Good News Notes: “As the global population continues to increase, vertical farming is becoming a more widely recognized and viable solution to our food production problem. Vertical farming is a type of indoor farming where crops are grown in stacked layers, rather than spread out across large plots of land. These futuristic farms aren’t just going to have an…
Tag: Earth
China lands on Mars in major advance for its space ambitions
Good News Notes: “China landed a spacecraft on Mars for the first time on Saturday, a technically challenging feat more difficult than a moon landing, in the latest step forward for its ambitious goals in space. Plans call for a rover to stay in the lander for a few days of diagnostic tests before rolling…
NASA’s asteroid-sampling mission will bid farewell to asteroid Bennu today
Good News Notes: “After more than two years circling a lumpy space rock called Bennu, it’s finally time for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft to head back to Earth with a full load precious cargo: pieces of an asteroid. OSIRIS-REx (known formally as Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) collected asteroid samples from Bennu in October. Now…
Drone Reforestation: Rebuilding Forests with Scalable Technology
Good News Notes: “Reforestation efforts have traditionally required armies of volunteers and workers to plant trees in areas that have been affected by deforestation and forest degradation. This is a time-consuming and difficult labor and means that costs vary heavily depending on site accessibility and local infrastructure. There are other established rapid reforestation methods –…
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches New Shepard rocket NS-15 test flight
Good News Notes: “Jeff Bezos’ private space company Blue Origin launched and landed the fifteenth test flight of its New Shepard rocket booster and capsule on Wednesday. The mission did not have passengers on board, although the capsule on top of the rocket is designed to carry as many as six people for future flights. Known…
We found methane-eating bacteria living in a common Australian tree. It could be a game changer for curbing greenhouse gases
Good News Notes: “Trees are the Earth’s lungs – it’s well understood they drawdown and lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But emerging research is showing trees can also emit methane, and it’s currently unknown just how much. This could be a major problem, given methane is a greenhouse gas about…
Norwegian Becomes First Major Cruise Line to Eliminate Plastic Bottles
Good News Notes: “Norwegian Cruise Line is now single-use plastic beverage bottle free across its fleet, according to a press release. The company said it was the first major global cruise operator to do this. The brand announced last year that it partnered with JUST Goods, which enabled the cruise line to replace all single-use…
SpaceX will take 3 space tourists in a historic mission to the ISS
Good News Notes: “SpaceX is set to send three private citizens on a flight to the International Space Station. The mission, announced last week, will be hosted by Axiom Space, which has an ultimate end goal of building the world’s first commercial space station. The first mission will send three people to the station in the…
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos pledges $10 billion to save Earth’s environment
Good News Notes: “Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner, announced on Monday that he was donating $10bn to save the Earth’s environment – barely a month after it was revealed Amazon threatened to fire employees who spoke out about the company’s role in the climate crisis. The new Bezos Earth Fund will start…
Climate change and deforestation: These 3 supertrees can protect us from climate collapse
Good News Notes: “The Brazil nut tree makes, well, tasty nuts. But its real superpower is channeling an extraordinary amount of water from the soil to the sky, making the rainforest rain.” “Our current climate crisis is a result of humans putting too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Luckily, trees (and other natural systems)…