Thanks to combined global environmental efforts to ban chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) since the 1980’s, the massive hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica is finally showing evidence of healing.

The results, published in Science, show that the ozone layer hole has shrunk each year by more than 1.7 million square miles since its peak in 2000. That’s a reduction of about 18 times the area of the UK, per year. If this progress continues, it could be fully closed by the middle of the century.

Read more about this fantastic news here at The Canary – Science and Health.