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.
How investors plan to make money in renewable energy
Renewable energy is going through a boom as big banks, private equity funds, and people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet invest billions of dollars in solar and wind technology. But by the end of next year, a federal initiative that gives residents and businesses a 30% tax credit for installing Read More...
Elon Musk: Fully autonomous cars with 1,000km electric range are coming in 2017
Elon Musk believes Tesla cars will be fully autonomous by 2018, and have an all-electric range of more than 1,000km, double what it is today. He also predicts that by 2035 all new cars will not require a driver. A renowned futurist and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk predicts that the range of the Read More...
Tesla may share supercharger access with other car manufacturers
Tesla is willing to partner with other car brands to share their superchargers which charge much faster than other charges. This way, more electric cars could enter the mainstream. After all, potential buyers of more affordable electric car brands may be more willing to buy if it came with the Read More...
Renewables overtake coal in the UK, wind and solar power capacity surge
There's something big happening in the UK. Al Gore and several business leaders grilled the country this week for cutting subsidies to solar and wind energy, but new government statistics show that Britain is already changing the way it produces electricity. For the first time in history, Read More...
Bitcoin and sharing economy pave the way for new 'digital state'
The sharing economy and the blockchain are technological innovations that could pave the way for a new digital state, according to Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock MP. Services like Airbnb and Uber, which epitomise the so-called "sharing economy" by allowing users to cut out the middle men Read More...
What clean-energy innovators can learn from Apple
We noted in an earlier piece that Bill Gates’s “moonshot” investments to stop climate change, while well intentioned, are misdirected. We do need an Apollo Project for clean energy but it should be an effort that focuses on global deployment of technologies we already Read More...
Bosch invents new electric car battery to double mileage
German electronics firm Bosch says it will have a solid state battery on the market by 2020 that will double the range of electric cars at half the cost of today’s batteries. Today the cheapest electric cars, which cost around $30,000, typically have a range of less than 100 miles. Once Read More...
Stanford researchers cool sunlight to improve solar cell efficiency
Solar panels must face the sun to function. Yet, ironically, they lose efficiency as they heat up. That's why researchers from Stanford University have developed a translucent overlay made of patterned silica that "cools" incoming light for solar panels, effectively dropping the temperature on the Read More...
Electric First, Driverless Later?
There are hints the tech giant is dipping into its classic playbook. Apple is doubling down on developing an electric car, and has assigned a 2019 ship-date to its secret automotive project, code-named Titan, according to a report this week in The Wall Street Journal. The latest news builds on Read More...
Ride-sharing apps vie to replace private car ownership in Vietnam
A young, tech-savvy population short on cars but big on smartphones is driving double-digit growth for ride-hailing apps Uber and GrabTaxi in Vietnam, and inspiring some executives to dream of replacing private car ownership altogether. Uber launched its service in Vietnam last year and says Ho Chi Read More...