Between global elections, foreign conflicts, economic downturns and sobering violence statistics, it can sometimes be difficult to take a beat to remember the good in the world.

Last time we did a newsletter dedicated solely to good news, we had overwhelming feedback that you wanted even more good news.

Well, you asked, and we’ve listened. That’s why we’re going to be launching a weekly newsletter dedicated solely to this type of content. It’s called the Good Newsletter and it launches on 11 August. You can sign up here to receive our first edition later this month — I promise it’s gonna be a goodie.

In the meantime, enjoy a taste of the bright side below.

You didn’t think I was going to start this newsletter any other way, did you? The bright light that the Olympics has brought to all our cold, dark hearts this past week cannot be underestimated. There are two good news angles to the Olympics for me this week.

The first is the success of Aussie women. At the time of writing, every single gold medal except one has been won by an Australian woman. That’s two for our flagbearer Jess Fox, one for the 4x100 women’s relay team, one for the 4x200 women’s relay team, another for Mollie O'Callaghan in her individual race, and for Ariarne Titmus in hers. Two for Kaylee McKeown, one for Saya Sakakibara in BMX racing and finally, one for Grace Brown in cycling. Just as the Matildas inspired a generation of young players, I suspect the same will be true of these Olympic giants.

The second is the pure joy of watching families supporting athletes as they win. Highlights this week included Mollie O’Callaghan’s brother Matt recording himself at work absolutely losing his mind and Jess Fox’s mum Myriam (also her coach) running to watch every single manoeuvre at pace with her daughter. The pride that emanates from these videos is enough to warm even the coldest Australian winter mornings.

From success in the sporting arena to success in the literary arena, it’s been a big week for Aussie women. This week, Waanyi author Alexis Wright won the 2024 Miles Franklin Literary Award for her novel ‘Praiseworthy’, a book that is described as a “cry of outrage against oppression and disadvantage”. Wright has now won the award twice, having won in 2007 for her book Carpentaria. In accepting the latest honour, Wright said: "To win a Miles Franklin a second time is monumental. I wanted to make Praiseworthy a big book in more ways than one. I wanted to capture the spirit of our times." If that wasn’t enough, the Australian author also won the Stellar Prize earlier this year. What a winner - I’m off to read Wright’s books!

Sometimes we need to turn to nature for a good news story, which was the case this week when the aurora australis was visible over Australia's southern states. According to the Australian Space Weather Alert System, the lights occurred when “large clouds of plasma and magnetic field erupt in the Sun’s outer atmosphere” that cause a “geomagnetic storm” when they hit Earth’s atmosphere. People in Tassie and Victoria got the best view of the lights, including James (@jamessmartphotography) who shared this photo with us from Tassie. A good reminder for us to always look up!

Finally, we’re ending this newsletter by focusing on a study that was published this week that found a blood test accurately diagnosed Alzheimer’s 91% of the time. To give context as to why this could be so important, at the moment, Alzheimer’s is diagnosed by using a combination of a patient’s medical history, mental status tests, physical and neurological exams, diagnostic tests and brain imaging. When the study compared the successful diagnosis rate of the blood test to other methods, it found dementia specialists successfully identified Alzheimer’s 73% of the time, and GPs did 61% of the time.

The study, published in the journal JAMA, could be a highly significant step forward in diagnosing Alzheimer’s in a more accessible and affordable way.

As always, we’ll be back again on Monday morning with all the biggest headlines, but until then, go outside and enjoy your weekend.

If you want a dose of good news in your inbox every Sunday, don’t forget to subscribe here.

Bye!

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