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Free grassroots football sessions run by club charities are being taken seriously as a tool for social change, offering young people a trusted space that keeps them off the streets. Independent evaluations report reductions of up to 82% in crime and antisocial behaviour during session times.
On 14 July 2026, Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry received the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award at the Sports Humanitarian Awards in New York, honoring the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation he co-founded with his wife Ayesha to support children in Oakland, California.
A University of Manchester-led team used AI and 35 years of Landsat imagery to produce the first wall-to-wall map of the Cerrado-Amazon transition zone in Brazil, giving conservation planners the empirical baseline they had been missing.
Researchers matching decades of photographs have documented the longest journey ever recorded for an individual humpback whale: at least 15,100 kilometres between breeding grounds off Brazil and Australia. Reported in May 2026, the rare ocean-crossing is a hopeful sign of healthy, recovering whale populations.
Team IMPACT, a Boston-based nonprofit, is celebrating 15 years of matching children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams, having connected more than 4,500 young people with over 112,500 student-athletes across 850 schools.
Researchers in northeastern Brazil identified Dasosaurus tocantinensis, a roughly 20-meter, 120-million-year-old sauropod whose closest known relative lived in what is now Spain.
New satellite data from the University of Maryland and World Resources Institute, released April 29, show tropical primary forest loss fell 36% in 2025 from 2024's record — Brazil cut non-fire primary loss 41% to its lowest level on record.
In a São Paulo State University trial, 43% of women taking 2,000 IU vitamin D daily alongside neoadjuvant chemotherapy saw their breast cancer disappear, versus 24% on placebo — an inexpensive boost worth larger trials.
At the 2026 Boston Marathon, Aaron Beggs of Northern Ireland and Robson De Oliveira of Brazil stopped near the line to help a collapsed Ajay Haridasse, and the three strangers crossed the finish together in a moment that went viral worldwide.
NASA astronaut and Navy veteran Suni Williams, who ran a marathon aboard the International Space Station in 2007, ran the 2026 Boston Marathon on 21 April and was named the Boston Athletic Association Patriots Award recipient.
FarmerChat, a generative-AI assistant built by Digital Green and Gooey.AI, has passed a million downloads and over 830,000 users across Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, India and Brazil, giving free farming advice in 15-plus local languages by voice, text or crop image.
At COP15 in Brazil, over 130 governments agreed on expanded protections for threatened migratory species, including blue corridors for sea turtles and flyways for birds.
The first continental road safety charter has become legally binding after 15 African nations ratified it, with the WHO calling it "a milestone for Africa" in the effort to halve road fatalities and serious injuries.
At a UN migratory species conference in Brazil, more than 130 governments agreed to stronger protections for manta rays, jaguars and migratory birds. New measures to cut bycatch and build “blue corridors” for turtles and “flyways” for birds were hailed by BirdLife and WWF as a major step for nature.
Amazon has deployed its one millionth warehouse robot, coordinated by its DeepFleet AI system that has improved travel efficiency within warehouses by 10%, showcasing a new era of human-robot collaboration in logistics.
At the CMS COP15 summit in Brazil’s Pantanal, 132 countries and the European Union approved international protection for 40 migratory species, from the snowy owl and giant otter to the great hammerhead shark.
Scientists studying the Pacific Clarion-Clipperton Zone described 24 new amphipod species, including an entirely new superfamily, a discovery a co-lead called “incredibly exciting.”
Indigenous activists blocked a Cargill grain terminal, forcing Brazil to reverse plans to dredge and privatize the Tapajós River. "This proves that life — the river — has no price," said activist Maria Leusa.
Two million mines from the 1991-1995 war have been cleared. Croatia has donated de-mining robots to Ukraine. Interior Minister Davor Božinović called it "a fulfilled moral obligation."
Para cross-country skier Cristian Westemaier Ribera won silver in the men sprint sitting event at Milano Cortina 2026, securing the first Winter Paralympic medal in Brazil history for a country with almost no snow.
At Milano Cortina 2026, Para cross-country skiing saw breakthrough debuts as nations with little winter sports tradition, including Brazil and others competing on snow for the first time, reached the Paralympic stage and made history.
Brazil's national space research institute INPE reported that deforestation in the Amazon rainforest fell by 50% in 2023 compared to the previous year, the sharpest annual decline in decades, following the restoration of environmental enforcement under President Lula.
