🤫We can neither confirm nor deny this is what actually happened.

"Let’s tone down the talk of Armageddon and wrestle with the problems at hand as what they are — part of our messy democracy, and not some fatal aberration from an idealized, mythical past," writes TPN founder Zachary Karabell. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

🧚‍♂️To an American politician, an approval rating of 70% is the stuff of fantasies. 🇲🇽It’s reality, however, for Mexico’s first female (and Jewish) president, Claudia Sheinbaum, who recently completed her first year in office. 🤔What do Mexicans have to be so happy about? 🧐Let's talk about it.

🇱🇹📉The Daily Dose via @reasonstobecheerful.world 🇱🇹📉 Lithuania has halved its suicide rate since 2004. How did they do it?

🤔Remember how California was part of Spain for 300 years? 🎭These playwrights do. 🤓Join Luis Alfaro, Diana Burbano, and June Carryl in conversation on Nov 20th at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes as they talk about the legacy of the 17th century comedia on Los Angeles.

😮This year, one country has had the courage to ban smoking for everyone born after 2006.

🌍📈The Daily Dose via @ourworldindata.org 📈🌍 In 1900, 31% of primary school-age boys and 23% of primary school-age girls were enrolled in school globally. By 2023, that number had shot up to 91% of boys and 89% of girls worldwide were enrolled in primary school.

🤔Next up? 🦷They're starting human trials next year.

🤔Menstruation is routine for half the population, so how can we reduce the stigma around it? 🎙️Managing editor of ASU Media Enterprise, @miaaarmstrong.bsky.social spoke with @btsamuelsonmd.bsky.social , director of classical hematology @clevelandclinic.bsky.social about promoting better care.

🧠The VA is expanding their psychedelic-assisted therapy trials for veterans diagnosed with PTSD, treatment resistant depression, and anxiety disorders. 💊If the outcomes from these trials remain positive, they could pursue FDA fast-track consideration.

📵🇺🇸The Daily Dose via @apnews.com 🇺🇸📵 In October, Wisconsin became the 36th state in the US to limit cellphones in schools. The measure passed with bipartisan support.

😮Cavities may be much rarer in the future. 🦷Scientists have created a gel that regenerates tooth enamel! www.newscientist.com/article/2502...

😎3 Things That Went Right😎 💊31 states have enacted laws to lower prescription drug costs in 2025 📉Global maternal mortality fell by 41% between 2000 and 2023 🐢The green sea turtle has been reclassified as a “species of least concern,” after almost going extinct theprogressnetwork.org/tobacco-endg...

"So, in all respects, it was a good week for American democracy and civic and legal engagement," writes TPN founder Zachary Karabell. "You wouldn’t know that in the partisan heated fray of public discourse, but don’t let the noise drown out the facts." edgyoptimist.substack.com/p/tariffs-an...

🌳🇨🇳The Daily Dose via @yalee360.bsky.social 🇨🇳🌳 Since 1990, China has added 170 million acres of forest (roughly the size of Texas).

"Democracy in Iraq is precarious, distorted, and repeatedly betrayed. But it still exists, and that alone is worth defending," writes TPN member Faisal Saeed Al Mutar. "Iraq’s only real choice is perseverance." www.themiddleeastuncovered.com/p/fifteen-ye...

🇲🇻The Maldives just became the first in the world to institute a generational tobacco ban! 📉And generally global tobacco use is down all over the world. 🤔Let's talk about it. theprogressnetwork.org/tobacco-endg...

🇧🇷📉The Daily Dose via @telegraphnews.bsky.social 🇧🇷📉 Between 2000 and 2023, teenage pregnancies in Brazil fell by 50%!

🚗EVs have exploded in popularity in Nepal. 🖊️Editor's Note: We made this video before the regime change in Nepal. As far as we know, the new government is keeping the same policies.

⚖️In the wake of the Gisèle Pelicot case, France has amended their law to say that all sexual acts done to another person without consent constitute rape. 👏The bill says that consent must be "free and informed, specific, prior and revocable" and cannot be inferred from "silence or lack of reaction."

🥳Brazil has recorded their biggest drop in emissions in 15 years! 🌳According to Brazil's @obsclima.bsky.social, a network of environmental NGOs, the country's emissions fell by 16.7% year-on-year, thanks to the fight against deforestation. www.lemonde.fr/en/environme...

📉🌏The Daily Dose via the United Nations 📉🌏 Only 36 polio cases have been reported so far in 2025, which is down 99.9% from 1988.

Better late than never.

