Education
Great minds lead to great solutions. Our education section features solutions and innovations directed at strengthening educational systems around the world.
How birdwatchers are incentivizing habitat conservation in Alaska
Alaska is world-renowned in specific tourism sectors—namely those related to rail, ship, and cruise lines. However, there is a thrumming ecotourism industry that has been overlooked: birdwatching. Back in 2019, the US was home to 12.82 million birdwatchers. In 2020 this number jumped to Read More...
Pocket gophers: the only other mammal that farms
Farming has been an integral part of the long story of the development of human society. Some mark the beginning of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent in 8500 BC as the start of human civilization. It’s with this in mind that we think of farming as an entirely human job, but that’s not true. Read More...
Eating less meat could help oceans and waterways by reducing nitrogen
It’s difficult for us to consider the long-term, downriver consequences of the simplest of our actions. It isn’t because we’re indifferent; it’s because there are several complicated results to everything we do. Take eating too much meat. When our bodies have more protein than they need, Read More...
4 Tips for raising a bilingual child
Bilingual children have many advantages over their single-language-speaking counterparts. According to Ellen Bialystok, a psychology professor at York University in Canada, children who listen to and use more than one language can better focus on pertinent information and tune out what’s Read More...
A Death Doula reveals the most common regrets so we might learn from them
Death—our inevitable destiny—is unavoidable, no matter how hard we try to evade it. However, ensuring that we reach the end with minimal regrets (or better yet, none at all) is something that we can do something about. Maryanne O’Hara, an end-of-life doula and the author of Little Matches: Read More...
Researchers identify three factors to help prevent mosquito-spread disease
With the variabled future of weather in an ever-changing climate, the prevalence of mosquitoes is expected to increase or at least become more unpredictable. This is expected to exacerbate the spread of certain diseases, like malaria and dengue fever. In places like Sri Lanka, this represents a top Read More...
The secret to our species' success? Our grandparents
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The long-standing theory of evolution has always been based on natural selection: that traits are favored to promote reproductive success. This makes sense why harmful mutations and diseases appear much later in life, with our bodies more likely to degenerate Read More...
This UK-based project maps England’s hidden ancient trees
An impressive project taken up by researchers at the University of Nottingham is revealing the secret hiding places of England’s ancient and veteran trees—and it turns out that the country is hosting ten times as many as experts had thought. Conservationists compare the researcher’s Read More...
These postcards stand up for people with disabilities' rights
It seems it would be simple to respect and protect others' basic human rights, however, there are many situations where a lack of education breaks these vital liberties. This is why postcards covering five rights protected by the Human Rights Act are currently being circulated through England, Read More...
This 30-minute training can help teenagers’ response to stress
Many successful people live by the expression “in every tragedy, there is an opportunity.” It turns out that the same kind of thinking can apply to the smallest of moments and to the youngest of people. A new 30-minute online training session can reduce teenagers’ stress by teaching them Read More...