🧵 As 2025 draws to a close we’re continuing our tradition of gathering our favourite stories of the year, this time with a twist, 9 themes over 9 days, 11 stories in each. 1st stop in this whistle-stop tour of 2025: 'Health & Safety' (and obviously we're not just talking OH&S box-ticking here).

‘I can’t think of a place more pristine’: 133,000 hectares of Chilean Patagonia preserved after local fundraising

No such thing as a free lunch? What about 100 million free lunches? That's how many London’s free-school-meals programme has officially delivered since its launch in 2023. tinyurl.com/22q6kp7d

No such thing as a free lunch? What about 100 million free lunches? That's how many London’s free-school-meals programme has officially delivered since its launch in 2023. Provided to all state primary school children in London, these meals have saved families an estimated £500 per child per year:

“I could not contain the joy of people in the room”. Words from one of the 80 recipients to receive a share of $250 million awarded by Melinda French Gates to organisations that provide health care for women across the world. tinyurl.com/2ytmgzbm

137303 is a prime number, but 137294 is the number of community health workers that will be primed for deployment throughout Tanzania by 2028 under a new scheme that aims to close the gap created by previously informal, under-resourced care. tinyurl.com/27bfp83u

In the mid 2000's we feared a collapse of their population along India's coast, now they're staging a million-nest comeback. Olive Ridley Turtles are a both a conservation and a tourism success story with the Velas Turtle Festival attracting thousands every year. tinyurl.com/29xs7hqc

Did you know Greece has brown bears? Given their numbers declined to the low hundreds by the 1990s perhaps not. However, since then hunting bans and long-term conservation efforts have been turning that statistic around. Current estimate 870. tinyurl.com/26nrwdty

Do you live in a grid-locked city? Let's hope your city planners have spotted what Montreal's been up to. Their new driverless metro makes them a frontrunner in cheap, fast transit.with 14 stations launched in late November 2025, and planned extensions through 2027. tinyurl.com/24nzvlw2

Devil ray care. Oh, and manta ray care too. Members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have extended the highest level of statutory protection to these wonderful winged water beasts. tinyurl.com/2c48xqc5

When it was named, São Paulo’s Rio Pinheiros ("Pines River") was no doubt idyllic. By 2019 it had been festering for decades as an open sewer. Thankfully, it is running visibly cleaner again after a dedicated clean up campaign with many knock-on benefits. tinyurl.com/236xfwud

North America a mere 6 generations ago. Wolves, pumas, black bears, grizzlies are just a menace. Systematically eradicated with tragic efficiency. But the resulting wound is healing. In the past 50 years these predators have reclaimed millions of square kilometres of habitat. tinyurl.com/246qeav8

"Invasive Species." An unsettling phrase, given that humans often fit into that category. All the more reason to for us to reflect on our own relation to ecosystem health as we undertake the beneficial work of eradicating them, as South Africa is doing with great results. tinyurl.com/23v2xpkz

Roadkill. The daily impacts of bodies on vehicles reverberate out through our ecosystems. Is there a way to avoid this mundane tragedy? Yes, Banff's national park system has proven the model, and Canada is copying it along British Columbia’s Highway 93. tinyurl.com/23k69l8w

“Clean, beautiful coal.” as President Trump insists everyone in his administration call it. But operating a coal plant now costs more than building new wind and solar in every state. The war against coal is already won, the only question now is how long it will last. tinyurl.com/27f5bbrn

Think Saudi Arabia. Think Oil. Hmm, that word association is definitely losing some of its currency. The desert nation has just locked in one of the world’s largest clean energy deals in a single financing. tinyurl.com/2bcxbc5g

"Increase strawberry yield by 18%". Sounds to goo to be true. Some kind of chemical fertilizer with terrible side effects? No. Well, what's the secret? Simply growing them under solar panels seems to do the trick. tinyurl.com/26d65bqx

It may not come as shock that US federal science has suffered an unprecedented assault this year. But let's counter that with some reassuring news: the US National Science Foundation has sustained roughly $8.17 billion in research commitments in 2025, matching 2024 levels. tinyurl.com/23w7fvla

