New snail species are the world’s smallest, tinier than grains of sand

Good News Notes: “Scientists have discovered two new snail species the size of a grain of sand—the tiniest known land snails on Earth. “It’s amazing how small they are—we wouldn’t have expected that,” says Adrienne Jochum, a researcher with Natural History Museum Bern in Switzerland. The new record-holder’s diminutive nature is reflected in its scientific name, Angustopila…

Rare, pristine coral reef found off Tahiti coast

Good News Notes: “Deep in the South Pacific, scientists have explored a rare stretch of pristine corals shaped like roses off the coast of Tahiti. The reef is thought to be one of the largest found at such depths and seems untouched by climate change or human activities. Laetitia Hédouin said she first saw the…

Tiny Robots Could Clean Up Microplastic Pollution

Good News Notes: “Microplastics—minuscule, hard-to-degrade fragments of clothing fibers, water bottles and other synthetic items—have made their way into air, water and soil around the world. Now new research published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces shows a way to promote their deterioration, at least in water, with technology on an even smaller scale: microrobots. When added to water along with a bit…

The Farmer Trying to Save Italy’s Ancient Olive Trees

Good News Notes: “In early 2016, Giovanni Melcarne, an agronomist and the owner of an extra virgin olive oil farm in Gagliano del Capo, walked through the southern Italian countryside of Puglia. He was with a fellow olive-oil farmer who had called and told him there was something he had to see. The two approached a…