Search
Total number of posts: 23661
New Internet startup offers connectivity as a human right—for free
If we were to write a new Universal Declaration of Human Rights today, would we add something about Internet access while defining the freedom of speech? The Internet has become an information vein that one can hardly live without in a fast globalizing world society. That’s why Kosta Grammatis Read More...
Friends Have More DNA in Common Than Strangers
People choose friends that they share more DNA with. Researchers at Yale University conducted a study that looked at 2,000 individuals and found that friends have more gene variations in common than strangers. The study concluded that friends have the same number of gene variations as a 4th cousin, Read More...
New buses provide showers to homeless people in San Francisco
In San Francisco there are only 7 places for the city’s homeless population of 3,500 to clean themselves. Based on the idea of mobile food trucks, the San Francisco initiative Lava Mae, takes the same idea and applies it to showers. Lava Mae uses San Francisco’s donated old buses then retrofits Read More...
‘Energy Duck’ could provide solar and hydro power to Copenhagen
Contestants in the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative in Copenhagen, Denmark have submitted a mock up of a giant duck that could power the European city with hydro and solar power. The giant duck would be fitted with solar panels to provide power during the daytime, and hydroelectric turbines on Read More...
App provides recipes for foods on sale
This is an app that could easily be replicated… “Koken met aanbiedingen” is a new application from the Netherlands that displays cooking recipes for foods that are discounted that day in the country’s largest grocery stores. The app has ingredient lists, photos, and instructions to help Read More...
Stress is good for your health
We always hear that stress is bad, but what if that is wrong? More and more research is showing that the impacts of stress can actually be beneficial. While long, uninterrupted bouts of stress can do damage, stress is a common chemical reaction that impacts our brain and behavior during important Read More...
Stress is good for your health
While we frantically try to avoid and suppress stress, researchers are showing more and more that stress can also be good for us. It ensures better performance, keeps us sharp and is also good for our health. In the summer issue of The Optimist we go deeply into the subject of stress. Stress being Read More...
New soccer stadiums can become housing projects, silence World Cup protests in Brazil
The World Cup is over. Brazil spent about 12 billion US dollar on building 12 new stadiums as well as host the championship. And the soccer-crazy country didn’t become world champions. This outcome fuels the already strong protest forces that argue that Brazil should have spent all that money on Read More...
Lifestyle can prevent one in three cases of Alzheimer’s
Many fear Alzheimer’s as a dreadful disease with no cure and no prevention. However more and more research shows that lifestyle choices can prevent the disease. A study conducted at the University of Cambridge found that one in three people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s could have avoided the Read More...
Finns want to be cool again, make Helsinki car free by 2025
Finland and its capital city Helsinki became well-known places on the map of the world when Nokia led the mobile phone revolution. That may now seem like a different era. But the Finns are working on a new exciting project. They want Helsinki to become the first major city to be completely free of Read More...