After withdrawing from most events at Tokyo 2021 to prioritize her mental health, Simone Biles returned triumphantly at the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning three gold medals and one silver to become the most decorated Olympic gymnast in history.
Brazil hosted COP30 in Belém — the first UN climate summit in the Amazon — and launched the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a new funding platform that rewards countries for maintaining their forests.
Brazil reaches a historic milestone by planting one billion native trees across degraded Amazon land since 2023, restoring an area the size of Belgium.
Emergency agencies used open AI mapping pipelines to process satellite and drone imagery in near real time, improving rescue prioritization after floods.
Satellite data from Brazil's space agency show Amazon forest clearing from August 2025 to January 2026 fell to its lowest for that period since 2014. Environment Minister Marina Silva says the country could record its lowest deforestation since monitoring began in 1988 if the trend holds.
Brazil and partners launched the Tropical Forest Forever Facility ahead of COP30 — a multibillion-dollar initiative that rewards countries for keeping forests standing and channels funding directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities who are the true stewards of forest landscapes.
After nearly three decades of research, Brazilian scientists have developed polylaminin — a stabilized form of a natural human protein that acts as a scaffold for nerve regeneration. ANVISA has approved Phase 1 clinical trials, and early results, including a tetraplegic woman regaining arm movement within days, have been described as unprecedented.
On 14 February 2026, Brazil Lucas Pinheiro Braathen won the men giant slalom at Milano Cortina 2026, beating defending champion Marco Odermatt to claim South America first ever Olympic Winter Games medal in 102 years.
A 37-year study published in Nature Communications found that Indigenous lands delivered the strongest long-term forest restoration in Brazil's Atlantic Forest, outperforming private properties. Across 1.9 million territories, restoration gains outweighed losses roughly tenfold — a hopeful sign for one of Earth's most threatened biomes.
In the lead-up to COP30, Brazil and partners launched the Tropical Forest Forever Facility — a multibillion-dollar initiative that rewards countries for keeping forests standing and channels funding directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
Researchers have finally confirmed with DNA evidence that a 146,000-year-old skull known as "Dragon Man" belonged to a Denisovan, putting a face to one of our long-lost human relatives.
Deforestation in the Amazon rainforest has dropped to its lowest level in 15 years, thanks to stronger enforcement and Indigenous-led conservation efforts.
Researchers have identified a common amino acid that appears to play a crucial role in whether patients survive serious illnesses, opening new treatment possibilities.
A quiet milestone passed recently: January 14th marked the longest stretch without any nation detonating a nuclear weapon since the atomic age began in 1945.
A pilot program across London boroughs is removing "No Ball Games" signs from housing estates and public areas, part of a culture shift prioritizing play, physical activity, and healthy childhoods in urban communities.
Photojournalist Sebastiao Salgado and his wife Lelia spent over two decades planting 2.5 million trees, transforming a degraded cattle ranch into a thriving nature preserve visible from space.
The planet's oldest bee species and primary pollinator in the Amazon rainforest has been granted legal rights — a world first for any insect.
New data shows global deforestation rates dropped sharply in 2025, with Brazil's Amazon seeing its lowest destruction levels in years and Indonesia continuing its downward trend.
The first giant panda cub ever born in Indonesia, a male named Satrio Wiratama and nicknamed Rio, arrived at Taman Safari Indonesia in late November 2025. His birth crowns a decade-long conservation partnership between Indonesia and China for a species now classed as vulnerable.
The Finnish capital achieved zero traffic deaths for an entire year by lowering speed limits to 30 km/h, narrowing lanes, and prioritizing pedestrians and cyclists.
On 30 June 2025, the World Health Organization certified Suriname as malaria-free, recognizing that local transmission has been interrupted nationwide. It is the first country in the Amazon region to earn the distinction.
Barcelona's revolutionary superblocks program, which prioritizes pedestrians and cyclists over cars, has expanded to 21 neighborhoods, creating green plazas where traffic once dominated.
Google DeepMind unveiled AlphaProteo, an AI that designs novel protein binders to grab targets like the SARS-CoV-2 spike and cancer-linked proteins, achieving 3-to-300-times better binding affinities than prior methods and an 88 percent success rate on one target.
Brazil's Amazon rainforest saw deforestation drop by 50% compared to the previous year, reaching the lowest levels since 2018.
