As Iceland’s whaling industry decreases, its whale-watching increases
It’s nice when the economically responsible thing to do is also the right thing to do. Iceland announced in February its intentions to end whaling by 2024 because demand for whale meat has decreased significantly. “There is little proof that there is any economic advantage to this Read More...
Alcoholism drug may help restore eyesight
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in adults, and scientists are hard at work finding a cure for it. There are positive strides made every day, and there are all sorts of promising new developments, such as the use of stem cells to recover degenerated eye Read More...
Want to buy an EV? Make a plan first
As you can probably tell by now, The Optimist Daily is a big fan of electric vehicles. EV’s offer a practical way to lower our personal carbon emissions and hold promise for additional benefits in the near future, such as powering our homes in an emergency. It also feels like EV's have finally Read More...
How do solar panels break? And how do we fix them?
At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, teams of scientists and researchers spend large parts of their day jumping on, twisting, smashing, and generally coming up with various ways of breaking solar panels. It’s not malice, it’s not incompetence. It's not Read More...
6 surprising ways to boost your creativity
Creativity is an essential part of problem solving, communication, and for seeing how things are connected. Everyone can benefit professionally or personally from thinking outside the box from time to time. Whether you’re an engineer solving a problem on a medical testing system, a novelist with Read More...
Administration unveils plan to fix bias in home appraisal industry
Three weeks ago, The Optimist Daily wrote a piece about Congress' aims to fix bias and inequality in the home appraisal industry. This is a much-needed change to a systemic problem that has furthered the wealth gap over years and kept families from building intergenerational wealth. On Read More...
Refueling on Mars: making biofuel from astronaut wastewater
As space exploration develops further, scientists and engineers are innovating more outlandish ways for humans to survive beyond our planet. What was once magic becomes science as experts think outside the box and brilliantly repurpose resources in closed environments, such as growing lettuce in Read More...
5 tips to get your teen the sleep they need
If you’re the parent of a teen, you probably have more than enough on your hands without worrying about how much sleep your child gets. The issue is that regular sleep deprivation can affect teens even more than it affects adults. Sleep deprivation can increase chances of health issues like Read More...
Oregon wastewater facility makes its own power with human waste
Two weeks ago, we wrote a piece on upcycling your “business,” going into the green uses some companies found for human waste. Innovation and recycling mean looking everywhere possible for solutions, and The Optimist Daily loves writing about the ones that are found… even if they come out of Read More...
Space lettuce could save astronauts’ bones
Many of us wanted to be astronauts when we were kids. Some of us may even still daydream about it. While we lionize pioneers like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, we now know that prolonged time in space comes with some serious health consequences. We are, after all, creatures whose anatomy evolved Read More...