Blog, YouTube & Content Monetization

It’s no secret: Landing a job in today’s economy can feel overwhelmingly difficult. Qualified candidates regularly apply to hundreds—sometimes even thousands—of positions before receiving that one coveted offer. In fact, over half of unemployed job seekers have been searching for four months or longer, highlighting how competitive the market has become. And it’s not just the job market itself that’s challenging. We’re living through one of the most turbulent periods in modern history: The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 4.1%, the highest in over two years. 23,000+ tech layoffs occurred in the first three months of 2025 alone. Nearly 50% of Americans are liv…

Steel has long anchored modern construction, but its environmental toll is staggering: producing a single ton emits nearly two tons of CO2. Steel is also complex to manage in construction processes, which prevents smaller contractors and projects from using it. A material invented at the University of Maryland will soon offer a radical alternative. Called Superwood, it has a 50% greater tensile strength than steel and a strength-to-weight ratio that’s 10 times better. It’s lighter, tougher, and also locks away carbon. After seven years of development, the startup commercializing the technology will begin mass production this summer. “We’ve spent years perfecting o…

It takes a lot of chutzpah to walk up to television personality and Skinnygirl founder Bethenny Frankel, put a pair of sunglasses in her hands, and tell her, “These are for an oblong face.” But that bold act paid off for Kari Dowiak, founder of sunglass brand Memorí Eyewear, which specializes in sunglasses for petite and narrow faces. The result? Frankel posted a 47-second TikTok video recounting the exchange and showing off the sunnies, calling them “cute” and high quality. The video went viral, racking up more than 1.3 million views as of mid-April, and skyrocketing the company’s sales. Of course, it wasn’t all happenstance. Dowiak had signed up for a networki…

Do you know where your drinking water comes from? In South Florida, drinking water comes from the Everglades, a vast landscape of wetlands that has long filtered the water relied on by millions of people. But as the Everglades has shrunk over the past century, the region’s water supply and water quality have become increasingly threatened, including by harmful algal blooms fueled by agriculture runoff. Now, the water supply faces another rising challenge: saltwater intrusion. FlickrCC BY-ND 2.0 Protecting South Florida’s water hinges on restoring the Everglades. That’s why, 25 years ago, the federal government and universities launched the world’s largest e…

Robert Bordone is a negotiation, mediation, and conflict resolution expert who founded Harvard Law School’s Negotiation and Mediation Clinical Program as well as the Cambridge Negotiation Institute. He was a professor at Harvard for many years and is currently a senior fellow at Harvard Law School. Dr. Joel Salinas is a behavioral neurologist and scientist. He was formerly a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and a clinical associate professor of neurology at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He was the founded and was chief medical officer at Isaac Health. What’s the big idea? Instead of seeing conflict as a battle to win or a mess to avoid, disagreem…

Shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (Nasdaq: WBA) are up a modest amount after the company announced yesterday that it has agreed to be purchased by private equity firm Sycamore Partners. As of the time of this writing, WBA shares are up under 7% to $11.33. Here’s what you need to know about the buyout and share movement. Walgreens is going private After years of financial struggles, publicly traded Walgreens announced yesterday that it has accepted a deal from private equity firm Sycamore Partners to be bought and taken private. Rumors of the deal were first reported earlier this week. Under the agreement, Sycamore will take the pharmacy chain privat…

There’s one big thing about Rodrigo Corral that does not initially make sense: The book cover maestro does not have a signature style. Consider his chameleonic cover hits. The Fault in Our Stars. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Survivor, Lullaby and the rest of Chuck Palahniuk’s catalog. Rachel Cusk’s books. James Frey’s controversial A Million Little Pieces, the cover that helped launch Corral into ubiquity. Recent collaborative output like Intermezzo and Mojave Ghost. The books don’t have obvious visual connective tissue between them—but somehow, as creative director of Farrar, Straus and Giroux and his eponymous studio, Corral has spent the past three decade…

During his family’s annual summer vacations on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, high schooler Ajith Varikuti began to notice something concerning. Homes on the narrow line of barrier islands that Varikuti had grown up visiting from his hometown Charlotte were no longer there. “I started seeing more and more news articles about entire houses being completely destroyed. And it started clicking, because some of those houses that were being destroyed I’d seen in my previous years there,” he says. Varikuti, who was then a 9th grade student, knew there had to be a solution. So, as part of a student design competition organized by the design software company Autodesk, Varikuti …

