November 19, 2020
It’s an education themed day on the Update with stories about turning offices into schools, the value of investing in teachers, and an educator-focused Thankful Thursdays prompt. Listen to The Optimist Daily Update with Summers & Kristy - Making Solutions the Read More...
Quebec to ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035
Currently, less than two percent of cars on Quebec roads are electric. That may soon change as the electric revolution is steadily making its way into the Canadian province, which recently announced that it will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars from 2035. The move is part of the Read More...
How men can support their female colleagues remotely
Just because a lot of jobs are now being performed from home doesn’t mean that the gender biases often found in the office space have suddenly disappeared. If anything, remote work has exacerbated previous gender inequities at home. As reported by the Harvard Business Review, mothers are more Read More...
Scientists identify incredibly rare monkey species in Myanmar
A very curious primate species has been discovered for the first time by scientists in the jungles of Myanmar. The Popa langur (Trachypithecus popa), as it’s being called, is a type of monkey with an extremely unique look. It has grayish-purple fur, black circular eyes with large rings around Read More...
This hydrogel helps the skin heal without leaving behind scars
When you have an open wound, your body forms scar tissue as fast as possible to minimize the chance of infection while simultaneously reducing pain. This allows the wound to heal faster, but it can also leave a permanent scar on the body. On that note, scientists at Duke University have developed Read More...
Thankful Thursdays: Expressing gratitude for educators
As the old saying goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” In this week’s Thankful Thursdays prompt, we are expressing gratitude for educators! Virtual teaching during the pandemic has put an even brighter spotlight on the Read More...
Report: To improve education in developing countries, invest in teachers
When it comes to education interventions in developing countries, we have an enormous wealth of research studying the effects of these interventions. The only problem is there hasn’t been a proper comparison of these programs that might show which interventions work best. In a new report from Read More...
Zoom is offering unlimited video chat minutes on Thanksgiving
Celebrating Thanksgiving away from our extended family this year is now a little easier as Zoom announced last week that it will remove the 40 minute limit on video chats on its platform for the entire day of Thanksgiving. The free video chat window will run from 12 a.m. ET on Thanksgiving Read More...
This technology turns vaccines into powdered form to keep them effective
After production, most vaccines must be kept at specific temperatures in order to remain effective. This can be a problem in the developing world, where cold storage of vaccines on a large scale isn’t practical. In fact, as much as 50 percent of vaccines are wasted globally every year, largely Read More...
What to do with the unused offices? This architect turns them into schools
As office buildings sit empty and more companies make the decision to remain remote indefinitely, architect Danish Kurani has turned the unfortunate circumstances into an opportunity and has designed an office-to-school conversion to transform these unused offices into educational spaces. The Read More...