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.
More movement, more energy burned: new study challenges metabolism myth
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The idea that your body works against you when you exercise has circulated in fitness and science communities for years. Work out more, the theory goes, and your metabolism quietly dials back somewhere else (suppressing immune function, trimming reproductive Read More...
How robots and drones are cleaning the ocean floor across Europe
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Most ocean cleanup efforts work on the same assumption: the problem floats. Skim the surface, collect the plastic, done. The trouble is that most marine litter doesn't float. It sinks to the seabed, where it sits undisturbed and largely out of reach of the Read More...
A single dose of psilocybin gave smokers six times better odds of quitting than the patch
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A new clinical trial from Johns Hopkins University produced results that surprised even the researchers behind it. Participants who took a single dose of psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, had more than six times greater odds of being Read More...
The DNA database built to protect lions just helped convict the people who killed one
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When conservation biologists fitted a male lion with a radio collar near Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, they were studying his movements. They drew blood, logged his health information, and stored his DNA profile in a database. They had no way of knowing Read More...
Scotland legalizes water cremation, giving families a greener third option
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A quick note: this article walks through how water cremation works, including some detail about the process. If you'd prefer to jump straight to the environmental and policy context, feel free to scroll to the subheadings. Scotland is making history in Read More...
Why 24 minutes of music may help reduce anxiety, according to research
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When anxiety starts creeping in, many people instinctively reach for music. A calming playlist, a pair of headphones, and a few quiet minutes can make a noticeable difference. Science increasingly backs up that instinct, with new research suggesting that the Read More...
A wireless eye implant is helping people with macular degeneration read again
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Age-related macular degeneration eliminates the center of your vision – the ability to read, to recognize faces, to see what's right in front of you. For the more than five million people worldwide living with its most advanced form, geographic atrophy, Read More...
A new drug is producing "stunning" results in men with advanced prostate cancer
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Immunotherapy has reshaped cancer treatment over the past decade. It has worked for melanoma, lung cancer, and several other tumor types. Prostate cancer, though, has largely been left out. Researchers classify it as "immune-cold," meaning the body's immune Read More...
Cancer-fighting bacteria: how engineered microbes could "eat" tumors from the inside out
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Cancer treatment has no shortage of big ideas, but this one has a certain dark charm: send in bacteria that thrive where healthy human cells struggle, then let them chew through a tumor's interior. A research team led by the University of Waterloo is Read More...
China’s Great Green Wall turns Taklamakan desert into a growing carbon sink
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM For decades, the Taklamakan Desert was described in stark terms: a “biological void,” a vast expanse of shifting sand where little could survive. Slightly larger than the state of Montana and ringed by mountains that block most incoming moisture, it Read More...