The Forever Pandemic, Omicron, Build Back Better, Biden, Putin, China, What's Trump got up his sleeve? The media gave these stories ad nauseum coverage in 2021, often marching in lockstep and suffering from a painful lack of imagination about what should be the big news of the day.

But what about underreported stories: The important news that most of us missed?

Richard and Jim share their gripes, observations, hopes and insights about the media, science, the environment and global affairs. Our co-hosts are not only solutions journalists with decades of reporting experience, they're also voracious readers and observers of current events.

In this episode, we learn how COVID has super-charged the development of promising new mRNA vaccines against malaria, lyme disease and other challenging illnesses, the hidden social upsides of remote working on family life, the broad benefits of the private space flight boom, and the hard truths of global energy production. We also examine why curiosity, intellectual humility and overcoming our negativity bias are all needed to gain a better understanding of the world.

We explore why people have such a hard time accepting progress that is being made in many fields."A lot of times I think it is because the media is afraid that if they mention good news then people will stop the fight for further change," says Jim. "But if you can emphasize the good sometimes that shows these problems can be solved."

Jim and Richard's recommended news sources: Apart from reading The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other mainstream newspapers, Richard recommends The Economist, GZero Newsletter on global affairs, and the Migration Policy Institute. Jim urges listeners to check out City Journal and eco-modernist reports from The Breakthrough Institute. His other sources include a range of journalists on Substack and Twitter.