Today’s Solutions: November 17, 2024

Space

Learn about the latest astronomy news and discoveries around humanity’s endeavor beyond the final frontier.

Pluto

Turns out there are ice volcanoes on Pluto. Here's how they work

We learn more fascinating and otherworldly things about our universe the farther out into space we explore. Some of our discoveries bend our understanding of science, and some completely baffle us. This is the case now that scientists have confirmed that there are, in fact, ice volcanoes on Read More...

Exoplanet in deep space. Elements of this image were furnished by NASA.

How many worlds exist outside our solar system?

Exoplanets are worlds just like our own that are revolving around a star. Here at The Optimist Daily, we’ve commonly reported on the discovery of new exoplanets, like the first time an exoplanet has been spotted outside our galaxy, or this peculiar planet with the shortest orbit around a star Read More...

The Red Planet

Refueling on Mars: making biofuel from astronaut wastewater

As space exploration develops further, scientists and engineers are innovating more outlandish ways for humans to survive beyond our planet. What was once magic becomes science as experts think outside the box and brilliantly repurpose resources in closed environments, such as growing lettuce in Read More...

Space Lettuce

Space lettuce could save astronauts’ bones

Many of us wanted to be astronauts when we were kids. Some of us may even still daydream about it. While we lionize pioneers like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, we now know that prolonged time in space comes with some serious health consequences. We are, after all, creatures whose anatomy evolved Read More...

Image from the James Webb Space Telescope of a distant star during the alignment process of the infrared camera.

James Webb Space Telescope releases first stunning image of a star

An update on the James Webb Space Telescope is hitting your newsfeed again as it makes another landmark step in its journey to help us explore the universe. The telescope set off in late December 2021, with the mission to change how we study deep space forever. The Optimist Daily previously Read More...

Earth and moon in space with milky-way.

What the moon tells us about the early universe

Did you know that the distance between the Earth and the moon is constantly changing? The space between them can change as much as 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in six hours and the average distance between them is growing each year.An international team of researchers was able to learn much more Read More...

A technician working at the NIF before using the 196 lasers to create conditions similar to galaxy clusters.

Cracking the case of super-hot hydrogen in galaxies

Galaxies don't like to be alone. These huge swirls of stars, dust, and dark matter gravitate together in their thousands to form clusters, offering wonder and puzzlement to us humans watching them. The mystery of the super-hot hydrogen As with many aspects of our awe-inspiring universe, there is Read More...

Yellow-bellied marmot

Yellow-bellied marmots stop aging in hibernation

The Optimist Daily has written a lot about the importance of sleep, how it can renew your energy levels or make you happier. What if we told you that it also halted the aging process? You would have to go into hibernation to make that happen, so it might be a bit out of humans’ reach for now. Read More...

Listening fabric

This fabric can “hear” for you

Hearing loss is something many of us have to accept, with the fine and sensitive tools in our ears inevitably wearing down with age. What if you could remedy this by putting on a shirt that could hear for you? Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and designers from the Rhode Read More...

Quasar Dark Matter Space

Can galaxies exist without dark matter?

The nature of science is learning and revision. Our understanding of existence involves fine-tuning, sometimes completely restructuring our knowledge to comprise new discoveries. Physics, medicine, chemistry, all improve on themselves by revising older ideas, such as it is with dark matter and its Read More...