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.
These extraordinary bricks reflect sunlight into dark streets
In 2013, French designer Nathanaël Abeille started working with material expert Carlos Muniagurria to develop a way to turn common, inexpensive bricks into highly reflective objects capable of illuminating streets, apartments, and buildings that don’t receive direct sunlight–especially in Read More...
Tata Power plans $5 billion push to boost renewable capacity
Tata Power Co., one of India’s largest private power utilities, is planning to invest as much as $5 billion to ramp up its renewable capacity fourfold, according to its top Read More...
A strait-laced writer explores psychedelics, leaves the door of perception ajar
Microdosing is hot. If you haven’t heard — but you probably have, from reports of its use at Silicon Valley workplaces, from Ayelet Waldman’s memoir “A Really Good Day,” from dozens of news stories — to microdose is to take small amounts of LSD, which generate “subperceptual” Read More...
Report: UK can move from coal to clean without gas
The British government has pledged to switch all air-polluting coal-fired power plants by 2025. To do so, the government plans to build new large gas plants. However, a new report by the World Wide Fund for Nature shows that the UK can move straight from coal to clean, renewable energy and skip Read More...
How much space would it take to solar-power the United States?
How much space would it take to put the whole of the United States on solar power. Well, it depends a lot on the region where you install those solar panels. Las Vegas gets almost twice as much solar energy as some other places, with 26.8 kilowatt-hours per day in a five-kilowatt system, compared Read More...
Smart windows could combine solar panels and TVs too
Imagine standing in front of a wall of windows, surveying the view. You hear someone enter the room behind you. You turn. "Welcome," you say. "Here is the video I wanted to show you." At the press of a button, the view vanishes and the windows transform into a high-definition TV Read More...
How excess wind and solar power can be used to produce hydrogen
The British National Grid has warned that at times this coming summer there will be more electricity being generated than needed; when demand is low, solar output is high and some inflexible power stations are hard to turn off. The answer could be to use the excess power to generate hydrogen. Read More...
Coal power is getting the cold shoulder in India as renewable prices plummet
Coal-based power plants fall out of favor with power distribution companies in India as the price of wind and solar power continues to plummet to record lows. Whereas wind and solar power tariffs are priced at around Rs 2.4 per unit, coal-based power is currently being sold at Rs 3.7 per unit. With Read More...
Scientists just created a new “super wood” that’s stronger than steel
Spider silk has long held the record for being the strongest biomaterial on Earth — but that just changed. Scientists at KTH Royal Institute of Technology used wood nanofibers to create a new biomaterial that is even stronger than spider silk. Researchers “densified” wood to turn an Read More...
One in five Americans say their next car will be an electric one
A recent survey conducted has found that one in five Americans say they will likely buy an electric car the next time they purchase a new vehicle. If one in five Americans actually followed through and bought an electric car, that would represent an enormous jump in sales in a market where electric Read More...