How child mortality fell from 40% to 3.7% in 200 years

“Infant mortality is such a powerful indicator because low rates are impossible to achieve without having a combination of several critical conditions that define good quality of life.” — Vaclav Smil in Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World A world of tiny coffins For

Welcome to the safest time to give birth in human history — The fall in maternal mortality has saved millions of mothers

"Between 2000 and 2017, the global maternal mortality rate fell by 38%. In low-income countries, the decline was more dramatic still, with a reduction of 46%." The loss of a mother or a child during pregnancy or birth is a heartbreaking family tragedy, one that has been with

Factories of Progress: Why "the poor have walked off the land into the factories as fast as the factories could take them."

The introduction of factory manufacturing in the developing world changed the lives of more than a billion people, and in doing so, it helped to lift an entire continent out of extreme poverty. Factories in developing countries are often portrayed as involuntary labor camps at worst and as centers of

Groundbreaking UTI vaccine could prevent recurring infections in women for nearly a decade 🦠

@tonymmorley A groundbreaking trial[1] first published in the British Journal of Urology (BJU) International[2] has discovered that recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) can potentially be prevented for up to nine years using an oral spray vaccine. UTIs, which afflict half of all women and one in five men,

Thousands of Deaths Averted in Taiwan Earthquake: A headline of progress that you might have missed.

In the early hours of April 3rd, 2024, Taiwan was struck by a significant earthquake, with its epicenter located off the eastern coast. The quake, measuring 7.4 on the Richter scale, sent tremors rippling across the island, awakening memories of past devastation. At the time of writing, the earthquake,

Applying basalt rock dust boosts crop yields by up to 16% while soaking up C02.

New research conducted by scientists from the University of Sheffield’s Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation suggests that applying crushed rock to farmers' fields could have significant benefits beyond reducing greenhouse gases. The study builds upon previous research from 2020[1] on enhanced rock weathering, a technique that

How Civilization Reduced The Price of Light by 99.9%

During the industrial era, the cost of artificial light fell off a cliff — and the road to illumination was paved with ingenuity and slaughter. — Genius and blood: How cheap light transformed civilization, Tony Morley for Big Think “Open your refrigerator door, and you summon forth more light than the total

Rejecting GMOs hinders human progress and keeps the poor hungry

“Whoever could make two ears of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put together.” ― Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's

Now is the best time in history to love and be loved. 💖

"The incredible social and human rights improvements over the last two centuries are powerful evidence that further progress remains possible." You don’t have to travel too far back into the past to find evidence of widespread and systemic romantic misery. To visit England at the dawn of

Wildfire smoke apocalypse aside, air quality is a story of progress

@tonymmorley "One day your youngest daughter develops a nasty cough. Smoke from the indoor fire is weakening her lungs. You can’t afford antibiotics, and one month later she is dead. This is extreme poverty." — Factfulness, Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why

New Antibiotic Discovered in Diseased Potatoes 🥔

@tonymmorley A new antibiotic discovered by researchers in diseased potatoes may be effective in combatting fungal infections in plants and humans "From a pharmaceutical and agricultural perspective, solanimycin may represent a potentially exciting discovery”  — Miguel A. Matilla Before the serendipitous discovery of penicillin in 1928 and subsequent research, development,

Golden Rice Harvest: Philippines Breakthrough 🥣

@tonymmorley One of the best events of the year unfolded quietly in 17 rice fields in the Philippines this October. "For the first time, farmers in the Philippines have cultivated Golden Rice on a larger scale and harvested almost 70 tonnes" "This autumn will probably go down