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Good morning, everyone! As promised, we’re keeping our Sunday tradition alive with another weekly good news update. As always, share one piece of good news from your week in the comments, and pass this along so others can join in too.
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Here’s the news:
14-year-old Jory Thomas rescued a drowning man from Montana’s Yellowstone River over 4th of July weekend, lassoing him around the neck and arm with a rodeo rope he’d been practicing with all year. The man was one of four people who fell into the river near Greycliff after their raft and paddle board struck a bridge pier; three made it to shore, but the fourth was swept downstream clinging to a cooler. Thomas, who’d only recently taken up cattle roping at local brandings, waded into the river up to his chest and caught the man on his first throw, with help from a bystander who pulled him in. Sweet Grass County Sheriff Alan Ronneberg credited Thomas with saving the man’s life, noting the swift current in that stretch of river often leads to rapids and logjams that can be fatal, while Thomas’s father, a volunteer firefighter, had already called 911 so a deputy arrived just three minutes later.
A newly adopted dog named Roo spent two harrowing days hiding in a San Francisco Caltrain tunnel after getting spooked and running away, with train operators on the first day mistaking his motionless body for a dead animal before a driver spotted him move on day two, initially fearing he’d been struck. San Francisco Animal Care and Control officers, working alongside Caltrain staff, ventured into the dark tunnel and found Roo uninjured but terrified; once they got a leash on him, his fear quickly turned to joy at being rescued. A microchip scan revealed he’d been recently adopted, allowing the shelter to quickly track down and reunite him with his relieved owner, who had been searching everywhere for him. The shelter and PEOPLE both framed the story as a reminder of why microchipping matters, since newly adopted dogs are especially prone to bolting when startled, and a chip remains the fastest way to reunite lost pets with their families.
Jimothy, a viral Seattle raccoon believed to have a congenital spine condition, was named “Washingtonian of the Day” by Governor Bob Ferguson on July 23, an informal honor typically given to inspiring state residents (past recipients include former First Spouse Trudi Inslee). Ferguson said Jimothy has “captured the hearts” of people worldwide and represents resilience, “given that deformity,” and joked about trying to deliver the honorary pin while urging residents to keep a respectful distance from the animal. Jimothy went viral after marketing specialist Kiana Hall filmed him roaming a Seattle street on July 14, mistaking him at first for a cat; the clip has since drawn over 8.3 million views. The raccoon has since inspired tattoos, murals, fan art, and Jimothy-themed merchandise, including special shirts worn by the Seattle Mariners during batting practice, and Seattle councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck was set to give him an official city proclamation on July 26.
Marion County, Florida deputies rescued a kidnapped 13-year-old girl Monday night after a citizen recognized the suspect’s vehicle from an AMBER Alert and called 911. Sheriff Billy Woods said the girl’s life was clearly in danger, and deputies “went to work immediately” once the alert went out; a License Plate Reader also helped track suspect Jason Castillo, 45, as he fled south from Ocala in a red Hyundai Santa Fe. Deputies located Castillo around 5:20 p.m. and stopped him with a P.I.T. maneuver after a brief pursuit; dash cam footage showed him pulling out what appeared to be a gun after his vehicle was disabled, prompting eight deputies and one Belleview police officer to shoot and kill him. Woods defended the shooting as appropriate given Castillo’s threatening behavior, and publicly thanked the citizen caller, saying “you took action” and crediting them with helping deputies locate the vehicle and rescue the child.
16-year-old lifeguard Ryder Williams spoke publicly for the first time about his July 25th rescue of 10-year-old Nathaniel from dangerous surf conditions at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, describing how he radioed for help, dropped his gear, and swam out to reach the boy amid huge waves. Bystander video captured Williams grabbing the boy and fighting to bring him to shore as waves repeatedly overtook them, until fellow lifeguard Aaron Bohnen jumped in to help pull both of them safely to the beach; Williams said he waved off other bystanders who tried to help because conditions were too dangerous. Nathaniel’s father, Sumit Rai, said he only saw the rescue after the fact via the viral video and was unsure his son would survive, noting Nathaniel lost consciousness and that “another two or three seconds” might have been fatal. Williams, who said he performed multiple rescues that same day, called the experience part of the job he loves and thanked his fellow lifeguards, while Nathaniel remains in California recovering. The rescue comes amid a broader spike in West Coast water dangers, with nearly 2,000 rescues performed in LA County alone between July 25th and July 26th and the National Weather Service warning beachgoers about life-threatening rip currents.
