Chances are you’ve never heard of Guinea worm disease, a parasitic sickness which often causes infection, lock jaw, joint infections, and permanent disability. Decades ago, the disease afflicted 3.5 million people each year — but thanks to the heroic efforts of Dr. Donald Hopkins and others, there are currently just 28 cases of Guinea worm disease worldwide. Hopkins, born in Miami in 1941, grew up in poverty, the seventh of ten children. On a study-abroad trip to Egypt, Hopkins saw the devastating effects of disease on the global population and decided to pursue medicine. After graduating medical school at the University of Chicago (the only black student in his graduating class), Hopkins went on to work with the CDC to eradicate smallpox in Sierra Leone. At the time (1967) Sierra Leone had the highest smallpox rate in the world. Hopkins’ unique vaccination strategies helped Sierra Leone report their last case of smallpox just two years later. In the early 1980s, Hopkins set out to destroy another debilitating disease — Guinea worm. The disease, caused by unclean drinking water, affected millions across Africa at the time, but Hopkins was undeterred: “When people said to me, ‘You’re not going to be able to eradicate Guinea worm disease,’ I had heard all of that about smallpox. So I just brushed it off.” For decades, Hopkins (working alongside former president Jimmy Carter) has traveled across Africa and battled cultural differences, political rivalries, bad roads, and dilapidated health systems to bring clean water and larvicide to struggling populations. With just 28 cases worldwide in 2021, Hopkins and his team are on the verge of declaring victory — but the 79-year-old scientist won’t retire until the disease is completely gone: “I’ve got the tiger by the tail and I can’t let go.”

By banning the use and new production of CFCs, the Montreal Protocol eliminated a significant contributor to climate change. It’s estimated that these efforts avoided a temperature increase of as much as 2.5 degrees. We love to see people working together to use science for the good of humanity

A 13-year-old girl named Alyssa has been totally cleared of a deadly, incurable cancer after doctors used a technology called “base editing” to build her a new, living medication. Alyssa was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May of last year. With this particular type of cancer, the body’s T-cells—which are designed to fight off infections—instead mutate and multiply out of control. Despite trying chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, Alyssa’s cancer still persisted, and earlier this year she was given just months to live. In an amazing feat of science, however, a team of doctors and scientists were able to use an experimental new tool called “base editing” to engineer brand new T-cells—ones specially equipped to hunt and kill off Alyssa’s cancerous T-cells. After just one round of this new treatment, Alyssa has been declared cancer-free, and can now spend Christmas with her family

You’ve probably never heard of Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, but here’s why you should: Walker was a physician, an abolitionist, a suffragist, a prisoner of war, the first female surgeon to ever serve in the US Army, and an all-around bada*s.

When the Civil War started, Walker had already earned her medical degree, married, and started a medical practice in an era where very few women aspired to practice medicine at all. After the war broke out, Walker tried to enlist as a soldier and was rejected. Instead, the Union Army hired her as a surgeon where she treated the wounded in battle and across enemy lines. At one point, Walker was arrested as a spy and taken prisoner by the Confederacy. Thankfully, Walker was soon released and received the Medal of Honor for her heroism and service to the Union. Walker is the only woman (still!) to have received the medal of honor and one of only eight civilians who have received it to this day.

After the war, Walker retired from her medical practice due to a war injury and became a writer, supporting issues like health care and women’s suffrage.

Another bada*s quality that Walker had? She wore whatever she wanted—namely, men’s attire such as a top hat and trousers, which was scandalous at the time. When confronted about her unusual dressing habits, Walker is said to have responded, “I don’t wear men’s clothes—I wear MY clothes.” Walker died in 1919 at the age of 86—one year before American women earned the right to vote