Notices by Ada Palmer (adapalmer@wandering.shop)

Puffins have returned to Northern Ireland’s Isle of Muck (seriously, that’s its name) for the first time in at least 25 years. Tales of puffins on the island “felt more like folklore,” said nature reserves manager Andy Crory, but now they’re coming back. A programme of rat eradication began in 2017 and winter grazing has been implemented to keep vegetation low, so predator cover is reduced. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgjded7v0neo?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Countries strengthen the systems that keep the water flowing. The World Bank reports a quiet but significant global shift: countries are rebuilding their water systems to reach more people and to survive changes in climate. Across its active portfolio, 75.5 million additional people have benefited from safer water, sanitation or hygiene services in the last year, with climate resilience now embedded in nearly all new projects.https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/the-global-water-security-and-sanitation-partnership-gwsp-2025-annual-report?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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US scientists have created the first comprehensive atlas of brain development, charting how stem cells turn into neurons and other brain cells during early life. Using hundreds of thousands of human and mice cells, researchers mapped the precise genetic switches that guide each stage of cortical growth. The project, part of the U.S. BRAIN Initiative, gives neuroscientists an unprecedented reference for studying autism, schizophrenia and brain repair. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03641-0?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email #ShareGoodNewsToo

At the Japan Mobility Show 2025, Toyota revealed Walk Me, a four-legged autonomous chair designed to transform mobility. Unlike wheelchairs, Walk Me well, walks: its robotic legs can climb stairs, cross gravel and manoeuvre on rough ground. Lidar, collision radars and weight sensors keep riders centred and safe; a day-long battery targets real daily use. Interesting Engineering https://interestingengineering.com/transportation/toyotas-walk-me-robotic-chair?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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British and Australian chemists have discovered a powerful new antibiotic called pre-methylenomycin C lactone, hiding in a well-known soil bacterium that produces another drug, methylenomycin A. This molecule however, is 100 times more potent than methylenomycin A and kills drug-resistant bacteria without triggering resistance. The find could reshape antibiotic discovery and revive the fight against superbugs. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251029002855.htm?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Doctors in China have used lab-grown insulin-producing cells to treat a woman with type 1 diabetes. The cells were made from her own tissue, reprogrammed into stem cells, and then grown into tiny clusters that release insulin. A year after the transplant, her blood sugar remains normal without medication. It’s the first time in history that a person with type 1 diabetes has been freed from insulin injections using cells made from their own body. https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)01022-5?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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In Ecuador’s Pastaza province, the Kichwa community of Pakayaku has kept 400 km² of Amazon rainforest free from mining, oil and logging through a self-organised guardian force. 45 women patrol the territory, enforcing ancestral laws and mapping sustainable livelihoods in a “plan of life.” Their vigilance has preserved both forest ecosystems and cultural autonomy amid growing national extractive pressures. https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/indigenous-guardians-successfully-keep-extractives-out-of-ecuadors-amazon-forests/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Christiana Figueres: The global south is now leading the clean-energy revolution. The architect of the Paris Agreement argues that while politics remain paralysed, economics and technology are driving unstoppable change, led by emerging economies from Nigeria to Oman. Clean industries are scaling at exponential speed across the global south - home to 70% of the world’s wind and solar potential. The Economist https://archive.li/2AHpU
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Behold the zipper’s first upgrade in over a century. YKK, the Japanese company that makes about half the world’s zippers, has created a zipper that removes the traditional fabric tape, creating a lighter, more flexible, lower-impact closure that sits flush with garments. It requires new machinery, but by trimming fibre and dye, it cuts waste at massive scale. Early adopters include The North Face. WIRED https://www.wired.com/story/the-zipper-is-getting-its-first-major-upgrade-in-100-years/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Two young mathematicians just broke a 330-year-old geometry riddle. Jakob Steininger, 30, and Sergey Yurkevich, 29, friends since maths-Olympiad days, have discovered the first known shape that can’t pass through a copy of itself, overturning a belief dating back to Prince Rupert’s 17th-century bet. A delightfully nerdy milestone that closes a 330-year chapter in geometry’s history. Quanta Magazine https://www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-found-that-cant-pass-through-itself-20251024/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Maldives eliminates mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B. No babies were born with HIV or syphilis in 2022–23, and hepatitis B has vanished among children. The WHO is calling it a “triple elimination,” the world’s first of its kind. https://www.who.int/news/item/13-10-2025-maldives-becomes-the-first-country-to-achieve-triple-elimination-of-mother-to-child-transmission-of-hiv-syphilis-and-hepatitis-b?