How to make your working from home routine more sustainable
While the timeline to return to the office for other industries and locations remains unclear, many people are slowly realizing that they’ll be working from home a lot longer than they had originally planned. If you are in this position, here are three tips to help you assess and tweak your Read More...
Pledge completed: UC Berkeley has now fully divested from fossil fuels
The University of California announced Tuesday that it has fully divested from all fossil fuels, making it the nation’s largest educational institution to do so as campaigns to fight climate change through investment strategies proliferate at campuses across the country. The UC milestone capped Read More...
The case for shifting to a four-day workweek for post-pandemic life
At The Optimist Daily, we’re putting a lot of focus on what the world can do after the pandemic to create a healthier, more sustainable, and more inclusive society. In New Zealand, one idea that was suggested by prime minister Jacinda Ardern is starting to gain a lot of traction: shifting to a Read More...
Scientists created a textile that makes viruses slide right off the fabric
Masks and gowns are crucial to protect health workers from the spread of viruses, but they only do so much. Germs can still latch onto the material that protective equipment is made of, and diseases can spread when people touch the masks or touch their gowns. What if, like water sliding off a Read More...
A rare Pygmy hippo birth has taken place at the San Diego Zoo
Pygmy hippos are an endangered species native to the rivers and streams of West African forests. Less than 2,500 pygmy hippos live in the wild in Africa, but fortunately, a number of zoos around the world are caring for and breeding these curious creatures. Recently, the San Diego Zoo saw its Read More...
How to foster constructive debates within your work team
Working in a diverse workforce where different perspectives come together means learning to navigate conflict constructively. Debates at work can lead to new ideas, but if leaders don’t show receptiveness to different opinions, it will only undermine the whole purpose of having a diverse team. Read More...
London is going all-in on car-free zones
Following in the footsteps of leaders in Milan and New York City who are heeding global calls to #BuildBackBetter from the coronavirus pandemic, London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday unveiled plans to create "one of the largest car-free zones in any capital city in the world" to improve local Read More...
Detroit Mower Gang: These volunteers compete to maintain city’s old parks
As small budgets and bureaucracy leave playgrounds and parks uncared for in Detroit, a group of twenty-five volunteers known as the Detroit Mower Gang is taking matters into their own hands. This past weekend, volunteer lawnmowers competed for a championship belt awarded to the person who cuts Read More...
Afghanistan’s all-girl robotics team is making ventilators using car parts
With Afghanistan in great need of ventilators to treat COVID 19 patients, a team of Afghan teenage girls has stepped up to build ventilators from used car parts. The girls are members of the all-girls robotics team, named the Afghan Dreamers, whom you might remember from 2017. That’s when they Read More...
Training AI is carbon-intensive. MIT researchers are changing that
The different ways artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to improve our lives is vast, but one thing we often overlook is the environmental cost that comes with AI. After all, running a training model to improve AI requires a whole lot of energy. For that reason, researchers at Massachusetts Read More...