#highlights post

[clownowo]

i like that the grand fest trailer included a tour bus that i assume all 3 groups share because i think they'd drive each other insane

[reasonsforhope]

Here's the top 2 stories from each of Fix The News's six categories:

1. A game-changing HIV drug was the biggest story of 2024

In what Science called the 'breakthrough of the year', researchers revealed in June that a twice-yearly drug called lenacapavir reduced HIV infections in a trial in Africa to zero—an astonishing 100% efficacy, and the closest thing to a vaccine in four decades of research. Things moved quick; by October, the maker of the drug, Gilead, had agreed to produce an affordable version for 120 resource-limited countries, and by December trials were underway for a version that could prevent infection with just a single shot per year. 'I got cold shivers. After all our years of sadness, particularly over vaccines, this truly is surreal.'

2. Another incredible year for disease elimination

Jordan became the first country to eliminate leprosy, Chad eliminated sleeping sickness, Guinea eliminated maternal and neonatal tetanus, Belize, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines eliminated mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, India achieved the WHO target for eliminating black fever, India, Viet Nam and Pakistan eliminated trachoma, the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness, and Brazil and Timor Leste eliminated elephantiasis.

15. The EU passed a landmark nature restoration law

When countries pass environmental legislation, it’s big news; when an entire continent mandates the protection of nature, it signals a profound shift. Under the new law, which passed on a knife-edge vote in June 2024, all 27 member states are legally required to restore at least 20% of land and sea by 2030, and degraded ecosystems by 2050. This is one of the world’s most ambitious pieces of legislation and it didn’t come easy; but the payoff will be huge - from tackling biodiversity loss and climate change to enhancing food security.

16. Deforestation in the Amazon halved in two years

Brazil’s space agency, INPE, confirmed a second consecutive year of declining deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. That means deforestation rates have roughly halved under Lula, and are now approaching all time lows. In Colombia, deforestation dropped by 36%, hitting a 23-year low. Bolivia created four new protected areas, a huge new new state park was created in Pará to protect some of the oldest and tallest tree species in the tropical Americas and a new study revealed that more of the Amazon is protected than we originally thought, with 62.4% of the rainforest now under some form of conservation management.

39. Millions more children got an education

Staggering statistics incoming: between 2000 and 2023, the number of children and adolescents not attending school fell by nearly 40%, and Eastern and Southern Africa, achieved gender parity in primary education, with 25 million more girls are enrolled in primary school today than in the early 2000s. Since 2015, an additional 110 million children have entered school worldwide, and 40 million more young people are completing secondary school.

40. We fed around a quarter of the world's kids at school

Around 480 million students are now getting fed at school, up from 319 million before the pandemic, and 104 countries have joined a global coalition to promote school meals, School feeding policies are now in place in 48 countries in Africa, and this year Nigeria announced plans to expand school meals to 20 million children by 2025, Kenya committed to expanding its program from two million to ten million children by the end of the decade, and Indonesia pledged to provide lunches to all 78 million of its students, in what will be the world's largest free school meals program.

50. Solar installations shattered all records

Global solar installations look set to reach an unprecedented 660GW in 2024, up 50% from 2023's previous record. The pace of deployment has become almost unfathomable - in 2010, it took a month to install a gigawatt, by 2016, a week, and in 2024, just 12 hours. Solar has become not just the cheapest form of new electricity in history, but the fastest-growing energy technology ever deployed, and the International Energy Agency said that the pace of deployment is now ahead of the trajectory required for net zero by 2050.  

51. Battery storage transformed the economics of renewables

Global battery storage capacity surged 76% in 2024, making investments in solar and wind energy much more attractive, and vice-versa. As with solar, the pace of change stunned even the most cynical observers. Price wars between the big Chinese manufacturers pushed battery costs to record lows, and global battery manufacturing capacity increased by 42%, setting the stage for future growth in both grid storage and electric vehicles - crucial for the clean flexibility required by a renewables-dominated electricity system. The world's first large-scale grid battery installation only went online seven years ago; by next year, global battery storage capacity will exceed that of pumped hydro.

65. Democracy proved remarkably resilient in a record year of elections

More than two billion people went to the polls this year, and democracy fared far better than most people expected, with solid voter turnout, limited election manipulation, and evidence of incumbent governments being tamed. It wasn't all good news, but Indonesia saw the world's biggest one day election, Indian voters rejected authoritarianism, South Korea's democratic institutions did the same, Bangladesh promised free and fair elections following a 'people's victory', Senegal, Sri Lanka and Botswana saw peaceful transfers of power to new leaders after decades of single party rule, and Syria saw the end of one of the world's most horrific authoritarian regimes.

66. Global leaders committed to ending violence against children

In early November, while the eyes of the world were on the US election, an event took place that may prove to be a far more consequential for humanity. Five countries pledged to end corporal punishment in all settings, two more pledged to end it in schools, and another 12, including Bangladesh and Nigeria, accepted recommendations earlier in the year to end corporal punishment of children in all settings. In total, in 2024 more than 100 countries made some kind of commitment to ending violence against children. Together, these countries are home to hundreds of millions of children, with the WHO calling the move a 'fundamental shift.'

