What's on Your Mind?

Congress may stop California from implementing its first-in-the nation rule banning the sale of new gas powered cars by 2035. A Senate vote expected as soon as this week could end the nation’s most aggressive effort to transition toward electric vehicles as President Donald The President’s administration doubles down on fossil fuels. California makes up roughly 11% of the U.S. car market, giving it significant power to shape purchasing trends. Vehicles are one of the largest sources of planet-warming emissions. The Republican-controlled Congress is targeting three California waivers that set stricter emissions rules than the federal government. The House voted to block…

This week, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) announced that it’s putting the revenue from selling U.S. Open tickets and $23 signature Honey Deuce cocktails toward a new cause: Completing an $800 million renovation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (NTC), the sports complex that hosts the annual tennis championship. The renovation represents the single largest investment in U.S. Open history, according to a press release published by the USTA. It will encompass a full transformation of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, where championship games are played, as well as a luxe new player performance center on the NTC’s campus. The work will be spearheaded by the …

Hollywood loves a sequel. And it turns out, Burger King loves them too. For the third consecutive year, the fast-food operator is debuting a limited-time menu tied to a big box film, this time How to Train Your Dragon, ahead of the live-action film based on Universal Pictures film that will be released in June. Beginning May 27, Burger King will start selling a new red-and-orange marble colored Whopper and Dragon-inspired mozzarella fries, strawberry lemonade, and a chocolate sundae, all taking inspiration from a franchise that has grossed more than $1.6 billion at the global box office and earned four Academy Award nominations. Burger King says the partnersh…

As nasty tornadoes popped up from Kansas to Kentucky, a depleted National Weather Service was in scramble mode. The agency’s office in Jackson, Kentucky, had begun closing nightly as deep cuts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency began hitting. But the weather service kept staffers on overtime Friday night to stay on top of the deadly storms, which killed nearly 20 people in the Jackson office’s forecast area. It’s a scenario likely to be repeated as the U.S. is on track to see more tornadoes this year than in 2024, which was the second-busiest tornado year on record. Forecasters said there was at least a 10% risk of tornadoes Tuesday for 10.6 million peop…

Right-leaning comedy podcasts are a gateway to conspiracy theories and misogynistic content, a new study has found. While these podcasts may seem harmless at first—often discussing sports like the NFL and MMA and featuring guests such as Ben Affleck and David Goggins—a new report reveals that engaging with their content online can open a Pandora’s box of aliens and Andrew Tate, the former professional kickboxer who built his platform by promoting misogynistic ideas. In a study published this week, the nonprofit Media Matters for America examined five comedy shows that platformed Donald The President during the 2024 presidential election while claiming to be nonpol…

Countless Rite Aid customers and employees are still waiting to learn the fate of their local pharmacies as the bankrupt drugstore chain sells off its assets and winds down operations. Now, at least three Rite Aid landlords are asking for more transparency into the process. Last week, Rite Aid announced that it has reached agreements to sell its prescription files for most of its 1,200 retail pharmacies, with successful bidders including CVS, Walgreens, and Albertsons, among others. Perhaps most notably, CVS agreed to buy prescription files for 625 of those pharmacies, even as it said it would only take over 64 physical Rite Aid locations in three states: Washington, …

Sales at Target fell more than expected in the first quarter and the retailer warned they will slip for all of 2025 year as its customers, worried over the impact of tariffs and the economy, pull back on spending. Target also said that customer boycotts have also done some damage. The company scaled back many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House. Target’s retreat created another backlash, with more customers angered by the retailer’s reduction of LGBTQ+-themed merchandise for Pride Month in June of 2023. Shares fell more than 4% before the opening bell Wednesday. Sales fell 2.8…

Google has built a massive business selling ads that appear around search results: In its 2024 10-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company reported roughly $198 billion under “Google Search & Other,” its largest profit segment and more than half of its parent company Alphabet’s total revenue. But search is undergoing a foundational shift toward accessing the web’s information with the help of powerful AI models, and nobody has yet found a winning model for placing ads around AI search results. At the same time, new generative AI models can now handle much of the cognitive efforts users typically expend to arrive at their intended web cont…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s workplace advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer your biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: What should I do if my coworker is using AI unethically? A: This is a question that feels new but is actually just an evolution of a classic workplace issue. You can slot any number of issues in the place of “AI” and the problem is essentially the same: What’s the best way to handle misconduct at work? The answer for all situations, including this one, comes down to a few factors: 1. Do you know (or just suspect) your coworker is doing something they s…

“Follow your dreams.” It’s the first piece of advice most of us are ever given: as kids in the classroom, as students on campus, as graduates preparing to enter the workforce, and as working adults. We are told that jobs are for pursuing passions, not just paychecks. If we do what we love, money and success will follow. If we love what we do, we’ll never work a day in our lives. And the corollary to all that dreaminess? If we don’t find employment doing whatever we find most fulfilling, we’re somehow failures. We don’t have to follow our dreams to end up with our dream jobs. In fact, I’d argue the opposite. When it comes to careers, “follow your dreams” can be nightm…

