Here’s the good news!

With the Covid pandemic still going on, the climate emergency heating up, the war in Ukraine bringing fresh horrors and the cost of living rising, we've all had our fill of bad news stories this year. So here, we present some of the year's good news stories, along with some "happy" expressions you might need for sharing good news.

Fighting period poverty

Public health history was made in August, when the right to free period products became law in Scotland. All local authorities, schools and colleges must now ensure that tampons and sanitary towels are available to anyone who needs them.

Scotland is the first country to offer period products free of charge nationally. Others, including New Zealand and Kenya, already distribute products for free in public schools.

Missing books returned

Staff could hardly believe their eyes when two missing notebooks written by Charles Darwin were returned to the library at Cambridge University in March this year, 22 years after they were last seen.

The pair of priceless notebooks date from the late 1830s and contain the great scientist's handwritten notes and sketches from his time on the Galapagos Islands.

The identity of the person who returned the notebooks is a mystery. They were left in a pink gift bag in a part of the library with no CCTV. There was a short message with the bag: "Librarian, Happy Easter," signed with an anonymous "X".

"Conversion therapy" outlawed

In January, a new law came into force in Canada that bans so-called conversion therapy, the discredited practice that was claimed to "cure" homosexuality. It's now illegal to provide or promote services intended to change someone's sexual orientation or gender expression.

Canada joins more than a dozen other countries that have passed legislation against it, including India, Malta, Ecuador and Germany.

Show says "no" to fast fashion

Contestants on the UK dating TV show Love Island are well known for their designer beachwear and glamorous party outfits, but this year, for the first time, they all wore second-hand clothes. The beautiful young things all wore pre-loved garments selected by a celebrity stylist.

It's a first for the show, which had previously partnered with fast fashion brands, and the move has been widely applauded.

Clever recycling

A girl from Prestatyn, Wales, has found a clever way to help homeless people and reduce waste at the same time. Twelve-year-old Alyssa takes old crisp packets and turns them into survival blankets by ironing them so that they stick together. The blankets are distributed by homelessness charities, along with other survival essentials such as socks and toothpaste.

In addition to supporting homeless people, the blankets also reduce waste. As Alyssa explains: "Crisp packets are really hard to recycle, so this is a new way to stop them going in the bin."

Reducing plastic pollution

India, the world's most populous country after China, has become the latest nation to ban many single-use plastics. Non-recyclable cups, straws and ice cream sticks are among 19 plastic items outlawed in July. With a population of 1.4 billion people, India's legislation could have a huge impact on plastic pollution. India's ban is the latest sign of progress in tackling the problem of plastic waste. In March this year, world leaders from 175 nations agreed to draw up a treaty by 2024 to end plastic pollution.

Floating power

Permission has been given for the world's largest floating wind farm to be built off the coast of Wales. Once it's finished, Gwnt Glas (Welsh for "blue wind") will generate enough power for around 900,000 homes.

Floating wind farms are built on platforms. They can be installed in much deeper waters than conventional turbines, which have to be built into the seabed. This new technology is a big step forward in the provision of renewable energy, as around 80 per cent of the potential offshore wind power capacity is estimated to be in deeper waters. Floating wind farms can also accommodate fishing and shipping lanes better and reach stronger winds - and they can't be seen from the shore.

Making energy without the sun

In exciting news for the environment, we learned this year that we can now generate energy at night. A team of engineers at Stanford University announced that they have developed solar panels that can generate electricity after sundown.

The new solar cells use a thermoelectric generator that can make electricity from the small difference in temperature between the air outside and the solar cells themselves.

Of course, solar panels that can generate electricity at night are more efficient than traditional panels and can help to make energy production more sustainable. It's another small step towards the goal of a carbon-free future.

Hope for the Great Barrier Reef

The coral in Australia's Great Barrier Reef reproduces naturally every spring, making new young coral. This spawning always happens after a full moon and requires specific water temperatures. This year, researchers achieved the same coral spawning in a laboratory - in the winter.

This breakthrough will give scientists more opportunities to support the growth of the coral and the health of this amazing and endangered ecosystem.

Crab shell batteries

In the future, we may all be using eco-friendly batteries made with a chemical found in crab and lobster shells, according to a team at the University of Maryland.

As we move towards a future with more electric vehicles, the question of safe, efficient and sustainable batteries becomes even more important. Conventional batteries contain a lot of harmful chemicals - they can be corrosive or flammable and take hundreds or thousands of years to break down. So, the discovery that we could instead use chitin, a natural chemical found in the shells of crustaceans, has been widely welcomed. Animal welfare is, of course, a concern, but restaurants and food factories are currently throwing away all their shells anyway, so the new batteries could make use of this potentially valuable waste material.

If you'd like to read more good news, go to www.spotlight-online.de/goodnews