This is interesting. The New Optimists is a website and book, which records the answers given by over 80 scientists who were asked the question ‘What are you optimistic about?’

The idea for “The New Optimists” began in early 2009 with me (Kate Cooper) sitting in front of my laptop on the kitchen table, realising that web-based technologies had dramatically changed the publishing game. And that this gave me the opportunity to showcase some of the ground-breaking research going on locally at the 2010 British Science Festival in my home city of Birmingham.

If you’d like to hear more about the project, there’s a series of events happening around Birmingham to tie in with the book’s launch, which takes places on Tuesday 14 September at the Botanical Gardens.

This is followed by a Q&A session on 15 September at the Science Festival, Aston University, and a lunchtime session at Waterstones on 16 September with Kate Cooper and editor Keith Richards.

You can buy tickets to the launch here.