Today’s Solutions: April 21, 2026

Business

Looking for positive and inspiring business stories? From green operations to employee rights, from innovative corporate structures to diversity and inclusion, the Business section at The Optimist Daily has got the latest innovative solutions from the corporate sector.

Solar panel at night

Nocturnal solar panels: not an oxymoron

While trying to do the impossible might seem like magical thinking, in many cases, it is simply science that hasn’t broken through yet. In the case of solar panels, it might seem counterintuitive to try to use them at night. This too, though, has been proven possible.  An engineering team Read More...

New York new mom

In New York, 500 new moms will soon get monthly stipends

Everyone needs a helping hand every now and then. We’ve all been able to live and prosper because we live and cooperate as a community, and this means giving and getting help when necessary. We go farther together.  In New York City, where the cost of living is expensive, new and expecting Read More...

Samsung Galaxy with back cover taken out for repair

Samsung will now make it easy for Galaxy users to repair their own devices

In November of last year, Apple announced that it will start making spare parts for Apple products so its consumers could repair their products at home. This has spurred on competition in their main competitor, Samsung, who has unveiled its own plan to enable customers to repair their own devices Read More...

Mountain Biking

This former coalmining town is revitalizing itself with eco-tourism

While coal is very harmful to the environment, phasing it out of use has left an economic hole in many communities. People used to rely on coal as a means of living. Now, communities are going green, energy sources are going renewable, and these formerly coal-powered communities are Read More...

Oliver Seltzer

“The Cramm” by Olivia Seltzer: giving Gen Z context for the news

Our society often forgets to involve youth as an equal voice in our discussions about how our world ought to function. Young minds are our future artists, entrepreneurs, and legislators, and they need to learn to care about what’s going on in the world today so they can further our work tomorrow. Read More...

Brazilian native people

Study finds forests on indigenous lands sequester twice the carbon

We have written at length, in great volume, and with great enthusiasm about the importance of green spaces in cities, carbon sinks, and environmentally helpful trees in general. Forests are absolutely essential to sequestering carbon and our continued adaptation to a changing climate, but some Read More...

Ukrainian architects build mod

Ukrainian architects build modular shelters for refugees

Since Russia’s invasion, more than 6.5 million internally displaced people in Ukraine have fled their homes to find safety. Many of them are currently crowded in large spaces like school gyms or bomb shelters, with bare amenities available. In a bid to properly accommodate these refugees, a team Read More...

Person cutting a piece of paper with I can / can't as a representation of finding confidence.

Finding your confidence at work? Follow these 3 tips

When Julie Zhou became a Silicon Valley executive at the age of 25, she didn’t find any elation in being at the top of the food chain: rather, she felt as if she was stuck at the bottom of a deep, dark pit. We’ve all been there, feeling a lack of confidence at work and like we don’t deserve Read More...

Amazon rainforest from above

Can NFTs help save the Amazon?

Non-Fungible Tokens, commonly known as NFTs, are crypto-acquired assets in the form of digital art. These “one-of-a-kind” digital pieces rose in popularity last year, with plenty of influential personalities and celebrities purchasing them, often at exorbitant prices. Well, whether you’re Read More...

honeycomb solar panel

Ultrathin "honeycomb" solar panels achieve record efficiency

One day, cities and hopefully everything else will be powered by renewable resources like wind and solar. To do that, though, we will need to continue to improve on our renewable tech, like creating solar panels that can absorb solar energy in many different levels of sunlight. A new development Read More...