If you were nipping out for some ingredients, 200 million kilometres would be a bit of stretch. But these are the 'ingredients of life', and the fact they've been found on a 'nearby' asteroid lends support to the idea that life on Earth came from outer space. tinyurl.com/22622h33

'Empty Spain'. Demographic shift towards cities has emptied Spain's rural areas. You might think that rewilding would accelerate this trend, but it's having the opposite effect. In the Iberian Highlands, its helping local business gain sustainable footing. tinyurl.com/292acfpq

This one has 'classic children's book' written all over it: 'Rhys the Welsh Police dog saves the day in Africa catching naughty poachers'. Except this very inspiring tale of tremendous feats is entirely non-fiction (aside from the name Rhys). tinyurl.com/286gebln

What do you get if you cross 3 million tons of dirt from a train tunnel excavation with a dried up saltwater marsh that's been sinking for 400 years? A hugely successful bird refuge, of course! (One which held nearly 40,000 birds last winter) tinyurl.com/23n7jyxe

“Britain has just made history. Closing the door to new exploration marks the beginning of the end of oil and gas in this country." If the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution can do it... tinyurl.com/2b53hee3

Words on paper affect the fate of trees. And there are words currently flying back and forth, in preparation for a huge overhaul Australia's environmental laws, that will affect the wellbeing of whole ecosystems for generations to come. tinyurl.com/22w96wwz

Extreme poverty. Eliminated. Whilst that proclamation is still a way off globally, the Indian state of Kerala, home to over 60 million people, is now able to declare it. A huge journey from over 60% of the population in the 1970s, and a model of hope for the rest of the world. tinyurl.com/267rx8yz

Meet the Dells. They've just sliced $6.25 billion off their $148bn fortune to beef up the US government's 'Trump accounts' scheme for children born between 2025 and 2028, each account seeded with a $1,000 deposit and invested in an index fund that matures at adulthood. tinyurl.com/29r2nyne

Here's Bill opening the gates to release another $1.4 billion into the world. The strategic intent of this flow is to support smallholder climate adaptation in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and will include expanding access to innovations that boost crop yields. tinyurl.com/2bojl7ne

Difficulty breathing, eye problems, jaw problems. The list goes on... and all generated by humans breeding pets for aesthetics. Outlawing such breeding is just one of the new EU-wide welfare rules for dogs and cats. tinyurl.com/29bu2go7

Researchers in Brazil identified anti-inflammatory properties of a cream made with the propolis of Amazon stingless bees, with results similar to commercial healing ointments.

Measles deaths collapsing, solar covering most new US power demand, turtles and bears rebounding, Gaza engineers building lifesaving devices from scrap, and breakthroughs from HIV remission to quantum stability. The world is changing faster than the headlines suggest. fixthenews.com/p/322-shinga...

Another win emerging from the margins of COP30: the "Belem Call for the Forests of the Congo Basin," a multinational pledge of over $2.5 billion for the Congo Basin rainforest, aimed at ending deforestation by 2030. tinyurl.com/22pmb2t8

“In a country where destruction is still ongoing, rewilding has become a rare story of renewal: a reminder that even in times of conflict, life finds a way to begin again.” In Ukraine wetland restoration is engaging frontline soldiers and their families in ecological healing. tinyurl.com/2a33ug32

Adjutant n. 1. a military officer who acts as an administrative assistant. 2. a large black-and-white stork with a massive bill. Fortunately there will now be greater numbers of the latter after a conservation breakthrough in Cambodia. tinyurl.com/27cheph7

Cabo Verde, Mauritius and Seychelles - the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate both measles and rubella. Two decades of intense regional strategic commitment: two-dose vaccination, periodic mass campaigns, intensive surveillance and stronger outbreak response. tinyurl.com/242le48e

What happens when you make bus travel free throughout your city? Iowa City can tell you. They scrapped bus fares in 2023 and delivered a measurable mode shift: residents drove 2.9 million fewer kilometres and annual emissions fell by 24,000 tonnes of CO₂. The policy continues. tinyurl.com/25dygah5