🤔What's a man's secret weapon? "Kindness," says TPN member @profgalloway.com in his conversation with Chris Williamson. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nDy...

😮Scientists have discovered 30 new species in the bottom of the Southern Ocean! 🤩Our favorite? 💀The carnivorous “death ball” sponge. e360.yale.edu/digest/south...

🇺🇸📉The Daily Dose via @thetrace.org 🇺🇸📉 In 150 of America's most gun-violent cities, 75% of them saw a drop in shootings this year, according to a new analysis by @thetrace.org ’s Gun Violence Data Hub.

🌲Deforestation has slowed in EVERY world region over the past decade, according to a new United Nations report. news.un.org/en/story/202...

"It might strike you as unscientific to believe in the unseen, but the truth is the opposite: A good deal of the way today’s scientists understand the world operates at a purely theoretical level," writes TPN member Arthur Brooks. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

For 100 years, Egypt’s scientists have watched as their nation’s story was largely told by institutions from Europe and the United States, but tomorrow, the Grand Egyptian Museum opens to the public go.nature.com/3JIBoM7

By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections go.nature.com/4hJ4d7K

Life expectancy has increased at all ages

☀️Australian households in three states will be promised access to at least 3 hours a day of free solar power, regardless of whether they have rooftop panels. 🏘️The “solar sharer” offer will be available to homes with smart meters, with other areas to potentially follow in 2027.

🇹🇯💸The Daily Dose via The World Bank 🇹🇯💸 In 2010, only 8% of households in Tajikistan were middle-class, which is defined as those living on more than $15 per person a day. By 2024, that number has shot up to 33%!

☀️ It's a start.

🇨🇳🚗The Daily Dose via @ourworldindata.org 🚗🇨🇳 In 2020, only 6% of new cars sold in China were electric. By 2024, that number had jumped to 48%.

💊The first hormone-free treatment for menopause symptoms has been approved by the @fda.gov. “It works by blocking the brain chemicals responsible for hot flashes and night sweats,” reports @cnn.com . edition.cnn.com/2025/10/24/h...

😍3 Things That Went Right 😍 🌲Deforestation has slowed in every world region over the past decade, according to a new United Nations report 📉Teenage pregnancies are plummeting in Brazil 🐳One of the planet’s rarest whales is showing encouraging signs of recovery theprogressnetwork.org/hope-research/

👏Helsinki went from July 2024 to July 2025 without a single traffic death! ✍️Here's what we can learn from their success.

"On the one hand, your grandmother probably taught you that money can’t buy happiness. On the other, today’s dominant culture insists that it can," writes TPN member Arthur Brooks. "So who’s right: grandma or the zeitgeist?" www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The secret to a happy, successful life. theprogressnetwork.org/hope-research/

Humanity’s history is a continuous battle between us and the microbes. For most of our history, we were on the losing side. It wasn’t even close. We were losing very decisively.

🌍📉The Daily Dose via @who.int 🌍📉 900 million fewer people have been affected by neglected tropical diseases since 1990. How come? Two decades ago, the WHO consolidated disease-specific activities under a single program dedicated to all NTDs.

🫖AI is about to spill the tea on a lot of ancient texts. (Not literally. That would be bad.)

🤔How can we decrease our anxiety about the future? 🔮"If we want to change the future, we need to change the story we’re telling about the future," says @edfinn.bsky.social , the director of ASU's Center for Science and Imagination, in his conversation with @miaaarmstrong.bsky.social.

😮Researchers in Egypt have unearthed a 3,500 year old military fortress in the Sinai desert. 🍞They've found pottery vessels, ovens, and some truly ancient fossilized dough. www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a...

Ooh yeah baby, the money just can't get enough of that good clean energy. Renewables drew a record $386 billion in investment in the first half of 2025, up 10% year-on-year, taking global clean-energy investment to a record high.  https://f.mtr.cool/brnnyqrwnn

💡🇰🇪The Daily Dose via @ourworldindata.org 🇰🇪💡 According to data from the World Bank, 30 years ago, only 5% of people in Kenya had access to electricity. By 2023, that number had skyrocketed to 76%! ourworldindata.org/data-insight...

👀This is how we imagine it going down.

"Many people think hope is just wishful thinking or naive optimism. But the science tells a very different story," writes Clay Routledge. "Hope is a cognitive and motivational resource essential to both individual and societal flourishing, and it can be cultivated and shared."

🇺🇾Uruguay has become the first country in Latin America to pass a law that allows euthanasia. 🏥The bill allows mentally sound adults in the terminal stage of an irreversible disease to opt for the procedure to be performed by a healthcare professional.