With all of the negative headlines that plague social media and mainstream news, we sometimes forget that there is a lot of good news buried behind all of those headlines. This includes developments in science, medicine, astronomy, and progress in combating environmental and social problems.
One major local story has to do with lowering crime rates across New York. As we enter 2024, statistics about 2023 have been published. This includes crime trends from across New York. For example, according to data collected from police departments across New York and announced by Governor Hochul, murder alone is down 27 percent from last year, which marks a strong comeback from the rising crime rates that plagued the state during the early pandemic.
“I think that this is very good news. Decreased crime rates is something that everybody can rejoice over,” said junior Madis Joks.
According to an article in the Scientific American, recent deep-learning AI algorithms have been used to discover certain chemical compounds that effectively combat antibiotic resistant viruses in mice. No new major antibiotic classes have been developed for decades, but the amount of people who pass away from antibiotic resistant viruses has increased dramatically. This discovery of these new antibiotic classes can prove very useful in halting antibiotic resistant viruses. The technology itself, deep-learning AI that specializes in medicine, which discovered the compounds used, also creates a path for a very hopeful future for medical discovery and advancements.
In other news, following India’s recent advancement to become the fourth country to go to the moon, Japan plans on a future mission to become the fifth. JAXA, or the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has made major feats in the past few decades, including a sample-return mission from the Ryugu Asteroid in 2018, which had never been done before. Now, the Japanese Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) has entered the Lunar Surface and plans on a landing on Jan. 19. The specific goal in the mission is to land on a select point with an accuracy of around 300 ft, which would be a monumental accomplishment in space discovery.
Many other feats have been made as well, as the United States recorded a stark decrease in carbon and greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. Although the greenhouse gas emissions decreased by two percent, this can be juxtaposed with a previous increase by seven percent in greenhouse gas emissions recorded in 2021, and a one percent increase in 2022. This marks a strong development in the United States and demonstrates American commitment to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity have decreased just over two percent since 1990, which is down from an increase of over 15 percent that was recorded in 2007.
In addition to this news regarding decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, there have been many new recent developments regarding re-discovery of what many people believed to be extinct species. One species, the leopard fish, native to Türkiye, has been re-discovered in the country’s rivers and was officially last documented in 2011. The fish was once abundant in rivers across the Middle East, especially in the countries of Türkiye, Iraq, and Syria, but the great amount of fishing, pollution, and habitat destruction that went on in the region led to what many people believed to be the extinction of the species.
“We dropped everything and would have gone to the ends of the Earth to see this fish, this legend, alive in the wild,” said assistant professor Münevver Oral, who works at a university in Türkiye and was involved in the finding of the fish.
Tigers have also been subject to habitat destruction, hunting, and migration that has led to many different species of tiger becoming very rare across South Asia, specifically in the country of Thailand where the animal was once extremely prominent. However, according to a recent report as well as recent photos arriving from Thailand, the native tiger species are making a great comeback to the region. From a survey in 2007, less than 50 tigers were reported to be in Thailand, but now there may be nearly 200 tigers scattered across the country. This follows a recent story that became very popular across Thailand’s social media where a resident took a photo of a mother tiger and her cubs in the wild. This is a rare achievement by a resident because usually only researchers who go out of their way to find the animal can manage to take photos. Overall, the fact that residents are beginning to see tigers in the wild again, and because the tiger population is steadily increasing, it gives hope to many environmental scientists and workers across Thailand about the reintroduction and success of the species.
“All of the great progress being made in society is something to look forward to,” said junior Harrison Chin.