The Optimist Times — Issue #4
July 10th — July 16th
The Optimist Times is a new kind of front page news. Instead of showing stories that exploit our fears, the stories found here inspire, amaze, and awe. We live in the most spectacular time in history and The Optimist Times intends to highlight this. If you would like to get every issue in your inbox each week you can sign up here. Thanks for reading!
Hi everyone, happy Monday! Thanks to all of you who are sharing this newsletter with others. I greatly appreciate it!
I’m also looking for some feedback on the newsletter so if you can let me know what it is you like/dislike, want to see more of, or have some different ideas of what I should be sharing, I’d love to hear from you. Thanks, and enjoy this week’s issue!
An artificial womb successfully grew baby sheep — and humans could be next
The Verge — 5 min read
A team at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia were able to develop (and keep alive) 8 fetal lambs by using what look like giant ziplock bags. The feat in-itself is pretty impressive but what it signals could be even more impactful. This technique, if perfected, could help human babies born pre-maturely both survive and continue to develop fully.
Sesame Workshop and IBM team up to test a new AI-powered teaching method
TechCrunch — 3 min read
The company behind “Sesame Street” is teaming up with IBM in order to develop a new group of apps, games, and educational toys. The initial app for kids has already undergone testing with students from the Atlanta area. Schools are starting to catch up.
‘Chinafrica’ is a macro megatrend set to impact everything from Silicon Valley to Wall Street
TechCrunch — 5 min read
While this article is directed at the venture capitalist and technology startups crowd, I wanted to include it in this week’s issue because it is a growing trend that many don’t realize is taking place right now. Having been to Africa myself a few times in the past couple years, it really is amazing how much work is being done by China there. It’s also important to note, as the article does, that Africa has the world’s future workforce. It has the youngest population by continent and is continuing to be young, while most of the other continents’ populations are only getting older.
How HeartFlow Uses AI to Detect Heart Disease
NVIDIA Blog — 2 min read
The personalized medical technology company HeartFlow has created an FDA approved approach to use AI in order to detect heart disease. Even better, it uses a non-invasive approach merely by using standard CT scans.
Michigan’s New Motor City: Ann Arbor as a Driverless-Car Hub
The New York Times — 2 min read
Ann Arbor (and the University of Michigan) is trying to make itself known in the automobile world by making itself a laboratory for all things autonomous car related. It’s a smart move. Everyone wants to be the next Silicon Valley but few are willing to take the measures to make it happen.
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Europe’s Huge New Vertical Farm
Singularity Hub — 5 min read
Just outside of Amsterdam, a division of Philips Lighting called GrowWise has a vertical farming research facility. The test farm is attempting to answer the question of how to feed the world in the future. The uniqueness of vertical farms is that they don’t need soil or sunlight and therefore can be put in warehouses, just like any other manufacturing plant.
Blood from young animals can revitalize old ones
The Economist — 8 min read
Something that sounds straight out of HBO’s “Silicon Valley”, companies are using blood transfers from young people to old people based on research done by doing the same with animals.
Hyperloop One had its first full-system test of ultrafast transportation system
The Verge — 2 min read
The Hyperloop One company completed their first full-scale test. I’m really hoping that this system becomes a reality. It would change the way we think about commuting to work. Imagine living in New York but working in Washington, DC, crazy.
You’ll Never Expect Which Generation Has the Most Freelancers Today
Entrepreneur — 2 min read
A new report shows that young people are the most likely people to work as freelancers. This is pretty unsurprising but the more interesting and hopeful part of the report is that they are becoming freelancers not out of necessity but out of desire. This seems to be a growing trend, especially amongst the young, which indicates it might be the way work will be in the future.
First Object Teleported from Earth to Orbit — MIT Technology Review
MIT Technology Review — 3 min read
This week in things that sound like sci-fi but are real life, a team of Chinese scientists teleported a photon from Earth into space. If only they could figure out how to teleport humans, I would definitely go to the gym more, I swear.
Come across any inspiring stories this week? Please pass them along to me and I will try including them in next week’s issue.
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this newsletter or know someone else who might, please share it and show some ❤️!
