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.
Madagascar has a hi-tech waterless toilet that charges your phone
Traditional flush toilets aren’t an option in many parts of the world, but neither is leaving people with unsafe and unhygenic choices. Now, one company is piloting a new loo that’s waterless, off-grid and able to charge your Read More...
Top clean cars and trucks of 2018
Some of the cleanest cars you can buy today are powered by electricity, though the emissions of an electric vehicle (EV) varies depending on where it is plugged in. Even though parts of the U.S. still partially rely on coal fired power, the average EV sold in the U.S. produces the emissions Read More...
Wind energy leader ventures into solar and batteries
Vestas is the world’s biggest manufacturer of wind turbines. It is now offering solar power and storage (batteries) as well as it seeks to sell hybrid renewable plants to generate electricity around the Read More...
Life beyond oil: Saudi Arabia is spending billions on renewable energy
There are not so many examples of “empires” successfully transitioning to new eras with new technologies. The companies that ran the shipping lines around the world, were not the same as the one pioneering the new airline industry. Oil made—and still makes—Saudi Arabia very wealthy. But the Read More...
We can now harvest electricity from Earth's heat using quantum tunneling
Researchers have come up with a way we could harvest energy from Earth by turning excess infrared radiation and waste heat into electricity we can use. The concept involves the strange physics of quantum tunnelling, and key to the idea is a specially designed antenna that can detect waste or Read More...
“Super wood" sports the strength of steel
Titanium alloys are some of the strongest materials we can build with, but they can be expensive and heavy. Now, researchers at the University of Maryland (UMD) have come up with a way to make an alternative that literally grows on trees. Using a new "densification" process, the team managed to Read More...
Why farmers should swap tobacco plants for solar panels
Tobacco has been a key cash crop since America was first discovered, but a new analysis says that the tobacco farmers of today could make even more money harvesting sunlight. Researchers looked at tobacco farms and calculated the point at which farmers could make more money farming energy given the Read More...
How lithium-ion electric car batteries could still power your home once they've run out of zap
Less than five per cent of lithium-ion batteries sold in Australia are currently recovered and recycled. The rest end up in landfill. That's prompting the question — what will happen when the volume of battery waste grows as more electric vehicles (EVs) start driving on our Read More...
Britain is dominating the offshore wind industry with bigger and better turbines
When it comes to offshore wind energy, the UK is by far Europe’s leading country. In total, Britain installed 53 percent of the net capacity of all new offshore wind farms installed across Europe in 2017, beating the previous record from 2015. Not only is the UK installing more wind farms, but Read More...
California on path to meet goal of 1.5 million electric cars, but charging stations lag behind
Buoyed by an exceptional sales year in 2017, the state’s electric vehicle market will continue to grow this year and will reach 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles by 2025, an earlier target set by Gov. Jerry Read More...