Art & Good News 7-19-2025
Weekly roundup for July 19th, 2025 with art and uplifting stories.
From my Art-chive…
Every country has different ways of celebrating veterans. In the United States, especially around a veteran-related holiday (Memorial Day, for example), you will see various veterans groups scattered about on roadsides asking for donations. Often, these come with a small cloth poppy flower that you can then hang from your window. When I was a kid, I would be the most excited about the Tootsie Roll that came with the donation more than the flower, but as I have grown, I have come to really appreciate the flower as well. As a tradition, I believe it goes back to England and WWI, but I am not up on that piece of history to be a hundred percent accurate on that. Hopefully, when you see these poppies, you think of the veterans in your life like I do, and also, I hope you’re having a wonderful week.
Now to the Good News…
A splash of good news for oceans: new plastic dissolves in seawater in just hours
Scientists from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and the University of Tokyo have developed a new kind of plastic that completely dissolves in seawater within an hour without a trace. It will even fully break down in soil after about 200 hours. This material is particularly special because it is not toxic, not flammable, and doesn’t release carbon dioxide either. There are also no microplastics left behind. If this scales up commercially, it could be a game changer.
How Kids Are Learning Empathy at School
Empathy is like a muscle. We need to work it to keep it strong and expose ourselves to new and different perspectives in order to develop our empathy further. To that end, there are programs that are working to develop and strengthen empathy in children, and the results are showing that the programs are decreasing bullying in schools.
Scientists transplant crossbred corals to help save Miami’s reefs from climate change
Scientists from the University of Miami, the Florida Aquarium, and Tela Marine in Honduras are working together to crossbreed coral from both locations in order to restore the reefs that have suffered from bleaching due to climate change.
Till next time keep looking for the good news, and see you in two weeks with more good news.
The story about the plastic is incredible! It’s definitely good news!