Low-income students to get free education at University of Texas-Austin in 2020
Beyond student debts, there’s a massive problem with charging university students up to $65,000 for a year’s worth of college education: by doing so, you exclude talented students from the lower end of the economic spectrum. And while the US is still a long, long distance away from matching the Read More...
Interpol just rescued thousands of animals following global sting operation
A sting operation like none other took place this week as global police and customs officials cracked down on the biggest wildlife trafficking ring the world has ever seen. The giant environmental crime operation involved 109 countries and resulted in nearly 2,000 seizures of protected wildlife, Read More...
Scientists have discovered a way to spot faulty bridges using satellites
On August 14, 2018, a section of the Morandi Bridge that linked the Sampierdarena and Cornigliano districts in Genoa, Italy, collapsed during a torrential rainstorm, sending about 35 cars and three trucks down into the Polcevera river. The cause of the collapse isn't entirely clear, but it appears Read More...
It’s not chicken. It’s a pea-based chicken alternative with an odd backstory
The development of plant-based meat has been quite fascinating to watch for those of us here at the Optimist Daily. Just a couple years ago meat alternatives such as Tofurkey were almost a joke and certainly not in the mainstream. These days it seems there’s a new plant-based meat alternative on Read More...
Elephant and rhino populations rebound in Tanzania after crackdown on poaching
Iconic African animals including elephants and rhinos have long been targeted by organized criminal networks that are feeding an insatiable demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asian countries. But strategic anti-poaching government action may just be key to tackling the problem. In Tanzania, for Read More...
Solar panels are helping Indian farmers irrigate their crops
Hundreds of millions of people in India depend on farming for their livelihoods, but widespread droughts in recent years mean they often struggle to find enough water for their fields. Right now, rural farmers have to rely on diesel pumps to access groundwater for irrigation, but many of them Read More...
An injection of nanoparticles could help prevent paralysis after cord injuries
When it comes to spinal cord injuries that lead to paralysis, it is the immune system that actually causes most of the damage. Soon, however, it’s possible that an injection of nanoparticles at the injury site could prevent the body’s immune system from overreacting to trauma and resulting in Read More...
Scientists are fighting to liberate the world’s academic research from paywalls
Science has amassed so much valuable knowledge that humanity can use, and yet, a huge chunk of that knowledge is owned by a few corporations who keep it behind paywalls. One of those corporations is Elsevier, which owns around 3,000 academic journals and withholds some 18 percent of all the Read More...
Could lab-grown meat help save the planet?
While the market for plant-based meat alternatives is exploding, there’s another alternative to farm-raised meat that could soon become a staple of your local supermarket: lab-grown meat. While companies vary in exact details, broadly speaking “lab-grown meat” refers to a method of making Read More...
Why difficult conversations can be transformative—even without a resolution
In the early 2000s, psychology professor Peter Coleman of Columbia University established The Difficult Conversations Lab to study deeply rooted, complicated and hard-to-solve conflicts. He wanted to understand why conflicts in families, communities, and in the international arena get stuck in a Read More...