Rewilding. What is it? (And what is it not?) One thing for sure: it's a field that has expanded faster than its definitions. The world's first formal rewilding standard is now redressing this, with a framework for restoring ecological processes and reintroducing species. tinyurl.com/2ac5pnea

The formal outcome of COP30 may have been weak, but on the margins, there was plenty of progress. A prime example: Brazil's pledge to bring all 5.7 million km² of their national waters under sustainable management within the next 5 years. tinyurl.com/2aps55h9

20+ years of adolescence? Turns our brains "re-wire" around 9 and don't shift again into their 'adult' pattern until we're 32. Two more "epochs" then await us with major shifts at 66 and 83. Do these findings tally with your own experience of life's transitions? tinyurl.com/2cb75xma

What happens when you make childcare free and universal? New Mexico are about to find out, having recently become the first US state to do so. This new move eliminates income tests and co-pays, raises wages for educators and will save some families more than $12,000 a year. tinyurl.com/23up3oa4

Vultures filling the skies, a classic horror meme of impending death. And yet the reappearance of these keystone scavengers signals the revival of functioning ecosystems, stabilising food webs and limiting disease. Spain, Bulgaria and Romania are all witnessing this comeback. tinyurl.com/2cvoqt72

On a stormy night in 2023, the much beloved 150-year-old Sycamore Gap Tree on Hadrian's Wall was felled mysteriously and illegally. Now that loss is turning into living legacy as 49 of its saplings take root as “trees of hope” in places shaped by hardship and resilience. tinyurl.com/28da35cg

So let me get this straight, you've created a vending machine for Crows? Yup. And and you've trained them to 'buy' seeds by dropping cigarette butts into a slot? Yup. And this idea emerged as an urban refuse solution? Yup. Wow. tinyurl.com/2yqfhwx8

Like Sleeping Beauty this land has been undisturbed by human interaction for 100 years. Now intrepid hikers, campers and kayakers will once again get to awaken their senses amidst the splendour of 6,000 pristine acres around Follensby Pond in New York’s Adirondacks. tinyurl.com/24cmuekt

For 400 years Scotland's "most beautiful" glen has suffered a particular silence - the missing gnaw and splash of the beaver. Now those sounds have returned, and with them the promise of new wetlands that slow floods, clean water and boost biodiversity across the catchment. tinyurl.com/245qs42u

The fen orchid. It sounds like a flower of the fairy realm, and was nearly lost to this world due to decimation of its habitat. Reduced to 3 sites across the UK in 2010, it is now flourishing, having left the threatened list thanks to the work of dedicated conservationists. tinyurl.com/28b4os84

Restore a river. Heal a human. One doctor's push for sewage plants across the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region in southeastern Brazil has sparked a transformation of urban waterways that is reducing disease and reviving biodiversity. tinyurl.com/23k8u5wl

Mosquitos. That evil whine. The anxious anticipation of the sting and the itch. And they literally suck our blood! Surely there must be a way to deal with this menace? How about an engineered fungus that lures and kills them with its irresistible scent? tinyurl.com/27u6htdh

Batteries are getting better the boring way. Forget sci-fi chemistry breakthroughs, it's steady tweaks that provide the real action in EV batteries: cheaper LFP cells, higher-nickel packs with more range, dry-electrode lines that cut costs, a bit of silicon for faster charging tinyurl.com/22j6d9fn

When did workers start standing up for their rights? "Sounds a bit Marxist, maybe 1880s?" "What about Wat Tyler in 1380s England, surely peasants are workers too!" Keep going. The 3,150-year-old Turin Strike papyrus offers a detailed account of striking royal tomb artisans. tinyurl.com/29822yb2

"Oh darling, I love you so! I yearn for your [non-aggressive, mouth-to-mouth contact with lip or mouthpart movement and no food exchange]" Yes, there are scientists that study kissing. One team has even reconstructed an evolutionary “family tree” of the behaviour. tinyurl.com/22nlztbf