Gong Fast, Gong Furious

It’s time for another goooong nooooooise!

Yes, it’s true, I’m skimping out on my Heavy Hitter for this week because… well, because it’s been a long month and I’m tired and need to hear about good things happening in the world. Let us have this.

To clarify for those of you who are new here: I absolutely will do my War Crimes Heavy Hitter episode, but it’ll be live two weeks from today. Instead, Olivia and I are practicing what the kids call “self care” by talking about positive things instead of our usual stressy-depressy programming.

The last time we did this was before our hiatus, so it’s high time we got comfy with a cup of tea and some soothing music.

Gong Noise.

Gong noise indeed, my friend.

Here’s an overview of what we talked about:

I started off with this Washington Post article about the latest advancement in treatment for cystic fibrosis. Cystic fibrosis is an often-debilitating disease where mucus builds up in the organs and must be manually removed from the body. It often does severe damage to the lungs and gastrointestinal system. There is currently no cure, but therapy includes wearing a vibrating vest that breaks up the mucus. Patients must then spend hours clearing the mucus from their body to keep their lungs clear. They’re vulnerable to bacterial and viral infections, especially those which target the respiratory system, and have a life expectancy of about 44 years today.

This new three-pill treatment, Trikafta, targets one of the most common genetic cause of the disease - a protein that regulates the salt and water content in the lung that has misfolded and can no longer reach the correct positioning in the cell. The first pill corrects the protein’s shape, and the other two help the protein activate when it reaches the correct positioning. With early enough treatment, doctors are hopeful that Trikafta could prevent lung damage from cystic fibrosis altogether. There are limitations and barriers (cost, for one), but this is a verifiable and significant step forward in treating a disease that affects thousands every year.

Olivia followed with this story from the Verge following the removal and subsequent reinstatement of ChilledCow’s YouTube channel. If that doesn’t sound familiar to you, maybe you’ve seen the ever-present live stream of LoFi hip hop beats featuring an anime girl studying with a cat lying in the window sill? The stream had been running continuously for what felt like most of the time I was in college but was probably much less, and it delivered exactly what it described: LoFi beats to study/chill to. This week, ChilledCow’s account was dinged with a copyright strike, bringing 13,000-hour stream to an end and creating the single longest YouTube video in existence. After an outpouring of rage from the community, YouTube reinstated ChilledCow’s account and the video was returned. Users can finally do their homework again. Thank goodness. 

I continued this good news train with a story from Today.com about a couple travelling home from Colorado to California with their newly-adopted baby daughter. Through casual conversation, the flight attendants found out that the couple had just completed a long, difficult adoption process after 9 years of trying to become parents. The attendants then made an announcement welcoming the family and passed out napkins for each traveller to write a small note of advice or encouragement for the new parents. The advice was collected and is now in a scrapbook - we highly recommend checking out the news story to read some of the adorable responses. 

Olivia’s next piece was another leap in the world of science. EurekAlert’s story centered around a new, plant-based compound that basically functions as an eco-friendly superglue. Researchers at the University of British Columbia “have demonstrated that plant-derived cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) can form an adhesive that fully integrates the concepts of sustainability, performance, and cost which are generally extremely challenging to achieve simultaneously.” These basically work like your average “peel-and-stick” adhesives, where it can hold up to 90kg in a preferred direction but is easily removed from the other direction. This is huge news in general, but especially for packing and boxing industries where non-compostable, non-recyclable adhesives often ruin the recyclability of the cardboard. The glue is also comparable in price to the leading competitors, so we at TTKMUAN don’t see a reason why this can’t become the standard material for gluing. Go plants!

And finally, I wrapped us up with a story from the New York Times about a coalition of libraries who have decided to do away with late fees and fines. For too long, library late fees have disproportionately affected poorer populations in the U.S. and discouraged these folks from coming back. When people feel alienated from libraries, they are also alienated from the incredible public services libraries offer (a warm/dry place to spend the day, career training, child-friendly events, educational resources, etc.). By getting rid of fees and replacing them with rules for replacing damaged/lost/destroyed books, the number of library card holders has increased significantly and libraries have recuperated hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of missing materials.

Hey, I Feel Better!

And isn’t that the point? Our podcast focuses pretty harshly on the giant bummers in the world, but it’s healthy to take some time to notice kindness, progress, and the betterment of society. Even taking in the small things can offset some of the despair. 

Take heart, dear listeners. It’ll be okay.