Basketball great LeBron James has become the first professional male athlete to have his likeness depicted in a Ken doll. Mattel Inc. unveiled the LeBron Ken doll on Wednesday to kick off the toy manufacturer’s “Kenbassador” series. Last year, nine female athlete Barbies, including tennis star Venus Williams, were introduced. “As a young kid, I was fortunate to have role models who not only inspired me but also showed me what’s possible through hard work and dedication,” James said. “Now, as an adult, I understand how vital it is for young people to have positive figures to look up to. That’s why partnering with Barbie to release the LeBron James Kenbassadors doll…

Bellevue, Washington, is the home of thousands of Microsoft employees. Its AI-powered traffic monitoring system lives up to such expectations. Using existing traffic cameras capable of reading signs and lights, it tracks not just crashes but also near misses. And it suggests solutions to managers, like rethinking a turn lane or moving a stop line. But this AI technology wasn’t born out of Microsoft and its big OpenAI partnership. It was developed by a startup called Archetype AI. You might think of the company as OpenAI for the physical world. [Image: Archetype AI]“A city will report an accident after an accident happens. But what they want to know is, like, where are the…

Bulgaria is a step closer toward becoming the 21st country to adopt the euro and join the euro zone. On June 3, the European Commission announced that the Balkan nation now fulfills the four nominal convergence criteria requirements to adopt the single currency and enter the euro zone, and it may transition as soon as January 1, 2026. “The euro is a tangible symbol of European strength and unity,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “Bulgaria’s economy will become stronger, with more trade with euro area partners, foreign direct investment, access to finance, quality jobs and real incomes. Bulgaria will take its rightful place i…

Is doomscrolling on your phone unhealthy for your brain? Oxford University Press’s word of the year, “brain rot,” seems to suggest so. It defines the condition as the “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” The key word, though, is “supposed,” as there is there is no such thing as mindless scrolling, says Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, the author of The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience and a Harvard physician who specializes in stress. “’Brain rot’ is not a word or phras…

For the second time in more than 20 years, the Mega Millions lottery is getting a facelift. Tickets will now be twice as expensive, but prizes will also be bigger—and the odds of winning the jackpot have gone up (though your chances of taking home the prize are still infinitesimal.) The new version of Mega Millions rolled out to players on tickets this Saturday, and the updated game will see its first drawing tomorrow. Here’s what you need to know about how the game has changed (and what it means for your wallet): How much are tickets? As of this Saturday, ticket prices for the Mega Millions have gone from $2 to $5 apiece. According to a press release, the pric…

More severe storms were expected to roll across the central U.S. this week following the weather-related deaths of more than two dozen people and a devastating Kentucky tornado. The National Weather Service said a “multitude of hazardous weather” would impact the U.S. over the next several days—from thunderstorms and potentially baseball-size hail on the Plains, to heavy mountain snow in the West and dangerous heat in the South. Areas at risk of thunderstorms include communities in Kentucky and Missouri that were hit by Friday’s tornadoes. In London, Kentucky, people whose houses were destroyed scrambled Sunday to put tarps over salvageable items or haul them …

The Mojave Micro Mill just broke ground in the Mojave Desert about 85 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It’ll be the first steel mill to open in California in more than half a century when it begins production in two years. More notable, it’ll do so using local sun and wind power, making it the first self-powered, net-zero steel mill in the country. Mojave Micro will make rebar—the thin rods of steel used to reinforce concrete walls and floors—out of recycled scrap steel using a net-zero manufacturing process. Eric Benson, CEO of Pacific Steel Group, which will operate the plant, said the company had started to strategize about a new facility a few years ago. Sinc…

With around one billion searches on ChatGPT each week, Gen Z are increasingly turning to AI to solve a daily dilemma: what to wear. Last month, OpenAI announced updates to ChatGPT’s Search, enhancing the shopping experience with personalized product recommendations and direct purchase links. Users have already begun using these features to plan their outfits. “I’m going out to dinner tonight, what should I wear?” one user asked ChatGPT in a TikTok video. The AI suggested a fitted black cami, black trousers, strappy heels, and silver hoops. “Why did ChatGPT kind of slay though?” the creator said. Another fashion and lifestyle creator prompted ChatGPT wi…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed that a worrying mystery illness is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The unknown disease has so far sickened hundreds and killed dozens since reports of it first emerged in early January. Here’s what to know about the outbreaks so far. What is the disease? At this time, health officials do not know what the disease is. In the WHO’s weekly bulletin for the February 10- 16 period, the agency says the unknown disease “poses a significant public health threat.” The disease is currently active in two regional clusters, according to the report, and worryingly, of those who have died from it, nea…

