Despite a constant barrage of negativity, there is uplifting news out there; you just have to look harder to find it. For example, Fast Company annually publishes a list of World Changing Ideas that create “substantive, positive change in the world”. The winning ideas improve lives, society, or the environment — not just businesses bottom lines.
This year, there were more than 1,500 applications submitted and 100 projects awarded as the World Changing Ideas 2025. You can find the full list here but, if you don’t have three hours to research them all like I did, you can peruse my five favorite ideas:
Replacing sugar with protein
The oubli is an ultra-sweet tropical fruit from West Africa that’s not full of sugar. Instead, it contains a sweet protein called brazzein that doesn’t affect blood sugar and helps people avoid other health issues caused by eating sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. Last year, the FDA ruled it had no safety concerns using brazzein as a sweetener. More
Microbes that eat plastic
Scientists tweaked an enzyme dubbed X-32 such that it breaks down plastic in only a few days, rather than hundreds of years. The so-called “enzymatic recycling process” leaves behind just water, CO2, and biomass which can been used to make new plastic in a closed loop. The process could be used in wastewater treatment plants and composting facilities to clean up microplastics. More
Growing potatoes with little water
A new approach exposes potato roots to a dry, nutrient-rich cloud of fog that penetrates directly into root hairs. There’s little to no water wasted and no need for soil; thereby eliminating most pests and pathogens. With 95% less water used, potatoes – the world’s fourth-largest food crop and one of the most efficient for nutrition – can now be grown in areas subject to heat extremes. More
Iron nitride magnets
Iron nitride magnets are magnets made without the environmentally-unfriendly rare earth minerals in the hundreds of millions of magnets currently used worldwide. As the name implies, these new magnets are based on iron and nitrogen, elements which are abundantly available. The first full-scale plant goes online this year utilizing 80% recycled water and 97% recycled hydrogen. More
Automated microscopes for disease diagnostics
A series of low-cost, modular, portable microscopes, coupled with an AI platform, are being used to detect illness in the field where diseases occur. Unlike traditional microscopes, this new approach doesn’t need highly-trained staff or an expensive laboratory. The microscopes are already being used in Uganda to detect malaria parasites and analyzing two to three times faster than manual methods, and with more sensitivity and fewer errors. More
Ideas like these give me hope that, despite the constant negative information all around us, the future for all of humanity is bright.
What’s your favorite world changing idea?
No comments yet.