Our Sunday feature shares good news on climate action & resilience!
Innovation
A new “superwicking” ultra-efficient solar-powered desalination system has been invented by the Dr. Chunlei Guo lab at the University of Rochester! Microscopic grooves etched by femtosecond lasers on specially engineered black metal solar panels draw in saltwater to evaporate and be distilled into fresh drinking water while directing leftover salts onto predefined clearing regions. Amazingly, if you add hydrogen titanate nanoparticles in the grooves, it also selectively extracts lithium from saltwater, producing fresh water and a battery mineral from the same device!
After years of work, lab-raised hybrid “Flonduran” elkhorn corals will be outplanted at the Dry Tortugas islands of Florida! Nearly all of Florida’s elkhorn corals were wiped out by a marine heat wave in 2023, but elkhorns from a “rebel reef” in Tela Bay, Honduras have shown exceptional heat resilience, leading scientists to mix their genes with Florida strains. At up to 300 testing sites, the Flonduran cross-breeds’ resilience will be put to the test this summer. A great case of proactive conservation!
Thanks to modern LIDAR, archaeologists are now studying a lost ancient civilization in the Upano Valley of Ecuador, where since 3000 BCE an Amerindian people built thousands of earthen mounds linked by a “checkerboard” of roads and interspersed with farm fields and drainage canals, in a fascinating model of “garden urbanism.”
Wildlife
A rare “pale whale” calf was photographed in the Golfo Nuevo breeding site lagoon of Argentina, a young southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) born with black spots on white skin instead of the usual white spots on black skin. Once devastated by industrial whaling, the population of this species has epically rebounded from as few as 300 individuals in the 1920s to an estimated 13,600 today. Spectacular news!
A landmark new study on mangrove forests, published in Science and analyzing satellite imagery from 1984 to 2023, has unexpectedly found that global mangrove coverage shifted from net loss to net gain around the year 2010, thanks to a combination of effective restoration and habitat protection efforts, natural regeneration, and warming temperatures increasing their range. Adding up years of changes from many different areas of gain and loss around the world, over 12,000 km2 of mangrove forests were destroyed from the 1980s through 2010 but most of that area was grown back in the next decade, with net loss from the 1980s through 2020s now at just 849 km2. In short, mangroves declined until 2010 and strongly recovered since!
China, the U.S. Gulf Coast, Australia, and Brazil all saw expansion of their mangrove cover in recent years, Indonesia achieved overall stabilization, and Nigeria is still declining. Furthermore, the proportion of closed-canopy mangrove forests, the most carbon-dense and life-rich, has grown by 20% since the 1980s. A superb turnaround for a globally vital fisheries-boosting and coast-shielding ecosystem! Spectacular news.
Check out my recent in-person reporting on mangrove restoration work in Kenya!
“After decades of loss, we’re finally seeing a global turning point for mangroves. This highlights their strong resilience and their potential as a powerful nature-based solution for climate mitigation and coastal protection.”
A possibly world-largest group of 5.5 million mining bees were found living in a cemetery in the town of Ithaca, New York — about the size of 200 honeybee hives.
A female California condor named B9, born in captivity and released into the wild by the Yurok Tribe in 2025, temporarily flew over the state border into Oregon in May 2026! She is the first wild-flying California condor in that state since 1904. The species saw spectacular conservation success since their nadir of 22 survivors in 1982. As of 2025, there are 607 individuals in the world, 392 wild-living. Excellent work!
In an extraordinary discovery, scientists in Newfoundland have found that the severed “tube feet” of some sea cucumbers appear to have a form of “tissue immortality”, surviving for years (and counting!) despite separation from their original body and actually growing in mass and “eating” amino acids absorbed directly from seawater. They may play a role in scientific research like the famed HeLa cell line. Fascinating!
A brand-new species of octopus has been discovered by an undersea ROV drone off the famed Galápagos Islands of Ecuador. Microeledone galapagensis is strikingly blue, tiny enough to fit in a human palm, and has unusually small, stubby arms. Awesome!
Electrotech
As Ukraine gains new momentum in its defense against brutal Russian invaders (Russian oil refining is nearly at a standstill after waves of Ukrainian drone strikes!), the Energy Act for Ukraine Foundation keeps building solar/battery microgrids to keep hospitals and schools running even during bombing and grid blackouts! Recent projects include the Odesa Perinatal Center (which saved 62 children’s lives in Jan-Mar 2026 alone!), a heart surgery center in Kropyvnytskyi, an eye surgery center in Mykolaiv, a maternity hospital in Cherkasy City, and the Borodianka Lyceum. Ukraine is at the forefront of building deep societal resilience with electrotech. Superb work!
Chinese state media reports that the fully electric high-speed railway linking the major cities of Laos with China has passed the milestone of 100,000 train runs since its launch in 2021, with 73 million passenger trips. A link to Thailand is being built.
After years of work, the CHPE international power line is now fully operational, bringing excess Canadian hydropower to help decarbonize New York City!
The World Bank reports substantial progress on developing an interconnected grid linking 15 developing nations in West Africa, reducing electricity costs and wastage. Over 4,000 kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines have been built, increasing access to electricity for 3 million people and allowing excess hydropower from Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire to be sold to help replace pricey fossil fuel imports in The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The World Grid is being built!
The whale calf is pretty cool. Brightened my day. Thanks
I grew up near Yurok territory. Thanks to the Yurok tribe for your efforts for this beautiful bird. I know that they have done amazing work for the salmon in the region as well.