🌞 Moons, Mammoths and Music

There’s definitely a thread through the stories I have found for you this week (ok, maybe not the company trying to bring back the dodo, but I wanted to keep that in there) - music and culture bringing people from all over the world together.

The unifying power of music and culture (… and dodos, just to be fair to our friends that you’ll read about in a minute) is a beautiful reminder of what human beings around the world have in common, rather than focusing on what divides us.

If in doubt, put on a song, read a beautiful piece of writing destined for the moon, head back to a childhood TV favourite, or think about dodos (I couldn’t leave them out of such a motivating editor’s note, it didn’t feel like the Good News way).

Let's start with something pretty incredible - poetry heading to the moon. A collection of traditional Korean poems is currently on its way to the lunar surface on a SpaceX rocket. These aren't just any poems - they're part of this massive archive project called the Lunar Codex, which is basically creating a cultural time capsule on the moon.

The poems are in a traditional Korean style called sijo, which has this beautiful three-line structure that goes back over a thousand years. They're being preserved alongside thousands of other artworks at the moon's south pole. I love the idea behind this - they're creating this collection of art from every continent on Earth, and according to the project, it's going to be there for future lunar visitors to discover “for millions of years to come”.

Meet Colossal Biosciences - a company that's just raised $200 million to work on bringing back extinct species, such as the woolly mammoth, the dodo and the Tasmanian Tiger, through gene editing. The company said it's on track to produce a woolly-mammoth calf (well, a gene-edited Asian elephant relative) by 2028. Investors include the CIA’s investment arm, and Paris Hilton.

The exciting part isn't just about reviving extinct animals - it's how the research is advancing medical science. The same technology they're using is helping develop treatments for serious genetic conditions. Gene editing could one day cure hereditary diseases like sickle cell and cystic fibrosis, and eventually eradicate them from the human gene pool.

I do have to note that this tech always raises some ethical concerns, from worries of “designer babies” to illegal experiments on humans. Let’s keep the faith that this is technology that is going to be used for good, and at the very least, could give us back the Tassie Tiger!

Bad Bunny is an absolute giant of pop music - and now, he's officially become the first Latin artist to have 100 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and he's actually surpassed that with 113 entries now.

His latest album has helped push him over that mark, with all 17 tracks making it onto the chart. He was also the most streamed artist in the world in 2020, 2021 and 2022 (he was beaten by Taylor Swift in 2023 and 2024) - but a new album could see him retake that title this year.

It's amazing to see Latin music having such a huge impact on mainstream charts - Latin music is the fastest-growing genre in the US.

Got money goals for 2025? We do! Here are a few of TDA’s money goals for the new year:

Nandini: I finally bought a matcha whisk and matcha powder to make the drink at home and to hopefully spend less money buying it from a cafe.

Skye: I did a budgeting session last week so I can see what the year looks like if I want to achieve my savings goals (travel and investments). Laying out my month-to-month was a great way to start the year feeling in charge of my income and savings goals.

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The 55th season of a show that gives everyone a warm and fuzzy feeling debuts this week, and to mark the launch Elmo sat down last week for a tell-all interview with one of the most serious news outlets in the world, the Associated Press.

My favourite line is this one, on how important music is to Elmo and the show: “Elmo thinks that music brings people together, you know? And some people who like some things and some people who like other things can kind of come together because they like the same kind of music. And that’s kind of cool!”