April, 17 2020
The Optimist Daily Update with Summers McKay & Kristy Jansen - Your weekday commute update from The Optimist Daily featuring our top 5 positive news solutions from independent, reader-funded, journalists. Listen in to start your day with a positive solutions mindset and share with someone else who Read More...
Retreating ice in Norway has revealed treasure troves of Viking artifacts
At the Optimist Daily, we’re deeply concerned with global heating and its melting effect on Arctic glaciers. But as a publication that is always willing to see the silver lining in any situation, it’s been fascinating to see what archaeologists discover as the ice retreats. Recently in Read More...
WiFi buses in Austin are providing internet access to students in need
As schools across the country shut their doors indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, millions of students are now adjusting to online learning. But for low-income families who may not have access to WiFi, this transition is a problem. To help students access the internet, the Austin Read More...
What neuroscience can teach us about lowering anxiety
If coronavirus has disrupted your usual daily rhythm and kept you indoors, it’s totally understandable if you’ve been feeling a bit more anxious lately. The good news though is that neuroscience can offer some non-pharmaceutical, research-backed ways to mitigate anxiety. Let’s see what the Read More...
Iceland recommends this natural remedy to help with social isolation
Given that humans are by nature social animals, in a time when close contact and embracing are discouraged to slow the spread of the virus, such preventive measures can take a toll on many people’s wellbeing. But since we don’t know exactly for how long physical distancing will keep loved Read More...
Tarantula venom may be used to create painkillers without risk of addiction
While humans tend to have a natural aversion to virtually all of nature’s venomous creatures, one popular arachnid may hold key to unlocking a painkiller that rivals opioids in effectiveness, but without the damaging side-effects, such as addiction. A team of researchers from the University of Read More...
Hospital choir records virtual song performance for healthcare workers
Communities across the world are scheduling nighttime celebrations for healthcare workers by clapping a howling for those who put their lives on the line to treat those infected with COVID-19. A group of employees at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center paid tribute to their fellow Read More...
Volunteers are fighting COVID-19 by creating world’s fastest supercomputer
Before new ways to tackle the coronavirus can be developed, scientists must first unravel the complex dynamics of the proteins that make up Sars-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). Doing this requires computers to perform folding calculations, a process that simulates how proteins are folded Read More...
Asthma rates plummet in Kentucky as coal plants shut down
Air pollution has long been linked to health issues, especially asthma. Coal-fired power plants are a definitive source of air pollution. But it’s been difficult for scientists to attribute respiratory problems of people living near coal specifically to those coal plants because a host of other Read More...
Scientists discover brightest supernova ever recorded
A supernova is the bright and powerful explosion of a star that is at least five times larger than our sun. This week, scientists at the Center for Astrophysics discovered a supernova larger and brighter than any on record. These enormous stars burn large amounts of nuclear energy at their Read More...