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.
New Honda fuel-cell car, Clarity, lands in Bay Area
Heather Mc Laughlin’s new car sprang to life Monday with a gentle whoosh, followed by a quiet electric whine. A few drops of water trickled out the back and puddled on Dublin Honda’s showroom floor. “You can drink that,” said Honda spokeswoman Natalie Kumaratne. The car, a Read More...
The world could reach peak oil in three years, thanks to cheap renewables
The world could reach peak oil and coal in as little as three years—not because either is close to running out, but because of the falling cost of solar power and electric cars and stronger climate policy. A new report from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and the Carbon Read More...
Honda and Hitachi are forming an electric vehicle motor company
Honda Motor and Hitachi's auto parts subsidiary plan to form a joint venture to develop, produce and sell motors for electric vehicles (EV), joining forces to better compete in the highly specialized "green" car segment. Automakers are increasingly teaming up with parts suppliers to build Read More...
Ireland looks to become first country to completely divest from fossil fuels
There have been universities and companies that have completely divested from fossil fuels, but so far no country has done it. Ireland may soon be the first after a bill was passed to halt all public funding of coal, oil, and gas companies. The bill would require the nation’s massive Strategic Read More...
U.S. solar sees 25 percent jump in jobs created last year
Although president Trump may advocate coal as a means for creating U.S. jobs, it’s the solar industry that’s employing the most U.S. workers. In fact, jobs in the solar industry grew 25 percent last year to include more than 260,000 workers. The solar industry hopes the new data on job growth Read More...
Uber hires 'flying car engineer' from Nasa
A former Nasa engineer has been hired by taxi-hailing firm Uber to help its research into flying cars. Mark Moore is joining Uber's Elevate division as its director of engineering for aviation. Uber's interest in flying cars was outlined in a White Paper in October, which discussed vertical Read More...
Tarantulas inspire new structural color with the greatest viewing angle
Inspired by the hair of blue tarantulas, researchers from The University of Akron lead a team that made a structural-colored material that shows consistent color from all viewing directions. This finding overturns the conventional wisdom that long-range order photonic structures are always Read More...
Energy companies are fitting wind turbines to lampposts to make electricity
Millions of lampposts could be fitted with wind turbines connected directly into the National Grid. IT and technology firm NVT Group and Own Energy, which designed the small turbine that will be used, have formed a joint partnership that will create 25 jobs over the next year. However the firms Read More...
UK electric vehicle boom drives new car sales to 12-year high
The number of new cars registered in the UK hit a 12-year high in January, with electric vehicles taking a record share of the market, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The industry body had warned of a slowdown in the motor trade in 2017 because of the impact of Read More...
China doubles solar capacity and is now the world’s largest solar power producer
China has the most people—and now the most solar panels. China’s National Energy Administration has claimed the title of the world’s biggest producer of solar energy after the country announced that it had doubled its installed photovoltaic (PV) capacity last year. By the end of 2016, Read More...