After years of AI disrupting industries and streamlining repetitive workflows, the technology is now poised to transform animation. In 2024, director and writer Tom Paton’s AiMation Studios released Where the Robots Grow, a fully AI-animated feature film. Everything from animation and voice acting to music was generated using AI, at a cost of just $8,000 per minute—totaling around $700,000 for the 87-minute production. While IMDB reviewers criticized the film as “soulless and uninspired,” it proved that AI can deliver full-length animated features at a fraction of traditional budgets. But it’s not just filmmakers driving this shift. Indie game developers want to prototy…

A century ago, Guccio Gucci opened a boutique in Florence, Italy, that sold high-end leather luggage to well-heeled travelers. He infused his brand with all kinds of unique design elements that would become iconic, including the double-G insignia and bamboo handles. Guccio’s oldest son, Aldo, would go on to transform the label into one of the best-known luxury brands in the world, alongside Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Prada. Aldo’s granddaughter, Alexandra Gucci Zarini, heard a lot about the origins of her family’s business around the dining table when she was growing up. She wanted to follow in her great-grandfather’s footsteps by becoming a fashion designer. But by t…

Spring is officially here. It’s beautiful outside, and let me guess: You are spending all of your time indoors. Don’t worry, you’re in good company. On average people spend 90% of their time indoors. Not to mention that the other 10% is probably mostly spent in cars or other built environments. Workers in cubicles spend eight hours every day in a small gray box, separated from human interaction, marinating in stagnant air and fluorescent lighting. It’s cramped, uncomfortable, and unhealthy. One 2018 study found that workers in cubicles were 31.83% less active and reported being 9.10% more stressed at the office compared with workers in open bench seating. Not to menti…

Diversity training is more effective when it’s personalized, according to my new research in the peer-reviewed journal Applied Psychology. As a professor of management, I partnered with Andrew Bryant, who studies social marketing, to develop an algorithm that identifies people’s “personas,” or psychological profiles, as they participate in diversity training in real time. We embedded this algorithm into a training system that dynamically assigned participants to tailored versions of the training based on their personas. We found that this personalized approach worked especially well for one particular group: the “skeptics.” When skeptics received training tailored…

The buzz in Silicon Valley around AI agents has many asking: What’s real and what’s hype? Box’s cofounder and CEO, Aaron Levie, helps decipher between fact and fiction, breaking down the fast-paced evolution of agents and their impact on the future of enterprise AI. Plus, Levie unpacks how AI is really being adopted in the workplace and what it takes to legitimately build an AI-first organization. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating r…

People often think of disasters as great equalizers. After all, a tornado, wildfire, or hurricane doesn’t discriminate against those in its path. But the consequences for those affected are not “one-size-fits-all.” That’s evident in recent storms, and in the U.S. Census Bureau’s national household surveys showing who is displaced by disasters. Overall, the Census Bureau estimates that more than 4.3 million Americans had to leave their homes because of disasters in 2024, whether for a short period or much longer. It was the fourth-costliest year on record for disasters. However, a closer look at demographics in the survey reveals much more about disaster risk in Am…

If you’ve ever been passed over for a promotion, you may have questioned the quality of your work. The other candidate probably had better experience, right? But what if the answer is that you simply weren’t top of mind. Instead of focusing exclusively on building a résumé, how much time do you focus on how you’re perceived? “A lot of people think that heads-down good work will speak for itself,” says Lorraine K. Lee, author of Unforgettable Presence: Get Seen, Gain Influence, and Catapult Your Career. “Then there are people who are thoughtful about how they’re seen, but they’re not being seen by the right people in the right places.” Both can be career killers. …

A viral clip of a woman scrolling on a completely clear phone with no user interface briefly confused—and amused—the internet. But the truth turned out to be far more literal than most expected. Originally posted to TikTok by user CatGPT, the video quickly racked up over 52.9 million views. In the comments, some speculated it was a Nokia model; others guessed it came from the Nickelodeon show Henry Danger. “This looks like a social commentary or a walking art exhibit. I’m too uncultured to understand,” one user commented. “It’s from a Black Mirror episode,” another wrote. Turns out, it was none of the above. Just a piece of plastic. The woman seen in l…

Michael Long is not the typical neuroscience guy. He was trained as a physicist, but is primarily a writer. He coauthored the international bestseller The Molecule of More. As a speechwriter, he has written for members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, presidential candidates, and Fortune 10 CEOs. His screenplays have been performed on most New York stages. He teaches writing at Georgetown University. What’s the big idea? Dopamine is to blame for a lot of your misery. It compels us to endlessly chase more, better, and greater—even when our dreams have come true. Thanks to dopamine, we often feel restless and hopeless. So no, maybe it’s not quite accurate to call it…

Layoffs. Corporate restructuring. Leadership changes. New market strategy. Chances are that you’ll go through at least one significant company upheaval in your career (if not more than one). Employees are expected to adapt quickly, often with little support. While you may not be able to prevent internal changes, you can be prepared—and protect yourself. Get clarification on your job responsibilities One of the biggest impacts on your day-to-day might be changes in your job responsibilities. As soon as possible, you’ll want to discuss any changes with your boss. Ask directly, “Do I have any new responsibilities?” and “How will my performance be evaluated no…