Five Things Going Right

Five real advances in science, medicine, technology, and the environment, each verified against the original reporting. In this episode: A school accountant's last-minute flood warning saved over 900 students and 16 faculty members from a flood; Uganda has been declared Ebola-free by the WHO after 42 days without new cases; Baltimore is expanding 911 crisis response options beyond mental health to include housing, legal help, and; AI-designed proteins (STV-C8) deliver RNA into cells more efficiently than virus-like particles and lipid; PACMAN AI framework developed by PPPL and Princeton University was successfully tested on a real fusion.

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!

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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 5 Things Going Right, the news that's actually good. Five stories, five minutes, all of them true. Hi everyone. I'm Grace, and today is Thursday, September 3rd, 2026. And I'm Josh. We've got some interesting stories to discuss today. So let's get started. Over in Nepal, more than 900 students and 16 faculty members had a narrow escape from a flood on the border with China. That's right. It was thanks to the school's accountant, who ran through the building warning everyone about the incoming flood. They managed to evacuate just in time before the water reached the school. Some positive health news. Uganda has been declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization. They reached this milestone after 42 days without any new cases. The WHO had been supporting Uganda and neighboring Congo during the outbreak, though the specifics of this particular outbreak weren't detailed. In Baltimore, there's an interesting development in how 911 calls are handled, especially those related to mental health. Yes. Baltimore has been rerouting mental health-related 911 calls to professionals instead of police. Now, using funds from opioid-related legal settlements, they're expanding this service to address other issues like housing and legal help, aiming to keep people out of the criminal justice system. It's still in the early stages, according to KFF Health News. Researchers at Helmholtz Munich have developed AI-designed proteins named STV-C8 for delivering RNA into cells. These proteins have shown to be more efficient in cell culture than the current delivery systems like virus-like particles and lipid nanoparticles. However, this success is only in the lab, and they haven't yet tested it in living organisms or humans. Finally, researchers at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Princeton University have created a software framework called PAC-MAN. PAC-MAN uses artificial intelligence to make split-second control decisions in fusion systems, where particle instability can occur in milliseconds. It was tested in five experiments, but the source didn't specify if it improved reactor performance or stability compared to current methods. We appreciate you listening. Until next time. That's it for today. That was 5 Things Going Right. Come back tomorrow for five more.