What went right this week: the good news that matters

Figures released by the FBI suggest that the US murder rate saw its sharpest ever fall in 2024, dropping by 14.9% – eclipsing even 2023’s substantial 10% decline. 

Overall, violent crime was down by 4.4%, reaching levels not seen since the 1960s, according to Jeff Asher, who crunches crime data for the Real-Time Crime Index. Property crime, meanwhile, saw the largest year-on-year decline on record. 

“America’s crime trends in 2024 were remarkably positive with an enormous decline in murder, a continued small but steady decline in violent crime, and a sizable decline in motor vehicle theft,” said Asher, who reckons that 2025 is on-track to be safer still.

“The odds that 2025 will have the lowest murder rate ever recorded have gone from ‘plausible’ to ‘more likely than not’.”

Image: Samuel Girven

The recovery of 150 on-the-brink species in England – one of the world’s most nature-depleted nations – has been hailed a conservation success story, albeit with the caveat that more needs to be done.  

Analysis of the UK government’s £13m species recovery project, which funded habitat restoration and species reintroduction across England, suggests that it has turned the tide for some of its most imperilled plants and animals. 

Notable successes included the first wild-hatched red-billed chough (pictured) chick in Kent for more than 200 years, the reintroduction of black grouse to the North Yorkshire Moors, and the return of the large marsh grasshopper to the Norfolk Broads after an 85-year absence. 

“A rising number of nature recovery projects, both large and small, are making a huge difference up and down the country,” said Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England. “The success of this programme is an example of how much we can do when we take a joined up, collaborative approach to restoring the natural world. 

“But time is running out. Nature recovery work needs more projects, more volunteers and more money to flow from all sources.” 

The publication of the government’s revised environmental improvement plan in the autumn, he added, will be “a key moment”.

Image: Jean-Jacques Boujot

Figures showing a collapse in global fur production have been described by analysts as “perhaps the biggest animal welfare campaign success story of the 21st century.” 

In 2014, more than 140m minx, foxes (pictured), chinchillas and raccoon dogs were killed for their fur, according to data from the pressure group Humane World For Animals. As of last year, however, that figure had dropped to 20m. Even in China, the world’s largest producer of fur, production has dropped by more than half since 2022, according to the Fur Free Alliance. 

A major shift in the public’s perception of fur – once considered a luxury good, now seen as unnecessarily cruel – has seen many fashion brands go fur-free in recent years, including Armani, Gucci and Prada.

But there’s still more work to be done, say campaigners. “While the fur trade is fading, the work is far from over: the suffering of 20m animals each year remains 20m too many,” said the Fur Free Alliance. 

Image: Peter Lloyd

They were once billed as the future of high-speed travel, but despite their green credentials, maglev trains never took off. Could now be their time? 

Engineers in China are preparing to launch a new prototype of the levitating electromagnetic train capable of travelling at 370mph – enough to trouble the viability of many high-carbon air routes. 

It comes as researchers claim to have solved one of its key drawbacks: the shockwaves that reverberate as trains exit tunnels, posing a danger to people, property and nature. 

‘Tunnel boom’ is caused by fluctuations in air pressure as the trains emerge from tunnels. However, sound-absorbing buffers installed at the tunnel mouth have been shown to reduce the effect by as much as 96%, researchers say.  

China currently only operates one maglev train – the not-so-rapid Shanghai airport shuttle. However, according to the Guardian, the government is mulling a new maglev line between Beijing and Shanghai, the nation’s busiest air route. Japan is also looking to do the same between Tokyo and Osaka, reviving interest in the nascent technology.  

Image: A maglev test train in Japan. Credit: Yosemite

Speaking of technological breakthroughs, scientists in the UK claim to have created indoor solar cells that can harvest enough energy to power everyday electronic devices. 

The development, they say, paves the way for electronics, such as keyboards, remote controls and alarms, to be powered by ambient light instead of batteries.   

The team at University College London (UCL) engineered a material called perovskite, which is used in outdoor solar panels, to create indoor panels that capture up to six times more indoor light than the best existing alternative. 

“Billions of devices that require small amounts of energy rely on battery replacements – an unsustainable practice” said UCL’s Dr Mojtaba Abdi Jalebi. “[This development] paves the way for electronics powered by the ambient light already present in our lives.”

The perovskite solar cells, he added, are low-cost and use materials “that are abundant on Earth and require only simple processing”. They can be printed in the same way as a newspaper,” he said. His team are now looking to scale the technology.

Image: Associate professor Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi and Siming Huang with their solar cells. Credit: UCL/James Tye

Northumberland’s Kielder Forest has been pinpointed as a prime location for one of the UK’s most hotly anticipated, but yet-to-be-confirmed, species reintroductions: the lynx. 

The cats were hunted to extinction in the UK around 1,300 years ago. The clamour to bring them back has proven controversial, with farmers expressing concern that they could prey on livestock. 

However, a year-long consultation found that 72% of people around the Kielder Forest support the reintroduction of the animal. The area was identified by the Missing Lynx Project as the most viable site for a healthy lynx population, due to its dense woodland. 

As part of its work, the project took local farmers to Europe to visit lynx projects and meet other farmers who already live alongside the cats.

“I saw in Europe that it’s possible to live alongside lynx,” said Lauren Harrison, a sheep farmer from Hadrian’s Wall. “The risks to livestock can be minimal and there are so many positives. Tourism is an obvious one, but I also think a more balanced ecosystem is beneficial to farmers.” 

The project is now working with people in the region to discuss how a potential reintroduction could be managed. 

Image: Charlie Jackson

The UK’s largest toy chain has become the latest retailer to hand ownership of the company to its employees. 

The Entertainer, which has 160 shops across the UK and employs 1,900 workers, joins a growing number of firms – including John Lewis, Lush and Richer Sounds – in switching to employee ownership. 

The retailer was founded by Gary Grant and his wife in Catherine in 1981. The family is now transferring 100% ownership of the business to an employee trust, meaning staff will get a share of the profits and a say in how the firm is run. 

“This a bold and brilliant commitment to shared success and a stake in the future for the people who make the business what it is, arriving at a time when many retailers are rethinking what long-term success looks like,” said James de le Vingne, chief executive of the Employee Ownership Association.

“The future of the high street is employee ownership, and the future is already happening.”

Image: Malcolmxl5

Equality campaigners are celebrating a big win for human rights in the Caribbean after Saint Lucia decriminalised consensual same-sex conduct. 

The country’s high court ruled that laws criminalising intimacy between same-sex partners are discriminatory and inconsistent with international human rights standards, despite being rarely enforced.

“Criminalising private, consensual intimacy violates international legal standards,” said Cristian González Cabrera, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Upholding human rights for LGBT people strengthens democracy and justice for all.”

Image: Raphael Renter

Wind farms located offshore act as de facto marine reserves, limiting fishing without formal legal protections. 

That’s according to a study led by the University of Exeter, England. It analysed fishing activity around 34 European offshore wind farms over eight years, and found that they significantly restrict the most damaging fishing practice of all – trawling – acting as “de facto marine reserves”. 

“Our results highlight a potentially under-recognised conservation benefit of offshore wind farms … they can reduce one of the greatest pressures on marine ecosystems: fishing,” said Benjamin Fitkov-Norris, who led the research.

He described the results as “a clear win-win for green energy and marine conservation”.

Image: Nicholas Doherty
Main image: Noah Fetz