Science
From mathematics and AI to medicine and psychology, The Optimist Daily features the latest news on discoveries, technological advances, and breakthroughs in the world of science. Our Science section is here to engage and enlighten you.
Ocean Cleanup Project reports successful trial of its newest and largest system
From ocean trash capture systems to innovative river barges, The Ocean Cleanup Project is dedicated to cleaning our waterways of pollution. In recent years, the organization has focused on scaling up its solutions to address massive areas of pollution, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Their Read More...
Nobel prize awarded for work demonstrating benefits of raising minimum wage
US-based economist David Card is one of this year’s recipients of the Nobel prize for economics, awarded for his work which helps answer one of the field’s most contested ideas surrounding minimum wage. Card is Canadian born but based at the University of California, Berkeley. So what Read More...
Can you develop a food allergy as an adult? New study says ‘yes’
Those who grew up with food allergies are used to reading food labels and asking about ingredients at restaurants, but did you know that you can develop food allergies at any age? A new study, currently under review, finds that 52 percent of American adults with a food allergy developed one or more Read More...
US reported record solar power growth in 2020
We’ve previously written about how renewables outpaced fossil fuels in Europe for the first time in 2020. Now, new data demonstrates how US renewables, specifically solar, also thrived despite the challenges of a global pandemic. Last year, the US built more utility-scale solar power plants Read More...
Birmingham switches gears from car-centric to low-traffic
Birmingham, the second-largest city in the UK, has announced a revolutionary transport plan designed to lower CO2 emissions and make the city more livable by transforming it from a car-centric area into a super-sized low-traffic neighborhood. The city currently has a population of 1.2 million Read More...
All cars sold in Norway could be electric by next April
Last year, Norway made huge progress in its transition away from fossil fuels, as more than 54 percent of all car sales in Norway were electric. That number skyrocketed in September, when 9 in 10 cars sold in the Scandinavian country were either electric or rechargeable hybrids, according to the Read More...
Researchers hope a team of robots can efficiently clean up nuclear waste sites
We’ve shared updates from Boston Dynamics’ robotics lab before, and now the famous robots are back, but this time they’re not dancing, they’re cleaning up nuclear waste! A team of researchers from the University of Bristol hopes that robots could help keep humans safer in the Read More...
Mathematical visitation law can predict urban movement anywhere in the world
The hustle and bustle of city streets may seem like a random and chaotic movement of people, but researchers have discovered that this movement can in fact be predicted with a mathematical equation─a discovery that could hold implications for the study of disease and city planning. The model Read More...
Mysterious plant finally named 50 years after discovery
New plants are given scientific names based on which family they fit into, or which plants they share physical characteristics in. Generally Latin-based, these plant names are used internationally to identify flora, but sometimes this naming process isn’t so simple. A new plant with bright orange Read More...
3 ways content creators can make social media more constructive
According to a recently released Wall Street Journal report, 32 percent of teen girls report that Instagram makes them feel worse when they feel bad about their bodies. Although social media can have detrimental effects on everyone’s self-image, this phenomenon is particularly damaging for young Read More...