Facing federal funding cuts that have hit science research broadly, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory launched “OnlyMarms,” a free-to-subscribe, tip-funded OnlyFans account to help support its 65-year study of yellow-bellied marmots. Co-director Daniel Blumstein said the idea came from a student’s joking suggestion during a brainstorm about how to address the marmots’ “money troubles,” and despite OnlyFans’ adult-content reputation, he stressed the page is entirely G-rated: “cute animals doing things.” Marmots have already built a viral following on platforms like TikTok, with clips of the animals investigating human food or getting bathed racking up millions of likes. Beyond OnlyMarms, the lab’s fundraising efforts include a collaboration with a local brewery on a beer called Marmot Tears, and an upcoming “Fat Marmot Week” in August, modeled on Alaska’s Fat Bear Week, where the public will vote starting August 24 on which marmot gained the most weight ahead of hibernation.
A woman named LaCinda Thackery filmed and posted a TikTok of James Blair, a Navy veteran and John Wayne Airport fuel mechanic, hobbling across the tarmac on deteriorated knees, asking if anyone knew who he was. The video went viral, and after commenters identified Blair, Thackery reached him through his boss since he had no smartphone or social media, and the boss drove 90 minutes to Blair’s house to help him set up a GoFundMe. Blair, 64, has worked at the airport since 2006 and couldn’t retire because his income supports his elderly mother’s hospice care; the fundraiser has since collected over $174,000 from more than 6,000 donors. Thackery personally handed Blair a check, and he later sent her flowers, calling her his “angel” and saying the gesture restored his faith, though he hasn’t retired yet and has so far used some of the money to buy a new bed.
For the third consecutive year, global hunger has declined, with the malnourished share of the world’s population dropping below 8% for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2026 report. The improvement, now at 7.8% globally, is driven mainly by a steep five-year decline in Asia and smaller reductions in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Oceania, marking a dramatic shift from 1970, when nearly 35% of people outside Europe and North America were undernourished. Southeast Asia and Central Asia saw especially sharp drops, from 11.6% to 5.1% and from 7.7% to 2.8% respectively, with Central Asia’s rate now matching high-income countries. Africa remains the most undernourished continent, with rates topping 20% in some regions, particularly conflict zones, underscoring that war remains the single strongest driver of hunger worldwide. The FAO projects the global rate could fall another 20% by decade’s end, which would mark the lowest level of hunger ever recorded, though still short of eliminating it entirely.
Atlanta dad Khari Arnold started taking his daughter Ariah to the library weekly when she was just 4 months old, and what began as simple bonding time, which also helped build her early literacy skills, grew into a community group called Library Dads. Arnold began inviting other local fathers with kids of any age to join, creating a space centered on the message that “dads show up,” blending book bonding with father-child brotherhood. Dads like Kassell Scott, father to 3-year-old Amahle, and Derrick Lampkin, who brings his sons Dominique and Tristan along with his 7-month-old daughter Madeleine Sophia, say the events have been motivating and help model consistent presence for their kids. The free events, now a fixture in many Atlanta fathers’ routines, often fill up quickly given their popularity.
