Doomslayer: Progress Roundup

Dec 07, 2025

Economics & Development

Despite trade tensions driven by the United States, forecasters now expect the global economy to grow 2.7 percent in 2025, beating some pessimistic forecasts from earlier this year. The sunnier predictions are based partly on falling energy prices and a robust 4.8 percent increase in global goods trade.

A recently published survey from the IUCN counted 135,690 African forest elephants between 2016 and 2024, 16 percent more than the previous attempt (2006-2015). The increase is partly due to better detection—this time around, the researchers used DNA signatures in dung to track individual elephants—so it’s not clear whether it reflects a real recovery.
Since 1949, China’s forest cover has grown from 10 percent of its land area to 25 percent, partly thanks to government efforts to halt desertification. The reforestation has been so extensive that it has altered the country’s water cycle.
The Fen Orchid is no longer “under threat” in Britain after conservationists successfully restored the rare plant to multiple sites across the island.
Wolves, bears, and boars are growing in number in Greece. A wildlife specialist referenced in the article credits milder winters and the falling popularity of hunting.

Zanskar Geothermal and Minerals, a geothermal energy company, has discovered a commercially viable geothermal reservoir in Nevada using an AI model that predicts the location of geothermal activity. The site had been entirely overlooked: it showed no surface signs of heat and had no history of exploration.

Zero hurricanes made landfall in the continental United States this year—the first time this has happened since 2015. And while hurricanes in the North Atlantic were 9 percent more intense this year compared to the 1991-2020 average, throughout the entire Northern Hemisphere, hurricane intensity was 19 percent lower than usual.

Since 2022, Gavi, an international partnership that funds and supports vaccination programs, has helped increase the number of girls in low-income countries protected by the HPV vaccine nearly sevenfold—from 13 million to 86 million—saving around a million lives.
Eswatini and Zambia have received their first doses of lenacapavir, which prevents HIV infection with just two yearly injections. The United States Department of State, Gilead Sciences, and the Global Fund have committed to providing at least 2 million doses to various HIV-afflicted countries by 2028.
In Clemmons, North Carolina, Duke University researchers are sending defibrillators by drone to real 911 calls, the first program of its kind in the US. The drones’ median response time is 2 to 3 minutes faster than an ambulance, giving bystanders a chance to start lifesaving treatment sooner.
Belite Bio may have developed the first treatment for Stargardt disease, a genetic disorder that causes vision loss in children. Its experimental pill slowed retinal damage by about 36 percent in a recent trial, offering the first real hope of delaying the condition, which currently has no cure.
Okava Pharmaceuticals is developing a GLP-1 weight loss drug for obese cats.

NASA has recovered samples from the asteroid Bennu that contain ribose and glucose, simple sugars necessary for building basic biological molecules like RNA. The discovery adds to earlier findings from Bennu containing amino acids and other life-linked chemicals, strengthening the idea that asteroids may have delivered some of the ingredients of life to Earth.
Agricultural drones are spreading worldwide, especially across East and Southeast Asia. They’re mainly used to spray agrochemicals—a job that, in many poorer countries, is still carried out by hand.

According to the Associated Press, there have been just 17 mass killings in the United States so far this year, the lowest number in their record since 2006.