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.
Stacked solar cells make solar power cheaper than natural gas
New designs and approaches to solar are coming out weekly, but scientists have yet to attain the holy grail of 50 percent efficiency. Solar cells typically convert about 15 to 25 percent of the energy from sunlight into electricity—though 44.7 percent efficiency has been achieved in labs. A Read More...
China has already added enough solar this year to power Australia
China gets continued flack for its polluted cities and its title as the world’s leading emitter of carbon. But China is making great strides in sustainably sourced energy. So far this year China has added 3.3 gigawatts of solar capacity, or enough energy sourced from solar to power all of Read More...
How to win Google’s Million-dollar electricity challenge
Google has announced the Little Box challenge: a contest that will pay you $1 million if you build a 95% energy efficient power inverter, no bigger than a tablet, that’s capable of powering a house. A power inverter is a box that turns direct current that flows from solar panels or batteries, to Read More...
A company that greens your building with no upfront costs
Buildings are one of the largest consumers of energy, and the worst of the worst are commercial offices. Unnecessary heating and cooling of conference rooms and spare offices eat up large amounts of energy and contribute to the overall problem of greenhouse gas emissions. Enlighted is a new Read More...
Innovation makes biofuel competitive energy source
Biofuel crops can reduce or offset greenhouse gas emissions by directly removing carbon dioxide from the air as they grow and store it in crop biomass and soil. Fuels from bioenergy crops are thus considered emission-neutral when burnt. The challenge is to get a good energy yield from the crops. Read More...
Perovskite: paint that turns any surface into a solar panel
The sun shines everywhere. So how can we easily capture the energy the rays of sun bring wherever they hit the earth? The answer is perovskite. What? Perovskite is a mineral composed of calcium titanium oxide that scientists at the University of Sheffield have now turned into a “spray on solar Read More...
Cycling desks: exercising while you’re charging your phone
Cycling desks found at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and in a train station in Lyon, let you exercise while you charge you digital device. The desks are called WeBikes and were conceived of by Patricia Ceysens, a Flemish government minister. The desks look like any stool and table arrangement but Read More...
Solar sponge turns suns energy into steam
A sponge designed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology converts water into steam by using the sun’s rays. The sponge is made up of a layer of graphite flakes on top and porous carbon foam underneath that acts as an insulator. The sponge floats on top of water and when sun hits the graphite a Read More...
Facebook initiative provides free Internet access to developing countries
It’s critical for a more just and fair world that developing countries get swiftly connected to the Internet. Last year Facebook started internet.org, an initiative that works with industries around the world to lower the barriers to bringing developing nations online. This week the project Read More...
Wind cheaper than oil, coal or natural gas in Denmark in 2016
Investments in wind power that Denmark started making over 40 years ago are now starting to pay dividends—and large ones at that. Analysts at the Danish Energy Association predict that by 2016 wind power will overtake coal and natural gas as the country’s cheapest source of energy. Two new Read More...