25 Fascinating Things Happening Around The Globe That You Might Have Missed

When someone on Reddit asked, “What’s going on right now that most people have no idea about?”, responses flooded in, revealing fascinating, surprising, and sometimes alarming developments happening under the radar.

From obscure scientific discoveries to overlooked social shifts and innovations, Redditors shed light on global events and trends that deserve more attention. Here are some of the most intriguing answers.

#1

Image source: Wooden_Number_6102, Johannes Plenio/Pexels (not the actual photo)

There’s a mining company preparing to blow a hole in
a pristine piece of desert in Nevada. Right next to that hole is a 10 acre spot where a tiny desert plant called Tiehms Buckwheat is eaking out a living.
There are 50% less Tiehms Buckwheat plants now than there were a decade ago because half the population disappeared virtually overnight.
The Bureau of Land Management, which will ultimately permit the mining company, said the plants likely disappeared because of rodents (although the rodents chose an odd time to decimate a plant they’ve lived next to for hundreds of years).
This little plant grows nowhere else on Earth. It has evolved to thrive in that soil – heavily laced with lithium.
And because lithium extraction is more important, that little plant will likely become extinct.

#2

Image source: seanofkelley, Padli Pradana/Pexels (not the actual photo)

We’re running out of helium
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/01/775554343/the-world-is-constantly-running-out-of-helium-heres-why-it-matters

#3

Image source: LimeyLoo, Tom Fisk/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Last night in a hospital somewhere near my city, a man was brought in for a broken spinal cord from jumping off of a 2 story building, to try to k*ll himself. He and his girlfriend had been in an argument and he stood on the balcony, threatening to jump, and then did. Obviously survived, because a 2 story house is not tall enough to do the job. He proceeded to call his girlfriend from the hospital to break up with her. A few hours later, his girlfriend jumped off of a 3 story building, successfully k*lling herself.

The crazy s**t happening in the lives of others is always something baffling to me. It’s happening all the time, everywhere, and we have no idea.

#4

Image source: Putrid_Rock5526, Channel 4 News

The Myanmar/Burma Civil War has been going on since 2021. Some 50,000 k*lled and millions displaced.

#5

Image source: MrAlf0nse, Rahool Jeaker/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Worst Famine in Sudan in 40 years 25million people without food security as a civil war rages around them.

#6

Image source: Sarah_Message91, Anurag Jamwal/Pexels (not the actual photo)

A surprising number of animals are adapting to urban life in ways we barely notice.

#7

Image source: NoTransportation1383, cottonbro studio/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Children of opiate addicts and overdose victims are growing into adults after a lifetime of being ignored and abandoned. Everyone is wonder why the young people are so sick, we have the stats. Millions of people addicted to substances and extreme substances that obliterate parental engagement is starting to show.

Im one of the flood into foster care in the 2010’s, now even more parents are overdosing or have moved to fent from traditional hard substances They give their kid computers and then leave them until they are 18 if they don’t abandon them physically.

Those kids are becoming sick adults and think they are flawed when they have been consistently disadvantaged their entire life. That adult who never feeds themselves well, doesn’t pursue any of their goals or ideas, never spends on their needs, never plans for the future is a child who was ignored and taught their ideas and health weren’t valuable or worth pursuing . They weren’t taught how to strategically plan and coordinate a project.

Sick adults are child victims who didn’t get help. And we are now seeing their apathy and illness rise in real time .

#8

Image source: Tired_Lambchop111, MART PRODUCTION/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Griffith University Queensland, Australia are about to start human trails on groundbreaking research into regenerating nerves in spinal cord injuries.

#9

Image source: ExpensivePatience348, AS Photography/Pexels (not the actual photo)

While we weren’t paying attention, China used stem cells to reverse type 1 diabetes .

#10

Image source: Limp-Boat-6730, MART PRODUCTION/Pexels (not the actual photo)

The war on the poor! They have nowhere to go, can’t find work, can’t find food, and get kicked out of public places because they don’t have “business” being there. The shelters are over crowded, under funded, and picky about who they let in. Inflation has made it impossible to keep food in the house, and pay for the bills/rent. And the reasons they can’t find work are that they don’t have a stable place to put on their applications, can’t pass an interview( when they get one )because of the condition of their looks, and can’t get a call back because they don’t have a phone (because they chose to eat instead of paying a phone bill). It’s really bad. And it’s all brushed under the carpet because a Cheeto felon is running for president.

