Health
Finding good health news amidst a pandemic can be quite daunting. That’s not the case with The Optimist Daily, where positive news is in high supply. Our Health section covers the latest good news from the health sector, featuring solutions ranging from mental and physical health to immunity, nutrition, and cutting edge medical research.
Incredible: Scientists 3D print a heart pump that beats on its own
The possibilities of 3D printing seem to have no bound after scientists at the University of Minnesota managed to 3D print a human heart pump capable of beating on its own. The pump is just 1.5 centimeters long, but the researchers believe the tiny organoid could have a huge impact on efforts Read More...
A quick guide to keeping houseplants pest-free
Many plant parents out there are all too aware that their precious plants can quickly become havens for pests like gnats, spider mites, and aphids. But have no fear—saving greenery from bugs doesn't have to be difficult. Here's a quick guide to keeping your plants pest-free. Common causes of Read More...
Free testing and robot caregivers: The COVID-19 success story in Rwanda
Despite its limited resources, Rwanda has done everything in its power to quell the spread of the coronavirus. Whereas it can be hard to get tested for COVID-19 in many places, in Rwanda, you might just get tested randomly as you're going down the street. "So whenever someone is driving a Read More...
Burger King will feed its cows a new diet to cut methane emissions
Fast food chains may have embraced plant-based meat patties, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped serving up beef patties. The good news (relatively so) is that Burger King will soon start feeding its cows a new diet that can reportedly cut methane emissions by as much as a third. If it proves Read More...
Colin Kaepernick and Impossible Foods team up to feed 1 million people
Civil rights activist and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick has teamed up with Impossible Foods in order to achieve a big target: feed 1 million people. Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp, a nonprofit organization that advances civil rights through education and empowerment, has made Read More...
One million UK smokers have kicked the habit during the pandemic
Earlier in May, we wrote about how COVID-19 has pushed 300,000 people in the UK to quit smoking over health concerns. Now, that number has more than tripled, with figures suggesting that 1 million people in Britain have given up the habit since the pandemic hit in March. The data comes from a Read More...
COVID-19: How Orthodox Jews became America’s biggest donors of blood plasma
One Saturday in mid-April, a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders held a conference call with a Minnesota doctor as they grappled with spiking coronavirus cases in their New York area communities. Dr. Michael Joyner of the Mayo Clinic is leading a nationwide study on the use of blood plasma to treat Read More...
Eating capers activates key proteins in the brain and heart
If you enjoy capers, we have good news for you. According to a recent study, a commonly found compound in pickled capers, quercetin, activates proteins required for normal human brain and heart activity. The study, which was published in Communications Biology, found that quercetin can directly Read More...
Could AI help prompt doctors to have difficult discussions about death?
At the Optimist Daily, we’re always on the lookout for solutions—whether they may be for lighter issues like gardening, or for much heavier topics, like how we can best discuss how to prepare for death. Today, we’ll be touching upon the latter. The question of how and when to prepare for Read More...
BLM protests didn’t spike COVID cases. Here’s why and what we can learn from them
Preemptive reopening, poor tracing capabilities, a refusal to wear masks...the list of factors contributing to the new COVID-19 spike in the US is very long, but one thing that didn’t seem to contribute to rising case numbers were the Black Lives Matter protests. Why not? Let’s take a Read More...