Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

Barely 10 days into the new year, it already feels like you can’t look away from the news. In the last week alone, the U.S. military captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and took over operations of the country; President The President withdrew the U.S. from dozens of international organizations, including a major climate treaty; and an ICE agent fatally shot a Minneapolis resident, sparking outrage and widespread protests. If it seems impossible to focus on work—or anything else, for that matter—amid all this troubling news, you’re not alone. Plenty of research in recent years has shown that Americans are overwhelmed by the state of politics and feel a heighte…

A new year brings a new tax filing season. With many cash-strapped Americans worried about their finances, many can’t wait to file their returns. The sooner you file, the sooner your chances of getting your refund, after all. But just when can you begin submitting your tax return to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)? That depends. Here’s what you need to know about the 2026 tax filing season. When does the 2026 tax filing season begin? There are actually two start dates to the 2026 tax filing season this year. The 2026 tax filing season refers to the period taxpayers have to file their tax returns for the 2025 calendar year. According to an IRS press rele…

Two things can be true at once. K-pop is an inextricable force in global pop culture, and it has long been undercelebrated at institutions like the Grammys — where K-pop artists have performed but have never taken home a trophy. That could change at next month’s 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony. Songs released by K-pop artists — or K-pop-adjacent artists, more on that later — have received nominations in the big four categories for the first time. Rosé, perhaps best known as one-fourth of the juggernaut girl group Blackpink, is the first K-pop artist to ever receive a nomination in the record of the year field for “APT.,” her megahit with Grammys’ favorite Bruno Mars. The so…

In a rare move, NASA is cutting a mission aboard the International Space Station short after an astronaut had a medical issue. The space agency said Thursday the U.S.-Japanese-Russian crew of four will return to Earth in the coming days, earlier than planned. NASA canceled its first spacewalk of the year because of the health issue. The space agency did not identify the astronaut or the medical issue, citing patient privacy. The crew member is now stable. NASA officials stressed that it was not an onboard emergency, but are “erring on the side of caution for the crew member,” said Dr. James Polk, NASA’s chief health and medical officer. Polk said this was the NASA’s f…

Walk through almost any manufacturing plant today, whether the frontline professionals crushing oilseeds, processing corn, or producing ingredients, and you’ll notice something subtle but important. The tools that help turn agricultural crops into products that feed and fuel the world are getting smarter, more precise, and more capable. Most conversations about the bioeconomy focus on what farmers grow or what consumers buy. But the real transformation is happening in the middle, in the molecular steps that quietly make modern, low-carbon manufacturing possible. Catalysts and enzymes, the biological and chemical tools that convert agricultural inputs into usable material…

If you’re constantly hounding your teen to get out of bed before noon on the weekend, you may want to save your energy for a different battle. According to new research published in The Journal of Affective Disorders, sleeping in on the weekend could offer some significant protection against depression. For the study, researchers at the University of Oregon and the State University of New York Upstate Medical University analyzed data from more than a thousand 16 to 24-year-olds in which participants reported their sleep/waking hours, including weekend catch-up sleep. While one might imagine that teens who spring out of bed early each morning — regardless of the …

Everybody knows this coworker—the one who spirals about cost-cutting layoffs when snacks vanish from the break room. The one who thinks they’re getting fired because their boss hasn’t been using emojis with them lately. The one who’s the office Chicken Little: anxious, somewhat frantic, often misguided . . . and who can’t stop talking to others about whatever it is they’re anxious about. This person—and it could be you—may be justified, as it makes sense for employees to be nervous right now: layoffs are at an all-time high, and January is a common month for layoffs. But for the office Chicken Little, it’s not the dismal mass termination numbers alone that are sc…

Octopuses are brilliant, emotional, and mysterious. Can they ever be farmed humanely? And if they can, should they be? Fast Company contributor Clint Rainey is the first journalist in the world to be let inside a cutting-edge effort to build the first commercial octopus farm. Exclusive documentary. Coming in 2026. Check out the full article: https://www.fastcompany.com/91448602/octopus-could-be-the-next-commercially-farmed-seafood-should-it-be View the full article

GameStop is providing details on a new compensation package for CEO Ryan Cohen that is dependent on him meeting certain “significant” performance targets. The video game retailer said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that Cohen would have to grow its market capitalization to $100 billion and it would need to hit $10 billion in cumulative performance EBITDA — or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — for his award to fully vest. GameStop said Cohen won’t receive any guaranteed pay, which it defines as no salary, no cash bonuses, and no stock that simply vests over time. “His compensation is entirely ‘at-risk,’ meaning he will only b…

If Nike hired Michael Jordan to work at headquarters, would you expect the marketing team to start sinking three-pointers? Of course not. He’s extraordinary, but skill doesn’t spread by proximity. Here’s a better question: What do Nike employees need to know about basketball? The rules. Game duration. Equipment specs. Enough to design better shoes, write sharper campaigns, and forecast demand accurately. They don’t need to play in the NBA. And Nike doesn’t need to hire NBA players to improve its business. The same is true for AI. Most companies don’t need extreme AI talent to unlock real efficiency gains. They need people across the organization to underst…

