August 3, 2021
It's a wellness-focused day on the Update with three lessons we can all take away from Simone Biles' brave decision at the Olympics and how people in Blue Zones consume alcohol. Listen to The Optimist Daily Update with Summers & Kristy - Making Solutions the Read More...
This innovative dome battery uses carbon dioxide to store green energy
As the world works to adopt renewables as its main source of power, we need to develop reliable and cheap ways to store and release green electricity on demand. As counterintuitive as it sounds, carbon dioxide may just be a promising candidate in helping us achieve that. At least that’s the idea Read More...
Rotating water still device produces potable water at much faster rate
Solar stills are a primary technology for extracting potable water from tainted or salinated water, and while they’re useful in water-scarce regions, their technology is still relatively inefficient. Fortunately, a team of researchers from Russia's Ural Federal University has reconceptualized the Read More...
This book made of recycled plastic features letters to future generations
At this point, we can all agree that our take-make-use-dispose model of consumption has been nothing but harmful for the planet and that it’s about time we part ways with one of the biggest contributors to this problem — single-use plastics. A creative agency in Vietnam, called Ki Saigon, Read More...
Make this homemade flower food for longer-lasting bouquets
Fresh bouquets make our homes look bright and beautiful, but it can be a disappointment when these blooms start to wilt after just a few days. Store-provided flower food packets can help a little, but did you know that homemade flower food is far more effective? The little packets of powder that Read More...
How people in Blue Zones drink alcohol
While there is quite a bit of debate around touting alcohol as something that is beneficial to our health, the fact of the matter is that people living in Blue Zones, which are places with the highest concentration of centenarians, do consume alcohol regularly—they just consume it in a mindful Read More...
How to deal with a bullying boss
Most people associate bullying with recess and school cafeterias, but unfortunately, some bullies don’t outgrow their horrid habits when they move on to the workplace. According to the Workplace Bullying Institute’s 2017 National Survey, almost 20 percent of Americans continue to experience Read More...
3 Mental-health lessons to learn from Simone Biles' choice to not compete
Simone Biles, age 24, is an elite artistic gymnast with a vast collection of medals and titles that she’s acquired throughout an impressive athletic career. So, it came as a shock to many when she decided to pull out of the team and all-around finals and not to compete in the uneven bars or vault Read More...
Researchers build model to calculate resistance from different drug combinations
We recently wrote about a new microcalorimetry technique that allows doctors to avoid antibiotic resistance by prescribing the proper combination of antibiotics on the first try, but the other piece of the equation is figuring out scenarios in which antibiotic resistance is being developed so it Read More...
Canada to dedicate over C$25 million to conserve wetlands
The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change of Canada has announced more than C$25 million in funding to conserve, restore, and enhance wetlands and grasslands in the Prairie provinces. This initiative could conserve up to 30,000 hectares of wetlands, grasslands, and riparian areas, on top of Read More...