Page 13 - The Edge Issue 8

The
Bright Side
Even through these difficult struggles, there is still good news. Story by Maisa Doan
With COVID-19 news swamping our timelines and fear of infection everywhere, it’s easy to focus on the negative. But while it’s important to acknowledge the disastrous consequences of coronavirus, it can also be essential to recognize the good in the world.
Good Things Happening Right Now
Pollution has gone down all over the world. According to NASA, thanks to the coal-burning factories in China decreasing their output, levels of Nitrogen Dioxide in Chinese air were down 30 percent in February. According to the same report, carbon emissions from China (the largest worldwide producer of greenhouse gases) are down 25 percent. The air quality in India has also improved, allowing residents two hundred kilometers away from the Himalayan Mountains to see their beauty for the first time in thirty years. Los Angeles has been experiencing its longest stretch of good air quality since 1995. Not only has air quality been better, but the canals of Venice- the famous watery city- are clearer. The shutdown decreased the numbers of tourists visiting the city, meaning that there has been less traffic on the canals. This allows the sediment to stay at the bottom instead of it moving to the top of the water’s surface. Social distancing and business shutdowns have contributed to a short-term opportunity for the world to heal.
Improvements Over the Year
There has been other good news, too, unrelated to coronavirus: in what may represent a permanent trend, the cancer death rate has decreased by 26% from a peak in 1991. Early detection of cancer has now allowed people to live longer with the illness. Also, fewer people are smoking, and for this reason many fewer Americans have been suffering from lung cancer. In 2005, twenty one out of every one hundred American adults smoked. However, in 2018, only fourteen out of every one hundred adults smoked. Many Americans have quit their habit, and many more are never picking it up to begin with, which has contributed to a new age of decreased lung cancer among the American populace.America’s rates of homelessness have also been seeing promising improvement. A little over 637,000 people were experiencing homelessness in 2010, but eight years later this number has decreased to 553,000 homeless. Before the coronavirus hit, the employment rate was at a tremendous peak, with a larger percentage of employed people in the United States than there had been since 1969. The U.S. has also become safer over the last decade. Violent crime rates have decreased: rape, robbery, and assault in the US decreased 51%from 1993 to 2018. And in good news for flowers everywhere, honeybee populations are recovering. Concern for honeybees has been one of the driving factors toward pushes for more sustainable interactions with the environment. In the winter of 2006-2007, beekeepers reported losses of bee colonies as worker bees disappeared from the hive. However, the honeybees appear to be healing, with promising growth occurring in the honeybee population since 2017.
Looking Forward
There have also been countless advances in science in the last few years, with much to look forward to for the future. Scientists are moving closer to 3D bioprinting, or the ability to print new organs and tissues from a patients’ own genetic material. Without the long, costly process of finding a matching donor, this method could enable patients to get well sooner and with less cost. Scientists are also working on neural interfacing, or the concept of a human brain connecting with a computer. While this idea may sound like science fiction, scientists have proposed that finding a way to bridge the gap between human brains and computers may be well within the realm of reality. One company that is attempting to pioneer this process is Elon Musk’s “Neuralink.” The familiar tech billionaire has been working to produce a new neural interface that uses tiny, flexible connections. These miniscule connections are so delicate that they require the steady hands of a robot trained in neurosurgery to implant them. And this concept might be a reality sooner than you think- the company has already successfully completed test trials of the device with monkeys, and are planning to implement their first human trial in 2020.
No one can deny that 2020 has presented its share of tragedy. But with negative news permeating our timelines and COVID-19 infections steadily increasing, it’s important to remember that this year still retains some positive aspects. From decreasing rates of pollution and cancer to extraordinary scientific accomplishments, 2020 still has some good to offer. 12