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Five real advances in science, medicine, technology, and the environment, each verified against the original reporting. In this episode: The world reached 3 terawatts of global solar capacity in early 2026, with the pace of deployment; Shellfish farming could help fix Florida's algal bloom problem by filtering excess nutrients from coastal; Horizontal levees, seeded with over 35 native plant species and designed with gradual slopes, are spreading; Scientists created a single-atom ruthenium catalyst that converts nearly all model lignin compounds into; A 20-year study of Miami-Dade County students found that children who attended public school pre-K performed.
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 5 things going right, the news that's actually good. 5 stories, 5 minutes, all of them true. Hi everyone, I'm Grace, and today is Wednesday, August 26th, 2026. The world has hit a significant milestone in solar energy. According to the energy research group EMBER, global installed solar capacity has reached three terawatts as of early this year. That's right. What's fascinating is the pace of this growth. The first terawatt took nearly 68 years to achieve, but the second came in just about two years, and the third in only 19 months. In 2025 alone, the world added 664 gigawatts of new solar capacity. That's a 12% increase from the previous year. And in April of this year, wind and solar together generated 22% of global electricity, surpassing natural gas, which stood at 20%. This report highlights the speed of solar deployment, but doesn't address whether this expansion meets climate targets or keeps up with global electricity demand. Florida is dealing with harmful algal blooms, mainly due to nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agricultural and residential areas. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection notes that 86% of the state's watersheds had areas at risk from nitrogen pollution. Researchers are exploring whether shellfish farming could help reduce these blooms. Shellfish naturally filter nutrients from the water. It's an early-stage idea, linked to recent work by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. However, specific findings on the effectiveness of shellfish farming in reducing blooms aren't detailed yet. Over in the Bay Area, a pilot project at the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve is testing horizontal, or living, levees. Unlike traditional steep embankments or rock seawalls, these levees spread their height over a longer, gently sloped area, interacting with bay waters like a natural estuary. More than 35 species of native plants are seeded in these levees. There are about a dozen such projects in various stages of development across the Bay Area. The focus is on ecological and visual benefits. However, the report doesn't quantify flood protection compared to traditional levees or their long-term durability under extreme weather. Scientists at the University of Manchester have developed a single-atom ruthenium catalyst that can break down lignin, a tough component of plant waste, into useful chemicals. This catalyst works under relatively mild conditions and converted nearly all of the model lignin compounds studied. The team even mapped how it works at the atomic level. The research could pave the way for turning forestry and agricultural waste into renewable building blocks for fuels, plastics, and other materials. It's important to note these are laboratory results using model compounds. Industrial-scale conversion of actual plant waste hasn't been demonstrated yet. A long-term research project at Florida International University followed students in Miami-Dade County over 20 years. The study found that children who attended public school pre-K performed better academically than those who received family-based child care. However, the summary doesn't report the size of this advantage, its statistical significance, or how the study accounted for differences between families choosing public pre-K versus family-based care. That's all for today's updates. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate you tuning in. Until next time! That's it for today. That was 5 Things Going Right. Come back tomorrow for 5 more.