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...
These healthcare workers are getting Red Sox tickets for life
John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” (SGN) has taken the internet by storm with uplifting stories during the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, he was joined by baseball legend David Ortiz to donate a lifetime supply of free Red Sox tickets to the healthcare workers at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Read More...
April 16, 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...
April 16, 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...
April 16, 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...
April 16, 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...