#11

Image source: milamccormick7, Binyamin Mellish/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Bill in the US Senate to ban major corporations from buying homes (forgive me if even I missed a detail, hilarious how little coverage it’s getting).

#12

Image source: ninja_shadow_rider, Rahul Pandit/Pexels (not the actual photo)

The amount of energy and emissions that AI is going to require/generate over the next 10 years completely undoes all of the environmental advancements we have made in the past 10 years.

#13

Image source: Fresh_Water_95, Lara Jameson/Pexels (not the actual photo)

War in Sudan. 50 million people in Sudan before it started, estimated 9 million people have been displaced and today 750 thousand are facing imminent starvation. For context there are about 5 million Palestinians total in West Bank and the Gaza Strip. I’m not trying to diminish what’s happening in Palestine, just to point out how little attention Sudan gets relative to the size of the human impact it’s having.

#14

Image source: Three_hrs_later, Kaboompics.com/Pexels (not the actual photo)

In late 2023, we saw the first-ever approval of CRISPR-based medicine: Casgevy, a cure for sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT).

#15

Image source: SouthernCynic, Lucas Barrère/Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Hurricane Helene flooded a factory that makes over half of the IV fluids we use. There is a terrible shortage that is impacting care.

#16

Image source: JellyfishQuasar, Pixabay/Pexels (not the actual photo)

The new Euclid telescope is actively taking pictures of space and piecing them together to make a map of our night sky, it just finished the first set.

#17

Image source: TheRealOcsiban, John Brighenti/Flickr

The Supreme Court is essentially on the ballot but most people don’t think about that. They think they’re just voting for president, but balance of power on the court is what’s truly at stake. Several justices will likely retire in the next 4 years and the president appoints them.

#18

Image source: Beautiful_Abroad5630, Zeyn Afuang/Pexels (not the actual photo)

There are almost 50 million people in modern slavery worldwide, and 12 million of them are children…….

#19

Image source: OpossumLadyGames, Kaique Rocha/Pexels (not the actual photo)

In like half the US it hasn’t rained in a month and mount Fuji has like zero snow on it.

#20

Image source: GlueSniffingCat, mali maeder/Pexels (not the actual photo)

Forests have started releasing more C02 than they use, insects are going extinct in the united states, and cyanobacteria and algae populations in the oceans have collapsed.

#21

Image source: RussellGrey, Kevin Ku/Pexels (not the actual photo)

A lot of people know, but I don’t think people are aware enough that big tech companies get a pass on privacy invasions because the US government can subpoena information from them that the government itself is not allowed to collect. I truly believe this is why the US government is going after TikTok so hard because they’re afraid of China using the data from the app the way the US uses data from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.

ETA: Also, if TikTok is forced to be sold to American ownership, then they join the American companies in collecting information from Americans and can be compelled by the government like the others.

#22

Image source: FluffySoftFox, Chokniti Khongchum/Pexels (not the actual photo)

We may have basically found a treatment for late stage rabies It has been working pretty well in lab test with rats

Similarly we have found a possible treatment for age-related mental diseases such as Alzheimer’s by basically reactivating certain healing factors in the brain of rats and the scientists are pretty confident that this should work in the humans too The era of people living to 120-130 is closer than you think, especially when you look at the fact that especially in healthier countries like Japan there are record high numbers of people living to be over 100.

#23

Image source: earnestweasel22, Thirdman/Pexels (not the actual photo)

This one is near and dear to me:

Cabozantinib (Cabometyx) is a chemotherapy d**g that may be a new treatment option for patients with neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). The FDA accepted a supplemental New D**g Application (sNDA) for cabozantinib in August 2024, with a target action date of April 3, 2025. The d**g is intended to treat adults with well- or moderately differentiated pancreatic or extra-pancreatic NETs that are locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic.