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In the headlines...

🎶 Spotify said it pulled more than 50 million AI slop and spam songs from user recommendations over the past year, and made changes to prioritize human-made songs, though it is still not labeling AI-generated content.

🇧🇷 Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won a historic fourth term in what’s seen as a win for the environment, health care, education, and the country’s constitution.

🇷🇸 The long-serving, increasingly authoritarian leader of Serbia conceded defeat in a historic election to a student-led movement that had spent two years protesting his government.

Science & medicine

A personalized mRNA-based melanoma vaccine significantly reduced the risk of cancer recurrence or death

In a new clinical trial, a personalized mRNA-based melanoma vaccine reduced the risk of recurrence or death within two years by 42%.

The vaccine is custom-made to target the unique genetic mutations of each person’s melanoma, and is the first of its kind to show positive results in a phase III trial.

Of the trial patients who received the vaccine alongside an immunotherapy treatment, 82% were alive and recurrence-free after two years, compared to 70% who only received the traditional melanoma treatment.

Why is this good news? The vaccine’s success could have positive implications for other types of cancer, too, and one doctor said the findings were “a foundational shift in our approach to cancer” that had “not been achieved before in the history of cancer drug development.”

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More Good News

​Scientists are transferring and storing U.S. climate data in Germany. The move comes amid fears that the Trump administration could meddle with the data ahead of the next critical United Nations climate assessment.

​A free Turnstile benefit concert raised more than $209,000 to support humanitarian work in Palestine, Sudan, and Lebanon. An estimated 60,000 people attended the free concert, held on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., reaching capacity as some fans watched from outside the event barricades.

​A Florida city is paying residents to replace their grass lawns with drought-resistant native plants. Tampa’s Florida-Friendly Landscaping Incentive Program gives homeowners rebates for replacing portions of their lawns with Florida-friendly plants, saving them money on their water bill and providing habitat for critical pollinators and native species.

​Volunteers just planted more than 109,000 trees to create a new forested area. (May require login) The volunteers have planted more than 500,000 trees in the last two growing seasons to “support wildlife, help tackle climate change, and improve wellbeing.”

​Tech giants in Finland announced a plan to help Ukraine build its own sovereign satellite system. The country currently relies on Starlink, run by U.S.-based SpaceX, but it’s not reliable and has seen repeated, ongoing disruptions in recent weeks.

Animals

Oregon Zoo shares footage of rescued sea otters playing basketball with pumpkins: ‘It plays a critical role in their well-being’

→ Read more (and watch!)

good progress

A record number of women are running for state legislatures in the US this year

In the 2026 midterm elections, a record 3,824 women are running for state legislatures across the 46 states with seats on the ballot, up from the previous record of 3,621 women candidates in 2022.

Women make up just over one-third of all state legislative candidates this midterm election cycle, and more than two-thirds of the candidates are Democrats.

While the U.S. currently has a record level of representation in state legislatures, about one-third, it’s nowhere near parity. Republicans also lag significantly behind, as about 64% of women in state legislatures are Democrats.

→ Read more​

More Good bits

👻 Hundreds of houses are getting spooky for a good cause.

📚 What we buy does matter, and this new book can prove it.

🎸 Raffi says technology changes, but kids don’t.

🚌 Quick, heroic thinking saved a school bus filled with children.

🦅 For a better brain, look to the birds!

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