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.
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...
New York's $6 billion plan for offshore wind shows that oil drilling is on the way out
New York is getting serious about offshore wind. Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled a plan earlier this month to develop $6 billion of offshore wind projects off the southern coast of Long Island by 2028 and predicted that the industry would bring 5,000 jobs to the state. The plan calls for developing Read More...
Tesla to create world’s largest ‘virtual power plant’ in Australia
Looks like Tesla isn’t done bolstering Australia’s power grid just yet. After installing a giant battery in South Australia, the company announced it will provide solar panels and Tesla Powerwall batteries to “at least” 50,000 homes in a bid to create the largest-ever “virtual power Read More...
Tesla to team up with companies to build charging stations for its semi-truck
Reuters is reporting that Tesla is collaborating with several companies that have placed large orders of its Semi truck to build on-site charging stations to charge the vehicles when they’re rolled out next year. Details of the partnerships haven’t been disclosed, but they reportedly include Read More...
Hyundai’s fuel-cell cars just drove a record 118 miles without a driver
Although Hyundai doesn’t expect to commercialize fully autonomous vehicles until 2030, that’s not stopping the automaker from bringing their self-driving cars on the roads. Just last week, the South Korean carmaker had a fleet of autonomous hydrogen fuel cell cars drive themselves 118 miles Read More...