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.
Innovative soccer ball turns into energy source
Most of the developing world quickly goes dark after the sun sets. Kerosene lamps and polluting generators can provide light for some, but the fumes these two sources emit cause cancer, and other breathing problems. A tech startup has a playful solution: the soccer ball. On the inside of this Read More...
Indian businesses build standalone power sources
Indian electricity cuts, and “power holidays” backed by the government—where power is blacked out in a certain area—have driven businesses to take their energy needs into their own hands. Indian IT firm ValueLabs has built a 13-megawatt solar plant to wean itself off of government sourced Read More...
Voters deal huge blows to fracking industry
The US mid-term elections dealt several blows to the fracking industry. Voters in San Benito and Mendocino counties in California passed a bill that completely bans fracking in their communities. Similarly, voters in Denton, Texas—the town where fracking first began—also outlawed this polluting Read More...
First solar cycle lane opens in the Netherlands
The ‘Solar freaking roadways’ video gets passed around the Internet every so often, but nothing has come from it, until now. A different but similar project, based in the Netherlands, put solar panels underneath a 230-foot cycling path to provide electricity to the power grid. The project cost Read More...
Solar power will be cheaper than grid power by 2016
Solar rooftop power in the US will become cheaper than electricity from the grid in the next two years. A report from Deutsche Bank predicts that solar power will get to “grid parity” in all 50 states. Grid parity is when an alternative source of electricity reaches the same price as getting Read More...
A glowing highway without street lamps
If you drive about an hour south of Amsterdam you’ll find yourself on a stretch of road that looks like you are in a science fiction movie. This piece of a Dutch highway is completely void of streetlights—replaced by strips of glowing paint. The highway is being used to test alternative ways of Read More...
Poorer countries use more renewables than rich
While most renewable energy sources are invented in the developed world, a new study found that developing countries use green energy sources at nearly twice the rate of the western world. The study looked at 55 countries and found that between 2008 and 2013 the use of renewable energy grew 143 Read More...
World’s greenest economies
The 2014 Global Green Economy Index ranked the world’s nations into two lists: what countries are green, and what countries are perceived to be green. While perception is obviously less important than performance, the differences in the two lists are interesting. The US scored 6th on perception, Read More...
India’s expanding power grid hardly impacts emissions
For long, environmentalists have argued that bringing electricity to poor peasants may accelerate greenhouse emissions. They’re right, but the environmental impact is substantially lower than most think. According to a new study, the addition of 650 million users to India’s power grid over the Read More...
Majority of Australians thinking about switching to solar
The prices of solar installations are falling faster than anyone can keep up, and it’s becoming increasingly obvious that solar will power the future. That future might be closer than you think. A recent survey found that 90 percent of Australians are considering a switch to solar energy. Read More...