Welcome to the Good News Roundup for April 14, 2025
How Free Childcare is Lifting Families Out of Poverty
More than three years on since US state New Mexico moved to make childcare free for families earning up to $124,000, and official data is showing poverty rates are falling.
The initiative – sparked by the pandemic and since expanded – has also focused on increasing wages for childcare workers, with the number of educators living in poverty dropping from 27% to 16% between 2020 and 2024.
As reported by The Guardian, New Mexico is the first and only state in the US to offer free childcare, with some 120,000 fewer people now living in poverty.
Scientists Successful Grow Human Teeth in a Lab
In news that could potentially lead to humans being able to regrow lost teeth, researchers at King’s College in London have successfully grown human teeth in a lab for the first time.
The research has taken more than 10 years to come to fruition, through the development of a material that mimics the right conditions for tooth development.
As Dr Ana Angelova-Volponi told The Independent, the research could potentially “revolutionise dental care”.
The ‘De-Extinction’ of Dire Wolves
Biotech company Colossal Biosciences has announced the birth of three dire wolf pups – Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi – claiming it as ‘the world’s first successfully de-extincted animal’.
Dire wolves were around between 11,700 and 2.6million years ago, with researchers extracting DNA from a tooth and skull unearthed in the US.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, it’s hoped the technology may assist in the conversation of other species.
How Myrtle the Tortoise Survived a Tornado
And finally, we love a good reunion story, and this one comes out of Mississippi, weeks after deadly tornadoes swept through the area in March.
When the Emanuel family was forced to flee their home on March 15, they returned to find trees had fallen on their backyard home of their beloved pet tortoise Myrtle, who was missing.
Fast forward a few weeks later and the injured reptile was turned up at a local turtle rescue for treatment – where he has since been reunited with the Emanuels.
Read more of this story here.
