Good News Headlines 5/25/2026
RV Falkor (too), Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Research vessel, operating in Antarctica during the 2025 Ocean Census/SOI South Sandwich Islands Expedition. Photo courtesy Schmidt Ocean Institute
Marine Scientists Discover Record Number Of New Species
by Julia Jacobo, ABC News
Marine scientists have discovered a record number of new species living in the depths of the world’s oceans over the past year. A total of 1,121 new marine species were discovered in a single year, marking a “significant step” in the research needed to understand and protect the oceans, according to the scientists behind The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, the world’s largest mission to accelerate ocean species discovery. The whopping number of discoveries marks a 54% jump in identifications in a single year, the researchers said.
Study Shows Littering Declined 34% Across America Since 2020
by Andy Corbley, Good News Network
Litter across America has declined 34% since 2020, according to a new report from the Charity Keep America Beautiful. The report reckons that every American’s share of litter along roadways and waterways has fallen over that time from 152 pieces to 96. Decades ago, GNN founder Geri Weis-Corbley organized a local spring cleanup along her neighborhood’s country roads every year when she was raising kids. “I can tell, looking at the roads now, that littering is way down because I live in the same neighborhood and there aren’t any organized cleanups anymore.”
Official Marking Of Land For Brazil’s Uncontacted Kawahiva People Begins After 27-Year Wait
by Andrei Netto, The Guardian
More than 25 years after the existence of one of the Amazon’s most vulnerable nomadic hunter-gatherer communities was confirmed, the Brazilian government has begun demarcating the Pardo River Kawahiva Indigenous territory, giving greater protection to the uncontacted people. The demarcation of the 410,000-hectare (1m-acre) territory located between the states of Mato Grosso and Amazonas in north-west Brazil, was confirmed by the National Indigenous Peoples’ Foundation (Funai) last week. But the process remains fraught, with legal challenges.
Minnesota Becomes First State To Ban Prediction Markets
by Bobby Allyn, NPR
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has signed the nation’s first law banning prediction market sites from operating in the state, and in response, the Trump administration has sued, teeing up a legal battle over the most far-reaching crackdown on popular services like Kalshi and Polymarket. It comes as states confront a growing standoff with the Trump administration over how to regulate the industry, which allows people to bet on virtually anything. The new state law makes it a crime to host or advertise a prediction market.
In Remote Northern Philippines, A Local Solution To The Global Energy Shock
by Mark Saludes, The Christian Science Monitor
In a mountain village in the northern Philippines, electricity does not arrive through transmission lines or come from burning imported fossil fuel. It flows from a local river. Each night, as lights flicker on inside scattered homes, the power is generated by a small turbine turning steadily in the dark – built, maintained, and managed by the community itself. “We don’t have to rely on outside power facilities. We decide when to switch it on and off,” says Rodolfo Sagban, chairman of the Lapat Micro Hydro Power Association in Nabuangan village.
