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Norway pulls the plug on plans to drill massive oil reserve
Western Europe’s biggest petroleum producer is falling out of love with oil. To the dismay of the nation’s powerful oil industry and its worker unions, the opposition Labour Party over the weekend decided to withdraw its support for oil exploration offshore the sensitive Lofoten islands in Read More...
Georgia becomes first state to offer free tampons to low-income women
In the United States, access to tampons and pads for low-income women is a real problem: food stamps don’t cover feminine hygiene products, so some women resort to selling their food stamps in order to pay for “luxuries” like tampons, which can be very expensive. This is especially Read More...
A simple trick for finding your focus when you really need to finish something
Even though office spaces are meant for working productively, it doesn’t always feel that way. From the distraction of open office spaces to the constant requests for meetings, actually getting work done isn’t easy. The abundance of choices brought on by technology doesn’t help either. Yes, Read More...
Anti-freeze salts cause roads to crack. Mixing concrete with bacteria might help
Spreading salt onto sidewalks or roads when the temperature goes below zero is an effective way to stop roads from getting too icy, but the problem is salty “de-icers” cause roadways to crack. Adding bacteria, however, may keep that from happening. In search of concrete that doesn’t crack, Read More...
Bitcoin mining pollutes the planet. China wants to ban it altogether
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have left their mark on the world, but not in the way most people predicted. In a typical Bitcoin mining operation, powerful banks of computers are dedicated to crunching out “blockchain” numbers and processing transactions. Nearly three-quarters of Read More...
Ecologists are turning to star-spotting cameras to count endangered orangutans
If thermal cameras are capable of spotting distant starts, then they must be capable of finding animals here on Earth, right? Such is the logic of researchers from Liverpool John Moores University who are testing the thermal infrared technology that astrophysicists use to discover stars in order to Read More...
Here’s a simple way to cultivate more curiosity within you
In the 21st century, we need skills to solve complex problems and address challenges that do not have one answer and cannot be distilled into mathematical equations or contained by traditional borders. And with the rise of automation, skills that machines and robots simply can’t do—skills that Read More...
Paris just made the biggest purchase of electric buses Europe has ever seen
Paris has taken a huge step forward in achieving its goal of cleaning up its entire bus fleet by 2025 in a grand effort to curb air pollution. The current bus fleet is mostly made up of old diesel buses, but that’ll change soon after Paris’ public transport operator announced it has ordered up Read More...
Peace: A New Definition
By Sadie Wilbur The sun warms my skin as I step out of the car and, with a deep breath, the fresh morning air fills my lungs and wakes my senses. It’s the same walk into the Optimist Daily office that I make every morning, but today I stop and notice a white pole standing to the right of the Read More...
This little gadget stops microfibers from going down the washing machine drain
When it comes to stopping microfibers from washing off your clothes and into our waterways, using a washing bag or simply not buying clothes that don’t shed microfibers is the best thing you can do. Unfortunately, for many consumers, taking these precautions is already too much work. Enter the Read More...