Five Things Going Right: July 27, 2026

Five real advances in science, medicine, technology, and the environment, each verified against the original reporting. In this episode: Prescribed burns in the previous 10 years made giant sequoias nearly four times more likely to survive recent; Europe's air quality improved over 10 years with emissions from major pollutants declining 39-59%; A medically formulated THC and CBD treatment significantly reduced agitation in a first-of-its-kind U.S.; A study of 18,000 forest patches found that unwritten social rules in small communities, not government; Two experimental vaccines stopped pneumonic plague in mice during high-risk testing.

Stan Berteloot is a French-American journalist, marketing strategist, and AI expert based in Princeton, New Jersey. A University of Maryland journalism graduate, he navigates the intersection of storytelling, technology, and culture. As Head of Strategy and CTO at Nytro Marketing, he pioneered AI-driven content creation, launching the AI in Marketing podcast. He also hosts Back in America, a podcast exploring American identity through in-depth conversations on race, misinformation, and AI ethics. Start your VoiceStream free trial today!

📚 Sources:

• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/07/260726015243.htm
• https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/europes-air-quality-dramatically-improved-with-39-59-drop-in-industrial-and-road-emissions/
• https://scitechdaily.com/thc-cbd-treatment-dramatically-reduces-agitation-in-dementia-trial/
• https://phys.org/news/2026-07-unwritten-social-oversight-forest-sustainable.html
• https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/diseases-medicine/experimental-plague-vaccines-protect-mice/

What is Five Things Going Right?

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 Monday, July 27th, 2026, and we've got some intriguing stories lined up. And I'm Josh. Let's get started with today's topics. So Josh, there's been some fascinating research coming out of the University of California Davis about giant sequoias and prescribed fires. Yes, they looked at about 26,400 giant sequoias and found that those in areas treated with prescribed burns in the last decade were nearly four times more likely to survive recent extreme wildfires. That's impressive. How many trees did these controlled burns actually save? The researchers estimate that these burns prevented about 1,900 tree deaths. They suggest even more could have been saved if prescribed burns were used across all groves. But I guess it's not that simple to apply these burns everywhere, right? Exactly. While the study shows the benefits, it doesn't address the feasibility of carrying out such resource-intensive burns across all groves. Moving on to Europe, there's an update on air quality from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. Right. Their 2025 assessment report highlights that air quality has improved over the past 10 years, with emissions from major pollutants dropping by 39 to 59 percent. That's a significant improvement, but are there still challenges? Yes. Many regions still exceed the World Health Organization's air quality guidelines. Air pollution remains a major health risk linked to thousands of premature deaths each year in Europe. Now, there's some promising news from Georgetown University Medical Center about treating agitation in dementia. They conducted a clinical trial using a treatment with THC and CBD, compounds found in marijuana, and found it significantly reduced agitation in late-stage dementia patients. This sounds like a breakthrough. Was this the first trial of its kind in the U.S.? Yes. It was described as the first of its kind in the United States, focusing on reducing restlessness, aggression, and emotional distress in patients. Let's talk about sustainable forest use. There's a study from The Ohio State University that's quite revealing. They examined over 18,000 forest patches globally and found that swidden agriculture, or slash and burn, is more nuanced than it sounds. It's often regulated by unwritten social rules in small communities. So, it's not just about government oversight. Exactly. These social rules can support both harvests and forest regeneration. But sustainability depends on low population density and long fallow periods. In areas with higher population pressure, it can lead to deforestation. Finally, there's some early-stage research on vaccines for pneumonic plague. Researchers have reported that two experimental vaccines protected mice from this deadly lung infection in high-risk tests. It's still early days, right? Yes. It's early-stage research and was conducted in mice. So there's a long way to go before it might be applicable to humans. That's all for today. It's always fascinating to see how research is pushing boundaries in different fields. Absolutely. Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Until next time! That's it for today. That was 5 things going right. Come back tomorrow for 5 more.