Economics & Development

Thanks to sustained economic growth, Laos’s national poverty rate fell from 24.6 percent in 2012 to 15 percent in 2024, according to a recent World Bank poverty profile. The report also notes that Laotian inequality has fallen in recent years, as living standards among rural and poorer households rose faster than average.

Energy & Environment

Conservationists have established a new wild population of Sumatran orangutans in Indonesia. After nearly 200 orangutans were released into the Jantho Pine Forest Nature Reserve, the population is now reproducing naturally, with at least 10 births recorded in the reserve.
According to the latest national report, the number of wild tigers in Nepal has reached 429, up from an estimated 121 in 2009.
As large predator populations recover in North America, they may be making roads safer for people as well as helping restore ecosystems. A recent study on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula found that deer were 15 percent less likely to linger near roads in areas frequented by mountain lions, reducing the chances of deer-vehicle collisions by an estimated 67 percent.

3 Proton Lithium, a Nevada mining company, says it has identified what may be the largest known tungsten deposit in the United States, containing an estimated 1.78 million metric tons of the metal. If commercially recoverable, the contained tungsten would be equivalent to centuries of current US consumption.
The world’s installed solar capacity surpassed three terawatts this year, according to BloombergNEF, less than two years after reaching two terawatts and four years after reaching one. China still accounts for most of the growth in global solar capacity, but a rising share now comes from cheap Chinese panels installed in developing countries.
Casey Handmer, the founder of Terraform Industries, says the startup has demonstrated an electrolyzer that can produce more than 99.9 percent pure hydrogen from water, while running directly on solar power, for under $2 per kilogram—roughly the cost level the US Department of Energy targeted for 2026. Terraform’s goal is to eventually combine hydrogen with carbon dioxide captured from the air to produce synthetic fuels.

Tampa General Hospital is preparing to launch what it says will be the first drone system in the United States that delivers blood directly to the scene of traumatic injuries, allowing transfusions to begin on the spot. Average delivery times are expected to be under three minutes across the initial 70-square-mile service area.
A weekly HIV pill has succeeded in two Phase 3 trials. The pill was found to be as effective as standard daily treatments at keeping the virus suppressed, offering patients a simpler alternative to daily medication.
The FDA has approved an mRNA flu vaccine. Unlike conventional flu vaccines, which take about six months to manufacture, mRNA vaccines can be produced in two to three months, potentially allowing each shot to better match that year’s flu strains. In a trial of more than 40,000 adults, mFlusiva reduced the risk of contracting the flu by 26.6 percent compared with a standard vaccine.
A large observational study of close to 53,000 people with type 2 diabetes and heart disease found that those taking the weight-loss and diabetes drug tirzepatide had a 33 percent lower risk of heart attack compared with those taking the non-GLP-1 diabetes drug sitagliptin.
The FDA has approved the first drug for narcolepsy that targets the disorder’s underlying cause rather than its symptoms. The newly approved drug, Orzeyful, mimics a brain chemical that people with narcolepsy type 1 lack, helping restore control over their sleep.

Software developers in Africa are increasingly taking advantage of cheap, open-weight AI models from China to build tools for agriculture, education, legal services, and business. Unlike flagship American models, these Chinese models can often be downloaded, modified, and run independently, enabling greater customization and avoiding subscription fees.
A recent paper from OpenAI reports that an internal AI model has resolved or made substantial progress on 10 longstanding open problems in mathematics and theoretical computer science.
Starlink’s satellite internet service is expanding rapidly, reaching 12 million subscribers in the second quarter of 2026, double the number a year earlier.