The week's good news: October 17, 2019

1. Southwest Atlantic humpback whales are making a comeback

In the early 20th century, hunting almost entirely wiped out the southwest Atlantic humpback whale, but scientists say it appears the population has almost fully recovered. There are seven different humpback populations in the southern hemisphere, and it's believed that before they were almost hunted to extinction, there were 27,000 southwest Atlantic humpback whales in the ocean. Southwest Atlantic humpback whales spend their winters off the coast of Brazil and travel to sub-Antarctic and Antarctic waters during the summer to feed off krill. Humpback whales became protected in the 1960s, and Dr. Alex Zerbini of the National Marine Fisheries Service told BBC News the populations weren't measured until the 1980s. At the start of the 2000s, "we realized just how well they were recovering," Zerbini said. Scientists have since been documenting southwest Atlantic humpback whales by ship and plane, and it's estimated there are now nearly 25,000 in the ocean.

BBC News

2. High school friends make good on pact to become doctors

While growing up in a rough neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, three high school friends made a pact: Once they graduated from college, they would go to medical school and become doctors. Dr. Sampson Davis, Dr. Rameck Hunt, and Dr. George Jenkins all followed through, and not only are they physicians, they are also authors and philanthropists. They launched a nonprofit called The Three Doctors Foundation with a goal of inspiring kids from similar backgrounds and guiding them on the path of education rather than drugs and alcohol. Davis, an ER doctor, told Inside Edition he is grateful that he has the chance to help people every day. "Being on the front lines and saving lives is really an exciting sort of process to be part of, and to think that I have an opportunity to do it, especially where I came from, is a blessing," Davis said.

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Inside Edition

3. Bison now have more room to roam in Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park in South Dakota has expanded its bison range, a move that will "contribute to the health and genetic integrity of the herd and continued health of the prairie," the park said. The bison now have an additional 22,000 acres of grazing land, for a total of 80,193 acres. The park itself is 244,000 acres, with about 1,200 bison calling it home. On Friday, four bison were moved to the new range, returning to the area for the first time in 150 years. New fencing and cattle guards were installed in the range, thanks to $743,000 in public and private donations. Due to the expansion, visitors will have "more opportunities for viewing, photographing, and learning about bison in their native habitat on the badlands' iconic and stunning landscape," the park said. Former President Barack Obama named the bison the national mammal in 2016.

Rapid City Journal

4. Idaho farmers work together to save neighbor's potato crop

When an Idaho farmer wasn't going to be able to harvest all of his potatoes ahead of an early freeze, his neighbors rallied and rushed to save his crop. Last week, meteorologists in southeast Idaho shared a forecast farmers weren't expecting: a cold snap on Wednesday, the earliest deep freeze in decades. They scrambled to harvest their potatoes before they were ruined, but one farmer in the town of Hamer wasn't going to be able to clear his field in time. That's when people like Jason Larson and other community members jumped into action. About 50 people went to the farm, working from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., when the last potato was harvested. Idaho produces 32 percent of American potatoes, and Larson estimates they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of crops. "What people do is they help their neighbor," he told CNN. "There really wasn't a second thought about it."

CNN

5. To inspire the next generation of women pilots, all-female crew flies 120 girls to NASA headquarters

From the pilots to the gate agents to the air traffic controllers, everyone involved in getting 120 teenage girls from Salt Lake City to NASA headquarters in Houston was female. Recently, Delta set up its fifth-annual WING (Women Inspiring Our Next Generation) flight, which aims to get more girls interested in aviation and aerospace careers. In 2017, there were 609,306 pilots in the United States, and only seven percent were women, the Federal Aviation Administration's Aeronautical Center said. The trip to Houston included tours at NASA's Mission Control Center, Johnson Space Center, and Space Center Houston, and also a meeting with NASA astronaut and aerospace engineer Jeanette Epps. "It's such an exciting time to be in STEM," a participant named Karyanna said. "There's so much left for us to discover."

ABC News