Virginia nonprofit donates hundreds of robotic pets to children from Ukraine

Good News Notes: “Children in Ukraine who had to leave their homes are getting a special surprise from a Northern Virginia nonprofit. They look like stuffed animals, but there’s more to them. “These are quite remarkable. They are lifelike and act like real pets. They’re affordable,” Steve Cone, chief of philanthropy and communications at Virginia-based…

Microscopic ocean predator with a taste for carbon capture

Good News Notes: “Scientists at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have discovered a new species that has the potential to sequester carbon naturally, even as oceans warm and become more acidic. The microbe, abundant around the world, photosynthesises and releases a carbon-rich exopolymer that attracts and immobilizes other microbes. It then eats some of…

Could wind turbines help to enliven our warming waters?

Good News Notes: Offshore wind is set to move further and further from shore, as demand for renewable energy grows and new floating turbine technology makes deep-water expansion possible. However, for the first time, large areas of the UK continental shelf now open for development are “seasonally stratified”. David Attenborough has described these seasonal seas as some of the…

Ukrainian Woman Katya Kurletz Helping Rescue Animals from Bombed Cities

Good News Notes: “The mass exodus from Ukraine has created a crisis with the pets residents had to leave behind, but in the middle of Putin‘s brutal war, some Ukrainians have stepped up to save the animals. Katya Kurletz is on the ground in Ukraine, leading the efforts to track down dogs in destroyed cities and transport…

Coral resiliency offers encouraging signs despite warming oceans

Good News Notes: “Corals, forecast for doom in many future climate scenarios, could be more resilient to rising temperatures and ocean acidification than scientists once thought.  New research, in which scientists spent 22 months studying several types of corals in Hawaii, suggests that several species, absent other stressors, could survive even if the world warms…

Inside the “International Space Station of the sea”

Good News Notes: “Fabien Cousteau has a vision for how humans can live and work in the ocean. He imagines that long-term stays under the waves could be enabled through the construction of underwater habitats, which would look and feel like houses, as opposed to just sealed, submarine-like bubbles.  These habitats would have a galley,…

IKEA Has Perfected Vegan Meatballs. Is Plant-Based Chicken Coming, Too?

Good News Notes: “Swedish furniture giant IKEA recently added plant-based chicken nuggets to its menu in the United States. The new option is part of a kids meal (recommended for children 12 and under) that includes broccoli and is priced at $3.49. While IKEA typically develops its own plant-based meats, these nuggets are made by…

Coors Light Ditching Plastic Rings from Packaging

Good News Notes: “Coors Light is making a big change for the environment. On Tuesday, the beer brand announced it would be eliminating plastic rings from its packaging globally, transitioning to fully recyclable and sustainably sourced cardboard-wrap carriers later this year. It’s not the first time Coors has been on the cutting edge of change….