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.
Meet the electric bus that could push every other polluting bus off the road
Electric cars might be sexier. But Ryan Popple, who was an early employee at Tesla, is now convinced that electric buses are more interesting. Proterra, the startup Popple runs, designed a sleek new electric bus that drove 258 miles on a single charge in a recent test. That's farther than most tiny Read More...
Sergey Brin had a great response for why even people who love cars should embrace self-driving vehicles
Google cofounder Sergey Brin loves driving — and even reportedly bought one of Tesla's fancy, brand-new SUVs — but he still can't wait for a future full of autonomous vehicles. At a panel the company held earlier this week about its self-driving cars, one Australian journalist grilled Read More...
New technology makes it possible to convert radio signals into energy
Radio frequency signals are all around us. They make it possible to have cell phone service, Wi-Fi, and digital broadcast television programming. For years and years, smart minds have been thinking about catching these radio frequency waves around us to recycle them for something else. Now, they Read More...
Optical rectenna could double solar cell efficiency
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a first of its kind: an optical rectenna, which combines the qualities of an antenna with a rectifier diode. If further refined, the researchers believe the device could lead to a new generation of highly efficient solar cells. While Read More...
Shell CEO: Solar energy to be backbone of world’s energy system
Solar energy will comprise the backbone of the world’s energy system in years to come, according to the CEO of Shell (yes, that Shell), Ben van Beurden. The exact words used by Van Beurden were that he has “no hesitation to predict that in years to come solar will be the dominant Read More...
Costa Rica makes unconditional offer to decarbonize its economy and build resilience
Costa Rica plan commits the country to an absolute 25% reduction of net emissions by 2030 compared to 2012. This means a target of staying a 1.73 tonnes CO2e per capita in 2030. The plan offers improvements in governance, transparency, adaptation and urban mobility. This shift the focus from carbon Read More...
Large food brand will power its food factories by mashed potatoes
One of the U.K’s biggest food brands is going green this week by powering one if its factories not by wind or solar, but by potato. In an effort to reduce carbon emissions and eliminate food waste, 2 Sisters Food Group (parent company of some of the UK’s biggest food brands including Fox’s Read More...
How Germany's renewable energy revolution took off
By many measures, Germany is an unlikely birthplace for a renewable-energy revolution. Its reputation for being a generally gloomy country, with few sunny days, is well established. Its onshore wind potential is merely middling. And with the world’s fourth-largest GDP, it requires steady Read More...
Why Google wants its self-driving cars to drive more like you
Google is designing its self-driving cars to operate more like human drivers on the road, according to the Wall Street Journal. That means cutting corners, creeping at stop signs and pausing less frequently. Chris Urmson, Google’s lead on the driverless car project, said at a conference in Read More...
Driverless cars could save tens of millions of lives this century
Automation on the roads could be the great public-health achievement of the 21st century. If driverless cars deliver on their promise to eliminate the vast majority of fatal traffic accidents, the technology will rank among the most transformative public-health initiatives in human history. But how Read More...