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Germany launches new partnership to support Africa's digital potential
Africa is one of the world’s fastest growing markets for information and communication technologies. There is huge potential for economic development here, and this is why it's good news that the German government decided to place its bets on digitalization for its development aid policy with Read More...
How to fight sleeping sickness in Africa? Lure the tsetse fly!
Sleeping sickness is a much-neglected tropical disease, caused by a bite from a tsetse fly which transmits a certain parasite. It occurs in most of sub-Sahara Africa. Recently, British scientists discovered that the tsetse fly is attracted to blue. To reduce the tsetse fly population, blue Read More...
Relax: not all processed foods are bad
In The Optimist Daily we have often reported on healthy eating, because we believe good food can make our lives healthier and happier. But a relaxed approach to food is also worth something. And let's relax a bit when it comes to processed foods. Panelists at a discussion at the Aspen Ideas Read More...
Sustainable production of hydrogen can change renewable energy revolution
The hydrogen fuel cell is the perfect instrument to power an electric car. The burning of hydrogen in a fuel cell is perfectly clean, producing nothing but water out of the tailpipe of the car. The problem is that almost all commercial hydrogen is produced in an energy-intensive process called Read More...
Beyond violence: How a white supremacist became a civil rights activist
To bring some sense of balance and perspective around the tragic Charleston church shooting, here’s a story about a former Ku Klux Klan leader who overcame his hatred and moved on to become a community organizer for the civil rights movement. With a video in which Roman Krznaric, author of the Read More...
Teaching meditation to kids in Chicago swiftly reduced crime and dropout rates
A simple, cost-effective after-school program for Chicago high-schoolers focusing on slowing down their decision-making process significantly lowered crime and dropout rates for participants and boosted school attendance, according to a study published by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Read More...
From Formula One to Formula E: The first electric car championships
This weekend, some 60,000 people will watch the final race in the first Formula E championship in London. Organizers claim the race is the world’s first to use cars regularly charged on solar. The cars will be charged in the pit lane by batteries that are linked to 26 solar panels. These panels Read More...
The art of prioritizing positivity
What happens if you would try to feel happiness… right now, at this very moment? It might work, but chances are high that it won’t. Studies have shown that deliberately trying to maximize your happiness in the moment may backfire. But we won’t leave you here with this conclusion. Because a Read More...
House passes law to protect people from exposure to toxic chemicals
There are about 64,000 chemicals that are part of many daily household-, cosmetic- and food items and that have never been studied for their health effects. At the same time, society is dealing with a continuing rise of degenerative diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s. Could there be a Read More...
Smart phones become key instrument to enforce respect for human rights
Billions of people around the world carry a device in their pocket that can play a significant role in protecting human rights. It’s the smartphone, and it’s becoming a key instrument in monitoring and capturing human rights violations worldwide. According to a new report by the U.N. Special Read More...