Over 12 days in May, volunteer surgeons at the Community Hospital of the 7th Day Adventists in Cocorite, Trinidad and Tobago, performed nearly 3,000 free cataract and pterygium surgeries for islanders, some of whom had waited years for treatment they couldn’t otherwise afford. The effort, organized by the Church alongside nonprofits Hands International and Eyes for India, relied on a high-volume surgical technique developed by Eyes for India’s founder that allowed volunteers to complete roughly 450 procedures a day, falling just short of the 4,000-surgery goal. Hands International president Dr. Reynold Agard said restoring vision dramatically improves quality of life, sharpening colors and reducing night blindness, while the mission also treated pterygium, a growth linked to sun, dust, and wind exposure. The biggest logistical hurdle was that most patients arrived without any prior eye screening due to cost barriers, requiring volunteers to sort and process people on the spot. Health ministries director Alexander Isaac framed the mission as a way for the church to combine physical care with spiritual outreach in the community.
A Eurasian lynx named Ursa, found seriously ill in January after being illegally kept as a private pet in Kyiv, took her first steps on grass this week after being rescued and relocated to the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, England. She was initially moved to a Kyiv wildlife rescue center amid ongoing bombing before the UK sanctuary raised roughly $180,000 to fund a “high risk” evacuation across an active war zone and complex border crossings, flying her to Britain in February. After months in a temporary enclosure, Ursa finally moved into a purpose-built habitat this week alongside other rescued wild cats, including another lynx named Rhys, a bobcat named Blob, and a fishing cat named Boson. Sanctuary director Cam Whitnall called seeing her first steps “an incredibly emotional moment,” saying Ursa, who “spent her life under the shadow of conflict and neglect,” is now finally in her forever home.
NASA’s Curiosity rover captured a 360-degree panorama while climbing Mars’s Valle Grande, revealing a vast field of honeycomb-like polygonal fractures stretching in every direction, even wrapping around a nearby 20-foot butte nicknamed “Miraflores.” Project scientist Ashwin Vasavada called it breathtaking, noting that while small patches of these geometric shapes have been spotted before, nothing has matched this scale. Scientists aren’t yet sure how the polygons formed, pointing to possible causes like mud cracking, warm-cold temperature cycles, or compression that squeezed water out of sediment. The find adds to Curiosity’s long list of discoveries since landing in 2012, including evidence that ancient Mars had lakes, streams, and the water and chemistry needed to potentially support microbial life, as well as carbon-based molecules considered precursors to RNA and DNA.
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Millie, a tortoiseshell cat born in 1995, is celebrating her 31st birthday and being called the world’s oldest living cat by her owner, Leslie Greenhough of Greater Manchester, England, who inherited her care after his late wife passed. Greenhough credits her longevity to a decade of drinking only Buxton natural mineral water, a habit that started by accident when the utility company dropped off bottled water during nearby pipe work, plus a rich daily diet of salmon, prawns, chicken, and tuna. He’s hoping to get Millie into the Guinness Book of Records but lacks official proof of her birth date since only his late wife, who first took her in as a kitten, could verify it; the only evidence is a 1995 photo of Millie eating from a bowl. With a UK heatwave underway, Millie now stays cool with two fans and ice cubes in her water bowl, though her age still falls short of the record: Creme Puff, the oldest cat ever confirmed, lived to 38, while Flossie, currently the oldest verified living cat, is 30.
Researchers from the University of St. Andrews and the University of Neuchâtel discovered that sperm whales blow bubbles while napping underwater to keep from floating up to the surface, since their oil- and wax-filled heads (nearly a third of their body) are naturally buoyant. Using recording devices suctioned to 42 whales off Norway’s Lofoten Islands, scientists found the animals sleep for 10-15 minutes at a time, resting in three ways: dipping their heads down before drifting back up, sinking tail-first about eight meters, or resting while ascending from deep dives over 200 meters. Whales napping closer to the surface blew bubbles about 11 times per nap to release buoyant air, while those rising from deep dives, already less buoyant due to water pressure compressing their lungs, only needed three or four bubbles. It remains unclear whether the whales are fully asleep or, like dolphins, resting with only half their brain at a time, but researchers say the behavior shows a clever adaptation for staying safely submerged while resting.
