A Japanese company is building a dam using automated robots
Japan has a labor shortage, partially because the workforce is aging. Last year they passed new legislation to attract foreign workers — a controversial bill, given the nation's historically strict immigration policies. But the construction contractor Obayashi is taking the matter into their Read More...
Beirut explosion: 4 things you can do to help the people of Lebanon
At the Optimist Daily, we believe there is always something we can do to help those in need—even if those who need help most are across the world. If you weren’t already aware, the Lebanese capital of Beirut was devastated by a massive explosion that occurred in the city’s port warehouse Read More...
Stranded sailors saved after writing giant SOS in the sand
Watch any film about surviving on a deserted island, and they’ll probably draw the letters “SOS” in a big font on the sand. Many people believe the letters stand for "Save Our Souls" or "Save Our Ship,” but in reality, SOS is just a distinctive Morse code sequence that is not an Read More...
How to cope better with the uncertainty of Covid-19
This year, we are all poised on a massive professional threshold, waiting to see what a “return to work” actually looks like. Our daily habits and routines have all gone out the window. We’re left in a sort of limbo, fretting over how long it will last and what will come next. A time of Read More...
Each track on this album was inspired by songs of endangered birds
Back in 2015, a music album inspired by the sounds of endangered birds in South America raised more than $15,000 for two bird conservation charities in the region. Fast forward to today, and we’re once again seeing (or rather, hearing) the beautiful collaboration of music and conservation. A Read More...
There are more Emperor penguins than we previously thought
For all you penguin lovers, we have good news: recent satellite images have identified a raft of new Emperor penguin breeding sites. The discovery lifts the estimated global Emperor population by 5-10 percent, to perhaps as many as 278,500 breeding pairs. It's a welcome development given that Read More...
How the world’s biggest science society aims to be more inclusive
On June 10th, Black scientists in America organized a strike to protest discrimination within academia and the sciences. The world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), took part in the strike, but it’s not stopping there Read More...
Rhino poaching drops by 50 percent in South Africa thanks to lockdown
Other than sea turtles with threatened conservation status, other endangered species around the world have also benefitted from diminished human activity during the pandemic. The number of South African rhinos killed by poachers fell by half in the first half of the year as the coronavirus outbreak Read More...
Discarded face masks could be turned into biofuel to produce energy
While the pandemic has benefitted the environment in some ways, it has also brought about an unprecedented problem: the overwhelming number of single-use, non-recyclable personal protective equipment (PPE) leaking into the environment. Concerned about how these single-use masks and gloves can be Read More...
August 5, 2020
The Optimist Daily Update with Summers McKay & Kristy Jansen - Your weekday update from The Optimist Daily featuring discussions of our top positive news solutions from independent, reader-funded, journalists. Kristy reminds us that coffee, fruit, and moving your body are keys to success so today Read More...