Science
From mathematics and AI to medicine and psychology, The Optimist Daily features the latest news on discoveries, technological advances, and breakthroughs in the world of science. Our Science section is here to engage and enlighten you.
Placing data centers below the sea can save energy and money
Microsoft has drowned one of its data centers 100 ft below the surface of the North Sea. Why? To save energy. Oceans are uniformly cool below a certain depth, so keeping servers under the sea helps cut down the cooling costs that make up a large chunk of the operating budget of data centers. Plus, Read More...
You can pilot Larry Page's new flying car with just an hour of training
Kitty Hawk, the flying car company founded by Google’s Larry Page has a new personal car model coming to a sky near you. The Flyer, a single-seat vehicle operated by joystick is fully electric and has been described as a mix of a pontoon plane and a drone, though it’s not remotely Read More...
It may seem odd, but big oil companies are fueling the transition to renewables
Far from being a villain, big oil is perhaps one of the most important allies for renewable energy. The world's oil supermajors generate significant levels of cash flow, boost infrastructure networks that span the globe and have the most to lose from falling behind the technology curve. It's still Read More...
A new startup is showing how to make batteries cheaper—and safer
Christina Lampe-Önnerud has been called the “Queen of Batteries.” She’s a Swedish chemist and entrepreneur who built one battery company (called Boston Power), sold it, and then founded another, Cadenza Innovation. She is now focused on making batteries cheaper and Read More...
Tesla has installed a truly huge amount of energy storage
Tesla, it’s been said, is less a car company than a battery company that sells cars. Today, the company is announcing a new milestone: Since 2015, it has installed a worldwide total of a gigawatt-hour of energy storage–technology that is critical for using renewable energy at scale. For Read More...
How poop transplants can actually help cure bacterial infections
This may sound backwards, but researchers have found that poop transplants can be effective at curing severe cases of diarrhea. In a recent study, researchers discovered that fecal transplants can help cure a sometimes deadly infection called C.diff better than some antibiotics by spurring the Read More...
California and New York to invest over $1 billion towards EV charging stations
Energy regulators in California have just approved a portfolio of EV charging projects worth a whopping $738 million that will multiply the number of charging stations across the state. The program, which will build chargers for both passenger and commercial vehicles, is one of the largest uses of Read More...
This power plant produces energy without emissions. Here’s why that’s a big deal
In 2016, we caught wind of a natural gas power plant being constructed in Texas that claimed it would produce energy without emissions. It promised to capture its own carbon dioxide emissions, not in a separate, expensive, power-intensive process like conventional carbon-capture facilities, but as Read More...
Expect the number of electric cars on the road to triple in the next two years
Electric carmakers like Tesla will be happy to hear this; According to a new report from the International Energy Agency, the global fleet of electric vehicles is likely to more than triple to 13 million by the end of the decade from 3.7 million last year. The report also shows that sales may soar Read More...
Cutting your home’s energy bills by digging a deep hole in the backyard
On the Earth’s surface, temperatures can swing from blistering hot to freezing cold. But dig a few hundred feet below ground, and the temperature is stable at between 10°C and 16°C (50°F and 60°F). The technology to tap that energy to heat or cool homes has been around for 70 years, but Read More...