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.
Austria joins countries aiming for rapid ban gas and diesel cars
In recent weeks India, The Netherlands, and Norway have announced that they are considering banning sales of new non-electric cars from 2025 onwards. Now there are reports that Austria is joining this group and it wants to get even sooner to the all-electric car era: in 2020. The news underlines an Read More...
Google partners Uber on driverless cars
Google has formed a coalition with carmakers and taxi-hailing companies to help steer the regulations needed to make self-drive cars a reality. Including Ford, Volvo, Uber and Lyft, it will lobby lawmakers and regulators on some of the legal barriers. Former US National Highway Traffic Safety Read More...
Charge your cell phone with a plant
Energy is everywhere. This Barcelona-based startup developed a simple device allowing you to charge your cell phone three times a day with the power of the roots of a plant. The Bioo taps into the 'biological battery' inside the base of the plant. According to the company, all that is required from Read More...
New York initiative enhances solar purchase power of citizens
Solarize NYC is the new initiative of New York City to promote solar energy. It allows communities, business districts and places of worship to team up and purchase green energy as one group, enhancing their purchase power. Customers could save up to 20 percent, and local solar energy producers Read More...
British utility offers carbon neutral green gas
UK energy firm Good Energy started offering a carbon neutral gas tariff. The gas mix will contain six percent bio-methane, domestically produced out of organic material. The biogas comes from anaerobic digester sites. Other emissions resulting from gas use are compensated with carbon reduction Read More...
First solar powered aircraft completes Pacific crossing
For the first time a solar powered airplane made it across the Pacific Ocean. The Solar Impulse 2 landed successfully in California after taking off from Hawaii 62 hours earlier. The aircraft was supposed to land in Abu Dhabi by the end of last summer, from where it departed, but faced significant Read More...
Volvo to electrify its entire fleet, will release battery-electric vehicle in 2019
Gas is nice and cheap right now, but it's not going to stay that way forever. That's why, despite the continuation of strong truck and SUV sales, automakers are still working to add electricity into the mix. Volvo's just announced a very ambitious goal of selling one million electrified cars by Read More...
Economic reality shifts Republican perspective on renewables
It's not the first time that new economic realities change political perspectives. Most Republicans in the U.S. reject any role of humans in global warming. However, a small and growing number of once-skeptical Republicans are embracing wind and solar as these clean energy sources begin to deliver Read More...
Supergrid connecting Europe and Africa will enable 100% renewable energy
A ‘supergrid’ connecting Europe to northern Africa will help both regions reach near 100 percent renewable energy capacity, the German Frauhofer Institute states in a report. The grid connection would allow countries to share electricity to balance over or under production. For instance, Read More...
French startup powers street lighting with bacteria
French startup Glowee works on a new concept for the future smart city: It aims to provide street lighting through synthetic biology. It uses the bioluminescent genetics of bacteria living in squids, inserts them in common, non-pathogenic bacteria, which are capsuled in a transparent shell. The Read More...