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.
Farmers and scientists in CA collaborate to minimize water use
In response to climate change and relentless droughts and heatwaves, scientists and farmers in California’s Central Valley are working with local communities to put innovative water-saving systems in place. Together, they have found ways to use and re-use water as sustainably as possible. The Read More...
Solar concentrators provide fast and reliable solar light
With a population of 5.6 million people, the small island nation of Singapore has roughly the same density as New York City. In a country where space is of the essence, researchers from Nanyang Technological University have developed a compact solar concentrator to illuminate the island’s Read More...
There's something fishy about this biodegradable plastic
It’s no secret that plastic is not a friend to our environment. Commonly used types of plastic, like polyurethane, are made from non-renewable crude oil and will take hundreds of years to break down once thrown out. The problem is that humans use plastic for a variety of things, so much so that Read More...
Australians can now trade extra solar power for cold beer
In what they believe to be the world’s first, Asahi Group’s Carlton and United Breweries, an Australian beer maker, is now offering Victorian Bitter to households with rooftop solar energy to spare. The brewery has already installed solar panels on its Melbourne brewery and is purchasing Read More...
The benefits of shifting healthcare from hospital to home
In today’s world, we've gotten accustomed to being able to do things at the touch of a button. Having our groceries delivered to our door, renewing driver’s licenses, and completing degrees through online platforms are tasks that would not have been accomplished remotely just one or two Read More...
Smart street radar system could soon help save lives on the road
While many cars today are equipped with radars that can detect pedestrians on the road, surrounding buildings or other cars in the area can block these systems and make them ineffective. In an effort to help overcome this challenge, a team of engineers is working on a radar that can be mounted on Read More...
This online platform is destigmatizing mental health in the Air Force
Yesterday’s Optimist View discussed the importance of mental health resources for first responders. Today we bring you a story with a similar theme from the US Air Force which is using an online mental health platform to make these services more widely available. The Air Force already offers Read More...
Kelp could replace corn and soy as a biofuel base
We’ve written about kelp as a tool for capturing carbon emissions, but it turns out these giant underwater forests could provide a solution for many of our environmental crises. Researchers from the University of Southern California have found that kelp could serve as a fast-growing and efficient Read More...
Harvard scientists thrilled with new personalized cancer vaccine
Although the pandemic has put many things on hold, it has also spurred advancement in a variety of fields. For instance, there’s been a lot of interest and investment in vaccine technology for coronavirus, but the Covid-19 virus is not the only illness we can fend off with the surge of new Read More...
Scientists engineer first synthetic cell that undergoes division and growth
What if we could engineer synthetic cells to develop into useful chemicals? Or “program” cells so that they perform specialized tasks on demand? After more than a decade of research, scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), the National Institute of Standards and Technology Read More...