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Wetlands, the super carbon sink, and rewilding the Illinois River
After forests, wetlands are the greatest terrestrial carbon sink. These boggy and busy pools of life used to be thought of as a nuisance for people and communities, drained of their water or dug up for peat fuel. Now, we understand the quiet service that wetlands provide us and the Read More...
Greece bans harmful conversion therapy
Joining France, New Zealand, and Canada, Greece announced last Wednesday that it is officially banning conversion therapy, the harmful practice of attempting to suppress the sexual orientation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or trans community members. Parliament approved the bill, which states Read More...
Lunar agriculture: first plants grown in soil from the Moon
Popular science fiction has depicted the colonization and even the rowing of crops on Mars many times. From the books of Isaac Asimov to The Martian, the Red Planet has pervaded artistic minds as the next place for humans to call home. But what about the closest place to Earth? What about the Read More...
Simple desk meditation exercises to help you de-stress at work
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Stress manifests itself differently in all of us. Some of us have stomach pains, others headaches. Or maybe your shoulders tense up when you’re under pressure. An office is a place of peak stress for many people, but simple mindfulness techniques can help Read More...
What to do at a personal or professional fork in the road
Whether it’s in our home life, academic life, or career, we all eventually come to an inflection point. This can be a fork in the road where we have a personal-professional dilemma of choosing between home and work. It can be the culmination of our frustration with a current job and a decision to Read More...
Five easy steps to start composting
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about eight percent of all carbon emissions come from food waste, and about half of that comes from “the consumption stage,” which means waste from households and food services. This means that we can control about four percent of carbon Read More...
An X-ray explosion of a white dwarf star captured for the first time
Everything comes to an end, even stars! When these burning balls of hydrogen and helium use up all their fuel they shrink to white dwarfs. In some rare cases, these dead stars can flare back to life in an extremely hot explosion, producing a fireball of X-ray radiation. For the first time, Read More...
Algae powered a basic computer for over six months
Sometimes it can be pretty difficult to imagine our highly technological society coexisting with the natural world. We seem to live most of our lives entirely online, not just separated from nature, but also from physical space itself. However, scientists from the University of Cambridge have Read More...
Researchers have taught drones to survive any weather
Drones have provided humanity with many simple solutions and conveniences. These flying devices have helped prevent the spread of diseases, regenerate agricultural land and forests, track wildlife for conservation purposes, aided search and rescue missions, and much more. Drones commonly fly in Read More...
Positive parasites, how deer and ruminant pests help the overall ecosystem
Some pests and critters annoy us, but everything in nature has its purpose and its place. Wolves are the villains of fairy tales, but they are in fact keystone predators that control the overpopulation of their prey. Beavers chew on powerline poles, but they also help preserve wetlands. As it turns Read More...