Today’s Solutions: August 15, 2026

Snuggled up in bed, Yasser Khattak wanted to turn off the light without getting up. It was his lightbulb moment. That teenage frustration gave him the idea for a household plug socket and light switch where the on-off button is flicked remotely via a smartphone, so appliances such as TVs and lights can all be switched off at once, saving on power. “I was in bed one day reading my book, tucked away and I didn’t want to get up to turn off the light switch. My Dad, every day, would send me or my sister or my brothers around the house to turn off all the lights and appliances. Big house, it takes some time. It took us a few minutes. It was just inefficient,” he says. “[I thought] there should be a button … when the house is being built to hardwire everything into it so that before you go to bed it turns everything off. Before you go to work in the morning, it just turns everything off…

Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

What’s healthier? Toasted or untoasted bread?

Choosing to toast bread is typically a matter of taste and texture, but did you know that toasting (and dehydrating) your bread might actually ...

Read More

Universal cancer immunotherapy may be possible through protein engineering

Scientists at ETH Zurich have made significant progress in developing a ready-to-use immunotherapy treatment for cancer. A synthetic protein modification can allow immune cells ...

Read More

Flora, fauna, and funga! UN advocates for new turn of phrase in conservation ...

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) argued for the inclusion of fungi in conservation debates alongside flora and fauna so that fungi ...

Read More

New CFBP regulations erase medical debt from credit reports

BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a bold move to protect consumers burdened by medical debt, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) unveiled ...

Read More