ICYMI: Feel-good stories from around the world

New malaria vaccine first to reach WHO efficacy demand

Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of children each year. Now, an early-stage malaria vaccine trial in Africa has shown encouraging results.

A malaria vaccine trial in Burkina Faso has shown promising results for the fight against the disease, which killed more than 400,000 people in 2019.

The results of the trial, published on Preprints with The Lancet and currently awaiting peer review, showed that the R21/Matrix-M vaccine had 77% efficacy over 12 months of follow-up. 

It is the first vaccine to meet the World Health Organization's (WHO) Malaria Vaccine Technology Roadmap goal of a vaccine with at least 75% efficacy.

"It's an early-stage trial, the data from that trial is very encouraging but it's a [small] number of children and so it provides clear justification to go on to bigger trials in other locations," Julian Rayner, a malaria researcher and the director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research at the University of Cambridge in the UK, told DW.

Chloe Zhao makes history at Oscars

Chinese film director Chloe Zhao won the Oscar for best picture for Nomadland, becoming the first Asian woman, the first woman of color and the second woman in the Oscar's 93-year history to win the prize.

Nomadland follows the story of a woman who embarks on a journey through the American West, living out of her van.

Born in Beijing, Zhao's own journey took her to the Badlands of Wyoming, then to Los Angeles before becoming one of the most in-demand directors in show business.

Coffee could actually be good for you!

Drinking up to six cups of caffeinated coffee a day is good for your heart and may even protect against cancer, a long-term study in Spain has suggested.

Researchers from Valencia Nutritional Study followed a group of 1,567 people, aged 20 years and older, over an 18-year period.

Their findings suggest that drinking between one and six-and-a-half cups of coffee per day can lower your risk of cancer and what scientists call "all-cause" mortality, meaning death for any reason.

Drinking coffee regularly, if not daily, is supposed to be good for your liver, even reducing the risk of liver cirrhosis — a scarring of the organ through conditions like hepatitis or chronic alcoholism.

But be warned, "moderation" is the keyword, the Spanish researchers said.

Pooches and pugs through the lens

Dog and photography lovers will be happy to hear that German publishing house DuMont has released a photobook containing stunning Magnum pictures of our furry friends from around the world.

From the streets of Tbilisi in Georgia to the streets of Kabul in Afghanistan, these beautiful photographs capturing the lives of dogs and their owners are sure to bring comfort and joy to many.

'Yabba dabba doo!'

The upcoming sequel to The Flintstones is sure to take many down memory lane.

Titled Bedrock, the new animated series will revisit the Flintstone family two decades after the events of the original show. The Stone Age is about to be replaced by an enlightened new Bronze Age. Fred Flintstone faces retirement, while his daughter, Pebbles, is now a 20-year-old embarking on her own career. 

The sequel is officially being developed by Fox Entertainment and is sure to bring back a lot of nostalgia.

The Flintstones was the most financially successful and longest-running network animated television series until Matt Groening's The Simpsons debuted in late 1989.