The Centennial State may become first in the nation to require retailers to warn consumers that burning fossil fuels “releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases, known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts and global heating.” The warning is the linchpin of a bill—HB25-1277—that narrowly passed the state House on April 2 and is scheduled to be heard in the Senate’s Transportation & Energy Committee this week. Its Democratic sponsors say the bill will raise awareness among consumers that combusting gas in their vehicles creates pollutants that harm their health and trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to more intense and extreme weat…

More than 10,000 cans of Original Coca-Cola distributed in two states have been voluntarily recalled. Manufacturer Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling initiated the recall on March 6 after reports of foreign plastic found inside cans. On March 24, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) designated the recall as Class II, per the FDA enforcement report. According to the FDA’s recall classification page, a Class II recall means “a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.” The report indicated that 864 12-count packs of the product distributed in Il…

Amazon is betting big on movie theaters—even if it isn’t counting on mega profits. The Silicon Valley giant told The New York Times last week that it is planning to release about 14 movies annually in theaters across the United States, an untraditional move for a company that has for years focused on streaming. Instead of simply dropping films directly onto Prime Video, its streaming service, Amazon wants audiences to see its movies on the big screen first—typically for 45 days—before they’re available for streaming. Three years after Amazon bought MGM for $8.5 billion, the tech giant is signaling that it is ready to compete more directly with Hollywood’s biggest …

The CEO’s role is evolving. Private equity is playing an increasingly influential role in shaping the expectations, performance, and tenure of CEOs. The financial environment is also changing, with influence increasingly moving from public markets to private capital. As private equity grows in importance as the dominant form of value creation, executives who excel at driving EBITDA and delivering outsize returns have become the winners. In this landscape, CEOs are increasingly being measured by their ability to generate financial returns. But true leadership requires hitting more than financial targets. The most effective leaders understand that long-term success dep…

A typical electric bike starts at $1,000—and can top $10,000 or more. Even a cheap, low-quality model might cost $500. But a new attachment is designed to turn any bike into an e-bike for as little as $100. Clip, a Brooklyn-based startup, initially launched a higher-end version of the tech a few years ago, focused on commuters in the U.S. and Europe. Somnath Ray, one of the company’s cofounders, had started riding his bike a couple of miles each day to work, and realized that switching to an e-bike would make him more likely to keep up the habit. But it wasn’t safe to leave an expensive e-bike parked on the street. He also didn’t want to get rid of the bicycle he alre…

Fast Company is the official media partner of Summit Detroit. Summit is an organization that hosts global ideas conferences and immersive experiences. And the programming is always grounded by six core pillars: thought leadership, health and happiness, performance arts, culinary arts, fine art, and impact—all with the express intention to inspire deep attendee presence and build long-term connections both professionally and personally. “Many of our Summit community members are building and running large high-profile companies, managing teams, and are surrounded by people and things to do. But our business leaders often feel incredibly lonely in their pursuits,” s…

After Chobani owner and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya and his wife welcomed a baby in late 2015, he started to wonder whether his company was fully supporting its employees as they became parents. When he returned to work, he inquired about the company’s parental leave policy. “I asked, what happens at Chobani when someone has a baby or a new member of their families?” Ulukaya recalled. “The response was: We don’t have [a policy]. We have disability insurance. That insurance in New York offers up to 75% coverage for six weeks, basically. And that’s what we offered for birthing parents.” Ulukaya says he was “shocked” and immediately asked his team what they could do differentl…

The chief-executive-to-be at money-losing Japanese automaker Nissan is determined to speed up decision-making to come up with models that say Nissan—and really sell. Ivan Espinosa, 46, chief planning officer and a Mexican with two decades of experience at Nissan Motor Corp., told reporters in embargoed comments for Wednesday that the company’s corporate culture is “lacking empathy” and has to change. “We need to work together as one single team,” he said at the Nissan Technical Center in Atsugi city on the outskirts of Tokyo. “We need to work together hand in hand.” Nissan recently appointed Espinosa to take its helm, effective April 1, replacing Makoto Uchida. Espino…