After a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck Japan, killing over three dozen people and destroying homes, volunteer networks have mobilized to reunite displaced pets with their owners. Maigo Ken no Keijiban, the Lost Dog Bulletin Board, a 150,000-member social media hub akin to a US nonprofit, has helped track down lost animals, including a Chihuahua named Leo who was found and returned to his owner a mile away, and a Shiba Inu named Go whose anxious owner is awaiting news after sightings by the group’s Kyushu chapter. Meanwhile, the Kyushu Animal Academy, a vocational school near the earthquake’s epicenter, converted classrooms into makeshift shelters currently housing about 20 pets alongside their displaced owners, drawing on its experience sheltering 1,500 people during a 2016 quake in the same city. Headmaster Ryunosuke Tokuda said keeping pets with their families boosts morale since most public evacuation centers don’t allow animals indoors, and the school says it welcomes non-Japanese speakers needing help too, though it expects to hand off shelter duties to local government within days.
All 11 people aboard a Kenmore Air seaplane, a de Havilland DHC-3 Otter carrying 10 passengers and a pilot, survived last Thursday after the aircraft crashed and caught fire in Puget Sound’s frigid water while en route from Seattle. The plane had already sunk by the time the US Coast Guard arrived, but everyone was rescued alive, some with injuries including broken bones, lacerations, and head trauma, and three air ambulances rushed the injured, including one person in critical condition, to safety. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Marshall Burtt credited the pilot with likely setting the plane down gently enough to give passengers a chance to escape. The cause remains under investigation; flight radar showed the plane making a 180-degree turn back toward Sucia Island, possibly attempting an emergency landing, and eyewitnesses reported it wobbling near the water’s surface before impact and catching fire afterward. Kenmore Air said it’s cooperating fully with investigators and declined to speculate on the cause out of respect for those involved.
Heat pumps are rapidly becoming the dominant home HVAC system in the US, with 46% of new homes built last year including them, just a point behind older systems like gas furnaces and boilers. These systems generate far fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gas furnaces or heating oil, and EPA regulations have pushed manufacturers away from old refrigerants (once 2,000 times more potent than CO2 for warming) toward lower-impact alternatives like propane. According to a new report from the nonprofit Building Decarbonization Coalition, heat pump sales outpaced older heating systems by 32% in the first quarter of this year and have doubled over the past 15 years, narrowly trailing traditional air conditioners in sales. Beyond emissions benefits, heat pumps offer a two-in-one heating and cooling appliance that, paired with electric stovetops, lets builders skip gas lines entirely, helping keep both energy bills and home prices down amid rising costs.
Arizona State University researchers, led by assistant professor Hamed Khodadadi Tirkolaei, have developed an enzyme-based treatment to stabilize mine tailings, the crushed rock and water byproduct that often contains hazardous materials like arsenic, lead, or cyanide residue and poses one of mining’s biggest environmental risks. The treatment forms natural mineral bonds in the soil, creating a protective crust that limits erosion and dust while immobilizing contaminants before they reach nearby waterways or groundwater, offering an alternative to more chemically intensive methods. Backed by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the team is currently testing the approach at the abandoned Cash Mine near Prescott, Arizona, and says it can be mixed on-site without specialized equipment, making it practical for remote or abandoned mine sites. The researchers also developed a plant-based biopolymer alternative for cases where high concentrations of heavy metals would suppress enzyme activity. The research comes as a mining boom, driven by soaring precious metal prices and demand for critical minerals, is reviving interest in operations across the US.
Nearly 20 years after launching what was then the world’s first giant anteater reintroduction effort, La Fundación Rewilding Argentina reports the local population in Corrientes province has grown from zero to roughly 200 wild individuals. The project began in 2007 in the Iberá Wetlands, aiming to restore the species locally known as yurumí, which had vanished from the region by the mid-20th century due to poaching, fires, and habitat loss. Over the course of the program, 110 anteaters, many of them orphaned or rescued after wandering too close to human settlements, were rehabilitated and released into the wild, where they went on to reproduce across multiple generations. The foundation says the methodology developed through this project is now being used as a model for reintroducing other key predators and herbivores in ecosystems beyond Iberá.
See you soon.
— Aaron
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