OpenAI has launched ChatGPT Health, a product that allows users to connect their medical records and wellness apps to the AI chatbot and get personalized health guidance. The feature, unveiled on Wednesday, creates a separate space within ChatGPT for health questions and discussions, where users can collect data from their connected health apps such as fitness apps and store their health files. Users can also connect to their electronic medical records through a partnership with b.well, OpenAI says. ChatGPT, then, does not have a direct integration with the MyChart patient records app from Epic, for example, but lets individual users make requests for their patient rec…

Gen Z is aging into the life moments that define entire industries. As this generation moves through milestones like marriage, homeownership, and family planning, they’re quickly becoming a core target market not just for weddings, but for a wide range of service-based businesses. What matters for these small businesses is how Gen Z’s arrival, set against today’s economic backdrop, is reshaping expectations for how they serve their customers. While about one in three couples on The Knot in the U.S. are Gen Z, the majority are still a few years away from the peak marrying age of 33. We do know, however, that they are interested in doing so, with 69% of unmarried adults ag…

Batteries are powering a significant shift in how we go about our daily lives, ranging from the devices we carry to electric vehicles and energy storage systems. Batteries play a critical role across key sectors from data center infrastructure, military, and microgrid applications to consumer electronics and more. But as demand surges, so does end-of-life material that needs to be managed. Beyond serving as compact energy sources, batteries also represent a domestic source of essential critical minerals. To fully realize their value, it is crucial to close the loop at end-of-life by recovering these minerals and strengthening the supply needed to support a rapidly expand…

A “work jerk” isn’t just someone who expects perfection. It’s the high achiever whose nervous system runs at lava-like temperatures, who’s chronically stressed, and demonstrates urgency as a personality trait. It looks like hair-trigger impatience, micromanaging, sharp feedback, and an automatic reflex to see others as obstacles rather than partners. Work jerk behaviors teach people at work to focus their energy on managing you and your reactions instead of doing good work. People act out for countless reasons: a toxic work culture, impossible standards, or private stress that bleeds into work (an article for another day). None of those reasons makes treating others p…

You’ve probably heard the saying, “If you need to get something done, give it to the busiest person you know.” This statement often rings true. However, if you find yourself nodding along to this, you could be doing yourself a disservice. Yes, reliability and dependability are strengths, but they can quickly become your Achilles heel if you’re everyone’s go-to person, all the time. Research shows that teams composed of people who are dependable perform better. In fact, Google’s Project Aristotle found dependability to be the second most important factor in high-performing teams. And yet if this dependability extends beyond the sustainable (for example, if it turn…

If you’re like most Americans, you’ve already set all manner of goals and resolutions for the New Year. And likewise, if you’re like most Americans, you’ll have entirely abandoned them by February 1. Studies have found that 23% of people quit their New Year’s resolutions within a week, and almost half drop them by the end of January. Only 9% of Americans actually complete anything from their list in a given year. The biggest issue, apparently, is that we’re all very bad at setting resolutions. The things we choose are too vague, too hard, or too external. That got me wondering: Could AI do any better? Specifically: Can I mine the vast treasure trove …

Working from home might be frowned upon at some companies these days, but the rising number of layoffs last year and the growing collection of workers who are launching their own businesses means the number of people working out of a home office is on the rise. If you’re among them, you’ve no doubt learned that to make it a comfortable experience, you need a lot more than a laptop and a convenient table. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year, plenty of items on display seemed well-suited to make work life easier for home-based employees. Here’s a look at the most notable tools. Xebec Tri Screen 3 If you’re used to a multi-monitor setup, you know…

A small Finnish startup says it has done what the world’s biggest automakers are still struggling to do: put a solid-state battery into a production vehicle, starting with a motorcycle that can charge to more than 100 miles of range in as little as five minutes. “For the last 15 years, the entire battery industry in automotive has been talking about solid-state batteries—that they’re the future,” says Marko Lehtimäki, CEO of Donut Lab, the startup that makes the new battery. “But up until today, despite all the talk, there’s never been a single production vehicle that uses solid-state batteries. They’ve only been used at lab level.” Verge Motorcycles, an elect…

Single-use soy sauce packets for sushi take-out orders are now a whole lot more sustainable, thanks to a redesign that doesn’t use any plastic. While sushi lovers in the U.S. are used to getting their to-go soy sauce in rectangular packets like they do their ketchup and mustard, soy sauce in Australia often comes in small plastic fish bottles with a screw top. This typical mini fish-shaped bottle is cute, for sure, but the user is done with it in a few minutes. Its packaging lasts much, much longer by comparison, since plastics can take as long as 500 years to break down. Does the user experience really require packaging that lasts that long? The Holy …