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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After a century of bans on Indigenous burning, California tribes are restoring ‘good fire’ to the land. New laws now recognise tribal sovereignty to conduct cultural burns - small, intentional fires that nourish native plants, strengthen biodiversity and reduce megafire risk. In northern California, fire practitioners are now teaching new generations to read landscapes and burn safely, blending traditional knowledge with modern ecology to restore balance https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2025/tribes-cultural-burning-california-wildfires/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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MIT and Harvard researchers have re-engineered the immune system’s first responders, natural killer cells, so they can hunt tumours without being fought by the rest of the immune system. In mouse models, they wiped out most lymphoma cells within weeks, stayed active longer, and avoided the dangerous immune storms that plague some CAR-T therapies. MIT https://news.mit.edu/2025/engineered-natural-killer-cells-could-help-fight-cancer-1008?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Solar in California now out-generates fossil fuels. California’s vast solar farms, now backed by giant batteries, have flipped the state’s electricity balance, driving record emissions drops and lower power prices. The shift, built on three years of storage expansion, shows how clean energy can run an economy the size of France’s without the grid collapsing. Reuters https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/californias-solar-battery-combo-packs-transformational-punch-2025-10-03/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Alzheimer’s reversed in mice as scientists restore the brain’s ‘gatekeeper.’ Spanish and Chinese researchers have reversed Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice using nanoparticles that repair the brain’s protective barrier. The treatment cleared up to 60% of amyloid plaques within an hour and restored memory over months by “reminding” the blood-brain barrier how to clear waste. Scientists say the approach could open new paths for treating dementia in humans. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/07/alzheimers-reversed-in-mice-under-breakthrough-treatment/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Scientists in China have developed a tough new bamboo-based plastic that biodegrades in 50 days. The new material matches the strength of engineering plastics used in cars and appliances while retaining 90% of its durability after recycling. Researchers say bamboo’s rapid growth makes it a promising, renewable alternative to oil-based plastics. New Scientist https://www.newscientist.com/article/2499052-biodegradable-plastic-made-from-bamboo-is-strong-and-easy-to-recycle/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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NASA’s Psyche spacecraft has fired off a stream of laser-encoded data across 218 million miles. And Earth caught it. The test, part of the Deep Space Optical Communications project, used California telescopes to aim and decode the faint beams, after earlier feats like streaming ultra-HD video from 19 million miles. With 65 test passes complete, the system points to a future where Mars missions swap radio crackle for broadband bursts of light. NotebookCheck https://www.notebookcheck.net/NASA-successfully-sends-and-receives-data-encoded-with-lasers-from-218-million-miles-away.1119661.0.html

We can now restore memory by recharging the brain’s batteries. French and Canadian researchers have shown that faulty mitochondria directly drive memory loss in dementia. Using a new tool to boost mitochondrial activity in mice, they restored memory performance, proving cause and effect for the first time. The work points to mitochondria as a powerful target for therapies that could slow, or even prevent, neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250811104227.htm?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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In good ocean news, Scotland is officially banning bottom trawling in 11 marine protected areas starting October 16, in a move welcomed by both environmental groups and the Scottish Fisherman’s Federation. Oceana UK https://uk.oceana.org/blog/what-scotlands-trawling-announcement-really-means-for-its-marine-protected-areas/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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Denmark is on track to wipe out the most dangerous strains of HPV. 15 years after rolling out its national HPV vaccination program, Denmark is closing in on eliminating the leading cancer-causing strains of the virus. New data shows the vaccine has all but wiped out HPV16 and HPV18 - which together cause around 70% of cervical cancers - among young women born after 2000. It's a powerful proof point for what widespread, equitable vaccine coverage can do. https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/denmark-close-wiping-out-leading-cancer-causing-hpv-strains-after-vaccine-roll-out?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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