Back during the bleak days of 2020, I started sending out good news stories on some Fridays. Of all the email communications I’ve ever sent, this series garnered the most enthusiastic responses from clients. This tells me that many of you (like me) crave positivity, especially because the twenty-four hour news cycle is constantly beating us down with negative sound bites promoting fear, and the worst aspects of human nature.

So for this summer’s commentary, rather than writing about the stock market – which is an uplifting story unto itself (despite the upside-down world we live in), I thought I’d share another round of stories.

Let’s start out on Vancouver Island with the marmot – Canada’s rarest mammal. In 2003, fewer than 30 were left in the world. Two decades of conservation work later, that number is now over 400. This is significant because marmots are what ecologists call an “indicator species”, in that their health reflects the health of the ecosystem around them.

Some of the best news this year came from teenagers. At the Canada-Wide Science Fair, a Grade 11 student from Waterloo, Gurnoor Kaur, corrected a 35-year-old design flaw in blood oxygen sensors that had been causing inaccurate readings.

North America’s first wild refuge for retired captive orca and beluga whales opened in Nova Scotia, giving them roughly 150 times the space they’d known in captivity.

A promising energy development called Everything-to-Grid was just named the top emerging technology of 2026. Electric cars, home batteries, and even water heaters are no longer just drawing power. They can store and feed it back into the electrical grid when demand spikes, then top back up when demand is low. It turns millions of individual batteries into a shared, flexible backup system.

A large Cedar-Sinai study followed more than 354,000 adults for over a decade and found that regular coffee drinkers had lower risks of cirrhosis, liver cancer and death from liver disease. Similar results were found for decaf, suggesting caffeine isn’t the only factor at work.

A perfectly preserved Roman statue, deliberately buried 1,600 years ago was recently unearthed near Hexham, in Northumberland, England. The statue depicts a “genius” – a protective spirit meant to guard a place or household, and is holding a cornucopia symbolizing abundance. It was found hidden beneath a floor of a fourth-century barracks, its face remarkably well preserved after sixteen centuries underground.

At the 2026 Canadian Swimming Trials in Montreal, Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh broke the 200m butterfly world record, which has stood since 2009.

Speaking of summer, here’s hoping this season is full of relaxation and fun outdoors. 

Libby

As a reminder, if someone you know could benefit from a second opinion and fresh perspective, it costs nothing and can be invaluable for those who feel they’re not getting the care and attention they deserve. Please pass along my contact information to them. Thank you!

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