73. Space exploration hit new milestones

NASA’s Europa Clipper began a 2.9 billion kilometre voyage to Jupiter to investigate a moon that may have conditions for life; astronomers identified an ice world with a possible atmosphere in the habitable zone; and the James Webb Telescope found the farthest known galaxy. Closer to Earth, China landed on the far side of the moon, the Polaris Dawn crew made a historic trip to orbit, and Starship moved closer to operational use – and maybe one day, to travel to Mars. 

74. Next-generation materials advanced

A mind-boggling year for material science. Artificial intelligence helped identify a solid-state electrolyte that could slash lithium use in batteries by 70%, and an Apple supplier announced a battery material that can deliver around 100 times better energy density. Researchers created an insulating synthetic sapphire material 1.25 nanometers thick, plus the world’s thinnest lens, just three atoms across. The world’s first functioning graphene-based semiconductor was unveiled (the long-awaited ‘wonder material’ may finally be coming of age!) and a team at Berkeley invented a fluffy yellow powder that could be a game changer for removing carbon from the atmosphere.

-via Fix The News, December 19, 2024

[jojaxcola]

"no one told me back then that i was in the glory days."

[ jojamart mockumentary #14 ]

[ prev || next ]

[bigfatbreak]

i legitimately cant go to sleep until i get this au out of my head, shoves this into the world so i can rest

extra notes: -gabriel pulled a swap because Emelie was getting increasingly unwell after her pregnancy/birth, so he traded his sickly kid out for a healthy changeling in an attempt to sway her mental health in a positive direction ("look honey your son isn't dying") in the hopes it would make her recovery physically -it didn't work and Felix grew up among weird magical people who made him acutely aware that he wasn't like them -Marinette is not immune to magical charms and magical persuasion but her clumsiness offsets the power they have on her, so as long as she's awkward she's virtually unaffected -once Adrien finds out about Felix he just instantly sees Felix as a brother even tho Felix is actively trying to do him a murder (he will not succeed. victorian ass sickly boy trying to kill a magical being lol lmao even)

[adobe-outdesign]

a new Pokemon TCG set just dropped and I swear they gave us the funniest possible Iron Hands illustration. are you guys ready for this

[welcometogrouchland]

I have a LOTT of sketches I could post rn but these 2 are recent and I'm fond of them <3 Steph costume ideas and Tim/Damian cringe bickering inspired by Batman: Brave and the Bold #18!

[luffysfakebeard]

Percy wears a “what would Percy Jackson do” bracelet

[fanboyvini]

zim every ep: has a new plan to take over the earth or kill dib or something

almost every gir subplot:

[entrailseer]

AUGHHHHH FINALLY THE POMNI APPRECIATIVE ARC!!!!

(also gooseworx.... have you been reading my headcanon posts... because)

[mylittlejestershoes]

I REMEMBERED THAT I SHOULD PROBABLY REPOST MY RODGER DESIGN!! hes the first guy i designed!! ever!! wow!!

thanks for 100 followers by the way... oh boy... i can buy. uh. 100 dandys with that!! crazy!!!

[bovineblogger]

cattle breed highlight - randall !

randall cattle are another historical american breed that conservationists are fighting super hard to keep around! their history is actually super interesting!

this breed actually died out due to crossbreeding a long, long time ago! but a farmer named everett randall maintained a closed herd of them for 80 years, single handedly preserving the breed so we can still see them today! isnt that wild!

after his passing, some of the remaining randalls were saved by conservationists, and theyre still kicking! though they are very rare.

images (x) (x) (x)

[allfor-thegames]

i love the idea of aaron going to med school and telling no one he played collegiate exy.

he introduces himself as aaron from palmetto state and exactly one time someone says "wild about all the drama with the exy team a few years back, that must've been crazy on campus" and aaron's just like "yea."

his fun fact is that he has a twin brother.

aaron has one tshirt for the team andrew is on (curtesy of katelyn) and people comment that they didn't know he was an exy fan the first time he wears it (it was the only clean shirt left) and he says "i'm not, really. i haven't followed it since undergrad."

neil sends katelyn and aaron tickets for his first pro away game in their city and people are like "and why is neil josten sending you these very nice tickets?" and aaron just says "katelyn cheered for psu."

[clownowo]

A typical dance of deduction

yt link

EDIT: realizing perhaps this video is not as ubiquitously known as i thought it was and also (judging by the fact that the post has way more notes than the video has views) nobody's clicking on the yt link (and therefore not reading the credit in the description) so i'd like to take a moment to direct everyone to the original video this is based on by BugOlively. im so obsessed with it that i made this whole fuckin thing. please watch the original also. they chose the poses/stock photos and the music and animated it. i just gave it a coat of paint <3

+Bonus images under the cut!!

the thumbnail:

the full unobstructed background:

full Ryunosuke and Gregson:

a few susatos:

and a few of my favorite Herlocks

[arcanegifs]

Caitlyn and Vi in Arcane Season 2's teaser

[milkbreadtoast]

hyeonje-ssi... 🫣💛💛💛✨✨

[countv0ncunt]

I'm obsessed