China Launches Astronauts to Space Station

Good News Notes: “There will soon be two places in orbit where astronauts live. On a clear, sunny Thursday morning in the Gobi Desert, China launched three astronauts to rendezvous with the country’s nascent space station. They waved to cameras in their capsule as their trip to space began. Twenty-one minutes into the mission, the…

Nuclear bomb detectors uncover secret population of blue whales hiding in Indian Ocean

Good News Notes: “Scientists have discovered an entirely new population of pygmy blue whales in the Indian Ocean, which have managed to evade detection for decades despite their enormous size. Researchers uncovered the secretive cetaceans by analyzing acoustic data collected by an underwater nuclear bomb detection array, which revealed a unique song scientists had never heard before….

Extinct Fish Species That Predates Dinosaurs Found in Indian Ocean

Good News Notes: “A rare fish species believed to have gone extinct with dinosaurs millions of years ago has recently been rediscovered alive in the Indian Ocean. According to a report from Mongabay, a US-based non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform, a group of South African shark hunters recently found the rare coelacanth species (Latimeria chalumnae)…

Fix You: Coldplay Sponsors Watercraft To Clean Up Malaysia’s Rivers

Good News Notes: “Coldplay, a band that has long supported environmental sustainability, has announced a sponsorship of a RM3.2 million The Ocean Cleanup-designed watercraft to remove plastic trash from Malaysia’s rivers. “We’re proud to announce the first step in our partnership with The Ocean Cleanup: a new river Interceptor called Neon Moon 1,” the members…

Newly Discovered Pygmy Seahorse Species Is the Size of a Fingernail

 Good News Notes: “In 2017, diving instructor Savannah Nalu Olivier was exploring the eastern coast of South Africa in Sodwana Bay when she spotted something surprising: a tiny seahorse no bigger than her fingernail. When pygmy seahorse expert Richard Smith and biologist Louw Claassens saw photos of Olivier’s find, they realized she had made a huge discovery,…

Deep sea expedition uncovers 30 new species, plus longest-known animal

Good News Notes: “The expedition was conducted by scientists from the Western Australian Museum, Curtin University, Geoscience Australia, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Schmidt Ocean Institute. Over the course of 20 dives and 180 hours, the team explored the Ningaloo Canyons in the Indian Ocean down to depths of 4,500 m (14,765 ft). Using a…

Scientists discover two new shark species with chainsaw-like noses

Good News Notes: “Researchers have identified two new species of shark in the waters off eastern Africa. The rare little creatures range from about three to four-and-a-half feet in length and belong to a group called sixgill sawsharks. Their discovery came as a surprise to scientists, who previously knew of only a single species of…

kenya installs first solar water farm turning ocean water into drinking water

Good News Notes: “Non-governmental organization ‘givepower’ has built its first solar water farm in kenya, turning the region’s saltwater into clean and sustainable drinking water. the farm uses a filtrating system that desalinates the brackish liquid to produce enough water for 35,000 people every day.” “The farm is located in Kiunga, Kenya, a small fishing…