The PRIMA implant, a chip placed beneath the retina, was cleared for sale across 30 European countries on 22 July, for people who have lost central vision to age-related macular degeneration. Of the 38 patients in the trial, 84% could read letters, numbers and words again, gaining an average of 25.5 letters on the standard eye chart.
The Lancet published the HOPE-3 results on 29 July. Across 106 people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, infusions of donor heart cells every three months for a year slowed the loss of upper limb function by 54% against placebo. Arm strength is what lets someone with Duchenne eat unaided and drive a wheelchair.
Uganda Wildlife Authority vets began moving 12 endangered Nubian giraffes on 22 July, from Murchison Falls National Park to Ajai Wildlife Reserve 106km away, to seed a second population clear of oil drilling in the park. Ajai's senior warden reports that the giraffes settled there earlier are multiplying, with several now pregnant.
A store of 2,000 tonnes of crushed soapstone, charged with cheap renewable electricity, has now run for a full year on the district heating network of Pornainen, Finland. Emissions fell 70%, biomass burning fell 60%, and the town stopped using heating oil altogether. The store holds roughly a week of winter demand.
Khari Arnold started taking his daughter to the library when she was four months old, then in July 2024 texted eight other new fathers in South Fulton, Georgia, to come along. The Library Dads now meet twice a month across three Fulton County branches, with at least 30 fathers and their children at every session.