flu illness was 26.6 percent lower than with a licensed standard-dose shot.
The first narcolepsy medicine that treats the cause, not the symptoms
US regulators have approved oveporexton for narcolepsy type 1, the first medicine to restore the brain signal whose loss causes the disease rather than managing one symptom at a time.
Nepal counted 429 wild tigers, up from 355 four years ago
Nepal's latest national tiger survey put 3,696 cameras across five national parks and identified 373 individual tigers by their stripes. The population estimate that follows is 429, up from 355 in 2022 and from 121 at the first count. One park, Bardiya, went the other way.
The road death rate fell 21 percent as a billion vehicles joined the world's traffic
New WHO data covering 2011 to 2025 shows the global rate of road traffic deaths fell 21 percent, even as more than a billion motor vehicles joined the world's roads. Crashes still killed 1.16 million people in 2025.
8.6 million Brazilians crossed above the poverty line in a year
Brazil's poverty rate fell from 27.3 percent to 23.1 percent in a single year, the lowest since the count began in 2012. Government payments did much of the work. That is what makes the gain both repeatable and reversible.
India's power fleet is now 54 percent non-fossil, five years ahead of its Paris pledge
India promised the world that about half its power-generating fleet would be non-fossil by 2030. It passed that mark in June 2025 and now stands at 54.18 percent. Where the electricity actually comes from is a slower story.
Child labour fell by 22 million children, reversing a four-year rise
The ILO and UNICEF count 138 million children in child labour in 2024, down from 160 million in 2020. The increase recorded between 2016 and 2020 has been reversed, and the total is a little over half what it was in 2000.
A new class of antibiotic clears gonorrhoea as well as the standard injection
Two doses of a tablet cleared gonorrhoea from 92.6 percent of patients in a 628-person trial, against 91.2 percent for the standard injection and tablet. US regulators approved it in December 2025.
AI-supported breast screening found 29 percent more cancers
In the first randomised trial of artificial intelligence inside a national screening programme, 105,934 Swedish women were assigned either to AI-supported reading or to the standard two radiologists. The AI-supported group turned up 6.4 cancers for every 1,000 women screened, against 5.0, and needed 44 percent less reading to do it.
Salmon spawned above the removed Klamath dams in numbers
One year after the last of four dams came out of the Klamath River, 11,722 adult Chinook spawned above the old Iron Gate site, against 1,494 the season before. The run has climbed back above the population line federal managers watch.
Global hunger has fallen for a third year running
Five United Nations agencies estimate that 645 million people went hungry in 2025, 14 million fewer than in 2024 and 43 million fewer than at the 2022 peak. In Africa, a rise that had run since 2017 has paused.
The first oral PCSK9 cholesterol drug wins FDA approval
A once-daily tablet has become the first swallowable version of one of the most effective cholesterol drugs, lowering LDL cholesterol by about 56 percent in the trials that won it approval.
Solar supplied a quarter of the EU's electricity in June
For the first time in a single month, solar generated 25 percent of the European Union's electricity, more than any other source.
A bendable solar cell has reached 33.6 percent efficiency, closing in on rigid panels
A flexible perovskite-on-silicon cell hit 33.6 percent certified efficiency in the lab, far above the 20 to 25 percent of today's rigid rooftop panels.
China's CO2 emissions dipped in 2025 as clean power kept expanding
China's carbon emissions dipped about 0.3% in 2025, extending a 21-month run of flat or falling emissions that, for the first time on record, is not tied to an economic slowdown.
Chile becomes the second country ever to eliminate leprosy
The WHO verified Chile's elimination of leprosy in March 2026, only the second country worldwide and the first in the Americas.
Brazilian Amazon deforestation fell to an 11-year low
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped 11% in the year to July 2025, the lowest annual clearance since 2014.
The first gene therapy for genetic deafness wins FDA approval
Otarmeni became the first FDA-approved gene therapy for hearing loss from OTOF mutations, with 16 of 20 evaluable trial patients gaining meaningful hearing.
A new kind of ADHD medicine is approved in the US, the first to act on three brain chemicals at once
US regulators have approved centanafadine, the first ADHD drug of its class. In four trials it beat a placebo on symptom scores at six weeks, and its label is candid about the risks that come with it.
Croatia declared mine-free, 31 years after its war
Croatia cleared the last of its landmines in March 2026, destroying nearly 107,000 mines across three decades.
Coal fell below half of China's electricity for the first time
Coal supplied 49.7 percent of China's electricity from January to June 2026, the first half year below half in the world's largest power system, with renewables at about 40 percent.
CRISPR delivered a functional cure for severe sickle cell in 27 of 28 patients
In a peer-reviewed trial, 27 of 28 people with severe sickle cell disease had no pain crises after a single gene-editing treatment.
A drug pair beats chemotherapy before bladder cancer surgery
In a trial of 808 people, 79.4 percent of those given two newer drugs before and after bladder surgery were alive with no return of their cancer two years later, against 66.2 percent on the standard chemotherapy.
Electric cars reached one in four new cars sold worldwide
Global electric car sales rose about 20% to more than 20 million in 2025, roughly a quarter of all new cars sold.
England recorded zero cervical cancer deaths in young HPV-vaccinated women
A Lancet analysis found no cervical cancer deaths among women aged 20 to 24 in England, among the generations offered the HPV vaccine at age 12 to 13.
The Iberian lynx reached a record 2,663, nearly doubling in four years
The wild Iberian lynx population hit 2,663 in the 2025 census, up about 95% since 2021, for a cat that was nearly extinct two decades ago.
A retinal implant restored reading vision in people blinded by dry AMD
In a pivotal trial, 26 of 32 patients with a central blind spot from geographic atrophy could read letters again a year after receiving a subretinal chip.
Suriname becomes the first Amazonian country certified malaria-free
A country that once had the highest malaria burden in the Americas has driven local transmission to zero.
El Salvador has eliminated trachoma, the leading infectious cause of blindness
The World Health Organization has validated El Salvador as free of trachoma as a public health problem, the first country in Central America to stop the world's leading infectious cause of blindness.
Quantum computers got much better at catching their own mistakes
A peer-reviewed result cut quantum computing errors by between 11 and 800 times using error-corrected logical qubits.
Australia's numbat has climbed off the endangered list
The IUCN has moved the numbat from Endangered to Near Threatened after four decades of recovery, one of conservation's rare genuine downlistings.
The ozone layer keeps healing, and 2025's hole was among the smallest in decades
The 2025 Antarctic ozone hole was the fifth smallest since 1992, confirming a recovery driven by a 1987 agreement.
A twice-a-year injection to prevent HIV wins WHO backing
Lenacapavir prevented HIV with near-total efficacy in trials, and in 2025 both the FDA and the WHO backed it for prevention.
Black rhinos are climbing, and poaching hit a 14-year low
Africa's black rhinos grew 5.2% in a year and continental poaching fell to its lowest rate since 2011.
A million medical drone deliveries later, Rwanda rewrote the last mile
The hard part of healthcare is often not the medicine but getting it there in time. Rwanda solved that with autonomous aircraft.
A fusion lab set a record, and quietly made ignition routine
The bigger news is not the record number. It is that a result once called impossible now happens again and again.
For the first time in a century, renewables out-generated coal
In 2025 the world crossed a line that had held since the age of steam: cleaner sources produced more of our electricity than coal did.
The malaria vaccine is working, and it is saving children's lives
Four years into the first real world rollout, the evidence is in, and it is measured in children who are still alive.
The green sea turtle is no longer endangered
After decades of protection, one of the ocean's most familiar animals has recovered enough to move two full steps back from the brink.
