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.
The gene behind congenital deafness, and how a single shot is fixing it
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM A girl born without the ability to hear was having everyday conversations with her mother four months after a single injection into her inner ear. She was seven years old. The treatment did not give her a hearing aid or implant. It gave her a gene she had Read More...
Finland’s new bridge was built for everyone except drivers
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When Helsinki needed to connect a growing island suburb to the city center, the planners made a decision that would be unusual in most countries: they never considered building a car lane. The Kruunuvuori Bridge, which opened to the public this past Read More...
Friction-maxxing and the case for a less convenient life
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Something about the phrase “friction-maxxing” struck a nerve. When Kathryn Jezer-Morton, a columnist for New York magazine’s The Cut, published an essay in December 2025 naming the feeling of wanting to push back against frictionless technology, the Read More...
The Bahamas eliminates mother-to-child HIV transmission
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM The Bahamas became the 12th country or territory in the Americas to receive WHO certification for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, joining a regional cohort that now accounts for more than half of all such certifications worldwide. The Read More...
Antarctic whale populations are rebounding, but there's still more to do
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Good news: the Southern Ocean is filling with whales again. Humpback populations in Antarctica have nearly returned to pre-whaling levels, a rebound scientists say has been faster than almost anyone expected. Researchers conducting a survey near the South Read More...
Intermittent fasting works, but probably not how you think
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM “The main benefit of fasting is weight loss,” says Krista Varady, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois Chicago and a co-author of related research, and the data supports her. In a peer-reviewed clinical trial at the University of Read More...
2025: The year renewables finally outpaced global electricity demand growth
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Something shifted in the world’s energy system in 2025, and the numbers are hard to argue with. For the first time in modern history, clean energy generation grew faster than global electricity demand, meaning every new watt of power the world needed Read More...
Untracked daily walking beats step goals, and science explains why
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When University of Sydney researchers published findings from a study of more than 22,000 adults who didn’t engage in structured exercise, the results were not what most health researchers anticipated. The study, published in the British Journal of Read More...
Spain’s donkey brigade has kept Doñana fire-free for nine years
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM By August 2025, fires had consumed nearly one million hectares (roughly 2.47 million acres) across Spain, the worst toll in three decades. Six regions, including Castilla y León, Galicia, and Andalusia, were declared disaster zones. The causes are familiar: Read More...
The sensory superpower that lets seals hunt in total darkness
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM When a fish moves through water, it doesn’t simply pass through and vanish. It leaves a trail of disturbed water behind it, something like the contrail of a plane across a clear sky. That trail is invisible to human eyes and fades within seconds, but to a Read More...