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.
Eight reasons to be hopeful about the future of our food system
In late summer, the ideas started pouring in from every corner of the world. Thousands of designers, architects, biologists, engineers, students, nature-lovers, and big thinkers had answered the call to completely rethink our food system using design inspiration from nature. The Biomimicry Global Read More...
Babies' gut bacteria may signal later asthma risk
Infants who lack certain types of gut bacteria in the first few months of life may be at increased risk for asthma when they're older, a new study from Canada suggests. In the study, researchers examined the gut bacteria of more than 300 infants when they were 3 months old. Those who had low levels Read More...
Devices spark movement to treat disease with electricity
The treatment seemed as ridiculous as wearing a foil hat to block CIA transmissions: 20 patients with overactive bladder syndrome had electrodes stuck to the soles of their feet for three hours every evening, producing a gentle vibration and causing the big toe to rhythmically bend and straighten. Read More...
This London underground farm grows salad in a WWII bomb shelter
Deep below the streets of London, something is growing in tunnels that once kept people safe from World War II bombs. One hint: It's leafy. Growing Underground is a company that makes "kilometer zero" eating possible in London, by growing salad in LED-lit, underground factories right beneath the Read More...
World leaders given 'trash' to eat at UN to highlight food wastage
World leaders accustomed to fine dining had a surprise on their plates on Sunday at the United Nations — trash. Chefs cooked up a lunch made entirely of food that would have ended up in garbage bins, hoping to highlight the extraordinary waste in modern diets and its role in worsening climate Read More...
Labour's vegan farming minister's idea: Treat meat eaters like smokers
Appointing a vegan as Labour’s farming spokesman was always going to ruffle feathers. But even Kerry McCarthy’s critics must have been surprised by her pronouncement that meat should be treated like tobacco, with public campaigns to stop people eating it. Her appointment has alarmed Read More...
British food recycling cafes go global in fight against waste
When former chef Adam Smith opened a small cafe in Britain's post-industrial North two years ago, serving up dishes with food destined for the scrap heap, he had big aspirations -- to fight global food waste. "From day one I set out to feed the world and I intend to do that," the Yorkshireman said Read More...
To counter overfishing, Ikea will only serve seafood from certified sources
Last week, a WWF report revealed that nearly two-thirds of the world's fisheries are "fully exploited." Most of the rest are over-exploited. And so it is good news that Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain, has decided to only sell seafood that come from certified sources. From this week all 23 Read More...
Increased activity in older brains may point to new avenues for treating memory loss
Neurons are hyperactive and fire more in newly studied area of hippocampus. Northwestern Medicine scientists have examined activity in a little-studied part of the brain associated with memory and found for the first time the reason that neurons there become more active in old age, findings that Read More...
With a few simple changes, Denmark is radically reducing its food waste
In just five years, the country has slashed wasted food by 25%. What can we learn from its success? Someone living in Chicago throws out around two and a half times more food—around 273 pounds a year—than someone in Copenhagen. What makes Danes so much better than Americans at actually Read More...