The world’s happiest country, a wildlife comeback story in the Alps, and a method for turning plastics into vinegar are a few of the interesting stories I’ve enjoyed in the past month.
I hope you enjoy them, too!
What I Found Interesting
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The 2026 World Happiness Report was released this month, naming the world’s happiest country. The winner for the ninth year in a row is Finland, based on rankings by citizens across 140 countries answering one question about their well-being.
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When designer Turi Scandurra learned a family friend had a serious health issue which didn’t allow them to move or speak much, Scandurra created a web application for augmentative and alternative communication (AAC).
VoxEase can be operated with a mouse, touch screen, computer keyboard, game controller using a single hand, or set to scan the list of phrases automatically.
Using a modern browser, individuals with speech, sight, or language impairments can communicate using pre-defined phrases or custom messages with text-to-speech support.
VoxEase is free, supports multiple languages, and works with screen readers.
I was impressed to learn it’s a single, self-contained HTML file which you can download in your brower using the “Save webpage” option.
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I love reading about wildlife comeback stories, and this one is special:
These bone-smashing birds used to roam the mountains of southern Europe but were hunted into extinction in the Alps and were last seen there in the early 1900s, surviving only as tiny wild populations in some other areas of Europe.
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Think of the possibilities: scientists used sunlight to turn plastic waste into vinegar.
Inspired by how fungi breaks down organic materials using enzymes, researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada designed a two-step system that doesn’t require strong acids, high heat, or extreme pressure.
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Wouldn’t this be an amazing hike to take? Makes me wonder who will be the first person to hike the entire trail.
In the works for 18 years, it’s the first trail anywhere in the world that follows the entire perimeter of a nation’s coastline.
Inaugurated by the King himself, the King Charles III England Coast Path is a 2,689-mile-long trail along the entire coast of England.
