Five Things Going Right: September 15, 2026

Five real advances in science, medicine, technology, and the environment, each verified against the original reporting. In this episode: WHO has certified Timor-Leste as having eliminated trachoma, making all of Southeast Asia trachoma-free; Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed a resolution on August 4, 2026, protecting 186,500 square miles (42%; England's Housing First model provides permanent homes before addressing other problems, with a £442m; Scientists engineered yeast to turn PET plastic and agricultural waste into protein-rich, 3D-printed cookies; UCLA scientists engineered T cells from cord blood stem cells that can attack solid tumors even when cancer.

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.goodnewsnetwork.org/following-timor-lestes-triumph-all-of-southeast-asia-has-eliminated-trachoma/
• https://www.optimistdaily.com/2026/09/how-colombias-outgoing-president-protected-42-of-the-countrys-amazon-from-mining/
• https://www.positive.news/society/how-housing-first-is-helping-people-leave-rough-sleeping-behind/
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260912220033.htm
• https://scitechdaily.com/ucla-scientists-develop-cancer-fighting-cells-that-tumors-struggle-to-escape/

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. 5 stories, 5 minutes, all of them true. Hi everyone, I'm Grace. Today is Tuesday, September 15th, 2026. The World Health Organization has some great news for Southeast Asia. They've certified Timor-Leste as having eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. That's significant because with Timor-Leste's certification, the entire Southeast Asian region is now trachoma free. Over 2 billion people live in that region. Trachoma is actually the leading infectious cause of blindness. While it's been eliminated in Southeast Asia, it still remains a problem in parts of Africa, other areas of Asia, and the Middle East. On August 4th, just three days before leaving office, Colombian President Gustavo Petro signed a resolution to protect a large portion of the Amazon. That's right. He placed 186,500 square miles, or about 42% of Colombia's Amazon, off-limits to new extraction activities. The resolution blocks new mining concessions and new oil or gas contracts, using Article 47 of the Natural Resources Code, which is over 50 years old. Existing operations, however, aren't affected. There are 164 active mining titles, 284 pending applications, and 39 active oil and gas contracts that can continue until they expire. England is adopting a housing-first model to tackle rough sleeping. This approach provides people with a permanent home before addressing other issues in their lives. The government has allocated 442 million pounds for this program, which aims to provide more than 1,000 settled homes over three years. While there's a projection tied to this target, the reporting highlights an individual case but doesn't give aggregate figures on outcomes or long-term retention. Scientists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have made an interesting breakthrough. They've engineered yeast to turn PET plastic and agricultural waste into ingredients for 3D-printed cookies called MyBites. This system was partly developed for NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge. It can produce proteins, fats, vitamins, and even vanilla flavoring from waste materials. Researchers hope this could eventually help with plastic pollution, food insecurity, and food supply in extreme environments like deep space missions. The reporting, however, doesn't address whether the process is energy-efficient or cost-competitive with traditional food production. Scientists at UCLA have engineered ready-made T-cells from cord blood stem cells to target solid tumors, even when cancer cells hide their primary target antigen. This approach uses T-cell receptor therapy, which genetically modifies immune cells to recognize and attack cancer. Designing cells that still work when a tumor conceals its main target is crucial because it addresses a common way cancers escape this kind of treatment. That's all for today's stories. Thanks for joining us as we explored these developments. We hope you found this episode informative. Until next time, take care! That's it for today. That was 5 Things Going Right. Come back tomorrow for 5 more.