Smile mileage?

Elle Gianelli is giving socks for Christmas - to people she has never met. The 17-year-old shares her love of bright socks by sending them to old people in 92 US care homes.

"Maybe they don't have family," she says, "or maybe they live super far away and they're only getting, like, a postcard."

In a year full of grim headlines, stories like this offer real hope. Here are some others:

January: The US approves the first vaccine to protect bees against diseases.

February: The James Webb space telescope discovers six galaxies 100 times larger than expected.

March: Britain and the EU agree on the Windsor Framework as a solution to BrexitThe UK's departure from the European Union. 's biggest problem.

April: Brazil's president creates reserves covering 1.5 million acres to protect indigenousEthnic groups who are the original or earliest-known inhabitants of an area or country: for example, Native Americans in the USA. people.

May: WHOShort for the World Health Organisation. declares an end to Covid-19 as a global health emergency.

June: Four children who survived a plane crash are found safe after 40 days in the Colombian jungle.

July: Scientists at MassachusettsA state in the northeast USA. University discover a way of harnessing electricity from the atmosphere.

August: Simone Biles, who suffered a mental health crisis two years ago, wins a record eighth US gymnastics championship.

September: Van GoghA Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art.'s The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen is recovered three years after being stolen from a Dutch museum.

October: WHO approves a vaccine for malariaA serious parasite infection transmitted by mosquito bites. It is one of the world's most lethal diseases. that can be manufactured on a massive scale.

November: 41 Indian construction workers are successfully rescued after two weeks trapped in a collapsed tunnel.

Of these, it is probably the scientific breakthroughs that future historians will think the most significant.

But perhaps things like Elle Gianelli's sock project are just as important. They cheer us up and keep us going in the face of bad news.

Music also provided a welcome boost - above all in the form of Taylor Swift, whose successful "Eras" tour started this year.

Yes: There are people all over the world doing things that demonstrate humanity's fundamental goodness and amazing ingenuityInventiveness and creativity. . We should not be dismayed by the minority who behave stupidly and selfishly.

No: The headlines this year have been dominated by conflicts such as those in Ukraine and Gaza, and disasters brought about by climate change. There is no sign of those things getting better.

Or... The most significant developments of 2023 have been in AI, and there is no telling what the consequences might be. It could solve the world's problems or prove a disaster for humanity.