Medical breakthroughs, endangered repopulations…and more.
My fellow Jane Austen-loving authors have recently given you a pleasing plethora of Regency desserts and holiday reflections, so I am taking a brief trip to the present!
There is much to be concerned about in the world, but there are also many people working to make it better every day.
Without further ado, five encouraging things that happened in 2023:
5. Wildcats are being reintroduced to the Scottish Highlands. The population had fallen under 30 and was “functionally extinct” but a nearby zoo is turning it around.
4. World’s first whole eye transplant opens new avenues of transplants. A veteran who was nearly electrocuted to death chose to do the experimental surgery. “But I said ‘even if it don’t work, I’ll have an eye, and it will be at least normal-looking, and then you all could learn something off of this,. You have to have a patient zero.”
3. Fingerprint test for breast cancer pioneered for future use. This would be an incredible early and simple detection method that could save millions of women.
2. 104-year-old woman skydives for world record. “Age is just a number,” she says. She first sky-dived at age 100.
1. 18-year-old Jaylen Smith made history as the youngest black mayor in the US. He was elected just after graduating high school, on the strength of his enthusiasm and plans for revitalizing and helping his community in Arkansas.
And finally, thanks for following along with our Always Austen blog! We have so appreciated your help, comments, likes, reviews, and encouragement this year.
I hope you have a lovely day whether you are celebrating Thanksgiving in the US, or just having a normal Thursday elsewhere! I’ve got twenty people at my house, so I’m going to get busy.
Much love,
Corrie Garrett
Author of the Highbury Variation, Austen Ensemble, and other Jane Austen related novels
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