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Christmas Good News Only Update!!
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Good morning everyone, and Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I wanted to do something a little different today and move up the regular good news only update to make it a special Christmas edition. There are so many uplifting stories out there, and I wanted to share them with you on this Christmas morning, so be sure to check them out.
I am losing my voice, so I will keep this short, but I still wanted to start your day on a positive note. Let me know in the comments what the best gift you received this holiday season was.
For me, the best gift this year is all of you and this platform. You have given me the best job in the world by allowing me to become a full-time journalist. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and to those who have helped build something better. You are truly the greatest gift I could ask for.
If you would like to support this work, please consider subscribing as we head into the new year, or gifting a subscription to someone else
Now, time for some good news:
At a Naples, Florida location of First Watch, restaurant staff voluntarily canceled their holiday party and redirected the entire budget to support coworker Norman Vales and his wife Alicia with the high costs of international adoption, a surprise that moved Vales to tears and went viral online—prompting company leadership to later restore the party funds while continuing to back the family’s adoption journey.
An anonymous “Secret Santa” in Idaho is donating $1 million to families facing medical crises, housing loss, and other hardships, delivering cash, vehicles, and gift cards to residents such as parents of conjoined twins, a displaced new mother, and a teacher whose home was damaged by fire, spreading holiday relief and community solidarity across the state.
Sandy Springs Fire Department firefighters teamed up with Santa and superheroes to rappel down Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for a third straight year, delivering a memorable Christmas surprise that brought joy and encouragement to young cancer patients unable to leave their rooms.
Clare Jones, a single mother from Swansea given months to live, was overwhelmed after asking strangers for Christmas cards and receiving thousands of messages, gifts, and acts of kindness that turned a simple request into a powerful display of compassion and community.
Astronomers studying a bizarre lemon-shaped object orbiting a pulsar say it may represent an entirely new class of planet, with extreme gravity stretching its shape and an exotic carbon-rich atmosphere where diamond rain could form, defying current planetary science models, according to researchers including Michael Zhang and Peter Gao, using observations from NASA and international partners.
Jeremy Barton was reunited with his black cat Shadow after five months lost in the wilderness of British Columbia, thanks to the kindness of strangers Christine Sutherland and Bruce Kosugi, who helped rescue and transport the cat home just in time for Christmas.
The Environmentalist Foundation of India, led by Arun Krishnamurthy, has restored more than 600 lakes, ponds, and reservoirs across India using a blend of traditional ecological knowledge and innovative landscape engineering, improving water quality, biodiversity, flood control, and groundwater recharge while reinforcing the cultural and spiritual significance of water for local communities.
Ionic Mineral Technologies has identified what may be the largest known “shovel-ready” deposit of critical minerals in North America at its Silicon Ridge project in Utah, uncovering extractable lithium, gallium, tungsten, vanadium and other rare-earth elements in already-permitted clay deposits that could accelerate U.S. supply-chain independence for advanced technology, energy storage, and defense manufacturing.
New research published in American Psychologist showing that swearing can measurably improve physical performance by increasing psychological disinhibition, flow, confidence, and focus, with experiments led by Richard Stephens at Keele University finding that participants who swore were able to sustain strength and endurance tasks significantly longer than those using neutral words.
In a rare conservation success dubbed a “Christmas miracle,” an endangered takahē chick hatched at Zealandia near Wellington to parents previously believed infertile—an important boost for a species with only about 500 birds remaining in New Zealand
A conservation “matchmaking” effort saved the critically endangered Lesser Antillean iguana by relocating individuals to the predator-free islet of Prickly Pear East, where the population has grown from just 23 founders to over 300 thriving iguanas in under five years
Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg—often treated as seasonal flavors—are powerful “nutraceutical” spices with exceptionally high antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory properties, long used in traditional medicine and shown in modern studies to support metabolic health, fight pathogens, and potentially protect against chronic diseases
Scientists uncovered a 20,000-year-old Caribbean cave ecosystem where prehistoric bees nested in the tooth sockets of animal bones left by giant owls, revealing rare trace fossils that illuminate extinct species interactions and ancient island ecology
The UK has passed sweeping new employment legislation through the House of Lords, with the Employment Rights Bill set to become law within days—curbing exploitative zero-hours contracts, introducing day-one sick pay, and strengthening protections for mothers
New satellite data from GHGSat, working with Carbon Mapper and Space Research Organisation Netherlands, has for the first time pinpointed thousands of individual fossil-fuel facilities emitting methane—revealing that just over 3,100 sites released up to 8.54 million tonnes in 2023 and providing critical insight to target climate mitigation efforts.
Oysters have returned to Scotland’s Firth of Forth after a century, with 46,000 European flat oysters reintroduced since 2023 through the Restoration Forth project and showing an 88% survival rate, as monitoring by Heriot-Watt University highlights their role in boosting biodiversity, cleaning water, and storing carbon, according to researcher Naomi Kennon.
Former oil sites in the UK and US are unexpectedly rebounding as wildlife refuges: a decommissioned Chevron oil field at West Coyote Hills near Fullerton has regenerated into coastal habitat for threatened birds and amphibians, while Canvey Wick in Essex has transformed from asphalt wasteland into a biodiversity-rich brownfield home to rare insects like the shrill carder bee.
Merry Christmas everyone,
Aaron
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