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Five real advances in science, medicine, technology, and the environment, each verified against the original reporting. In this episode: Bowel cancer patients who received pre-surgery immunotherapy remained cancer-free for nearly three years; Doug Tallamy transformed his 10-acre Pennsylvania farm by removing invasive plants and replanting natives; Informal community heat adaptation strategies are essential resilience work that formal systems overlook and; A CRISPR-Combo system speeds regeneration of hard-to-breed perennial crops like citrus, strawberry, poplar; Current global production of aquatic invertebrates contains enough vitamin B12 and selenium to meet the.
Five Things Going Right is a daily five-minute podcast covering real, verifiable progress in science, medicine, technology, and the environment. Every weekday, hosts Grace and Josh walk through five stories that actually happened, each checked against the original reporting from sources like the WHO, the IEA, Nature, and university research. A calm, fact-grounded start to your day. New episodes every weekday morning.
Welcome, this is Five Things Going Right, the news that's actually good. Five stories, five minutes, all of them true. Hi everyone, I'm Grace. Today is Friday, September 11th, 2026. And I'm Josh. We're diving into some fascinating stories today, Grace. Let's get started. Let's kick things off with some promising news from a bowel cancer trial linked to University College London. Patients with a specific form of bowel cancer have remained cancer-free for nearly three years. That's right. These patients received a short course of immunotherapy before surgery, instead of the usual chemotherapy afterward. Personalized blood tests were used to predict who would respond well to the treatment. However, the details are still a bit unclear. We don't know the percentage of patients who stayed cancer-free or how this compares to standard chemotherapy outcomes. Exactly. So, while the results are promising, the broader clinical significance remains to be seen. Pennsylvania, Doug Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware, has transformed his 10-acre property by removing invasive plants and replanting native species. And the results are impressive. He's documented over 1,380 moth species and 62 breeding bird species on his land. What's interesting is that he and his wife spent only about $100 over 26 years, mainly on seeds. But it's not clear if these numbers show recovery of depleted populations or just a traction of existing ones. Plus, we don't know if this approach works on a larger scale or in different climates. Next, a commentary in Nature Climate Change highlights informal strategies people use to cope with extreme heat, like creating neighborhood cooling areas and sharing water. Yale University discussed this commentary, which argues that these informal networks are crucial for resilience but often overlooked by formal systems. The commentary doesn't address whether these networks can handle projected increases in extreme heat, or what happens when they're overwhelmed. It's an interesting perspective, but it leaves some important questions unanswered. Researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife Research have developed a system called CRISPR-COMBO. It speeds up the process of growing whole plants from a few edited cells, which is often challenging for some species. This method activates the plant's own morphogenic genes and has been applied to crops like citrus, strawberry, poplar, and potatoes. However, the timeline for farmer adoption and field trials is still unclear, and we don't know if it works equally well across all these crops. It's a promising development, but there's still a lot to figure out. Finally, a study led by researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology reports that current global production of aquatic invertebrates like oysters and crabs contains enough vitamin B12 and selenium for over 5 billion people annually. The study is one of the most comprehensive assessments of these animals' nutritional contributions. It's intended to inform fisheries, aquaculture, and food system planning. But it doesn't address accessibility, affordability, or actual consumption patterns, which are crucial for real-world impact. It's a significant finding, but there's more to consider when it comes to practical application. That's all for today. Thanks for joining us. We hope you found these stories as intriguing as we did. Until next time. That's it for today. That was 5 Things Going Right. Come back tomorrow for 5 more.