What's on Your Mind?

How’s work? If you feel like answering “meh,” you’re not alone. Gallup’s latest workplace survey found that employee engagement has slumped to a 10-year low. It might not be the work itself, though. You might want to take a closer look at your boss, says Dr. Katina Sawyer, coauthor of Leading for Wellness: How to Create a Team Culture Where Everyone Thrives. “The proximal experiences that you have in the day to day of your workplace are what predict your general overall sentiments about your work,” says Sawyer, who is an associate professor of management and organizations at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. “That means that the people that you …

The Seattle Mariners will be repping Nintendo this season. The team announced that starting with the season opener on Thursday, team members will be wearing Nintendo patches on their jerseys. It’s the first time the team has ever had a jersey sponsorship. The Mariners promoted the partnership in a video posted to social media showing center fielder Julio Rodríguez wearing the new jersey and grabbing a Mariners ball cap that’s sitting next to a red Mario hat in a locker. Major League Baseball announced in 2022 that it would begin allowing teams to put sponsorships on their uniforms. Some teams quickly capitalized: The New York Yankees signed Starr Insurance, and th…

In early 2024, Ben Collins was contemplating the future of the media business—and his place in it. He was in the process of resigning after spending six years as a senior reporter at NBC News, exhausted by the disinformation beat that took him to some of the darkest and most disturbing corners of the internet. It hadn’t helped that in December 2022 NBC News had suspended Collins from the Elon Musk beat following his highly critical coverage of the gazillionaire’s acquisition of Twitter. The media landscape looked bleak. Layoffs were decimating storied media titles like Sports Illustrated, and Collins was hearing rumors that G/O Media, the holding company owned by priv…

It’s not every day that microbial genetics leads to a chic influencer party in Los Angeles. Yet there stood Patrick Torbey, the lone scientist in a plant-filled wine bar, addressing a roomful of stylish guests nibbling artisan crackers topped with melted Brie. Torbey was there to introduce the first product from Neoplants, the Paris-based startup he cofounded six years ago with Lionel Mora, a former Google product marketing manager. Their debut offering, called Power Drops, promises a biological air filter—hence the appeal for wellness influencers. For the science-minded, they’re genetically modified soil bacteria that work with plants to absorb and metabolize toxic c…

When you pop a piece of gum in your mouth, you might be hoping to freshen your breath, relieve some stress, or just get a bit of flavor. But you could also be getting thousands of microplastics released with every piece you chew. That’s because most chewing gum itself is made of plastic; gum bases often use synthetic polymers like polyvinyl acetate, a plastic used in adhesives; or styrene-butadiene, a type of plastic rubber used in tires and shoe soles. Plastic is already everywhere: our bottled water, our soil, even our air. Microplastics can leach into our bodies through all those things, as well as through foods kept or heated up in plastic packaging. But with …

Showing enthusiasm in a job interview can be the make-or-break factor in getting that position. In fact, nearly 47% of hiring managers say a candidate’s keen interest in the job is the most important factor in determining whether they get the new role. Enthusiastic candidates are more likely to fit in, stay longer, and do great work. So, here are five ways to project excitement about the role throughout the job interview process: 1. ARRIVE EARLY First, show up 10–15 minutes early for your interview. An early arrival demonstrates enthusiasm, shows respect for the interviewer, and helps you gather your thoughts so that you will come across as poised and prepared…

Influencers, how many late payments are you waiting on? Odds are, more than one. Influencer marketing is a booming $10 billion industry, but for creators, inconsistent cash flow remains a major pain point. Brand budgets shift, campaign timelines change, and payments can take months to land. For many influencers who rely on brand deals as their main source of income, financial instability is the norm. According to the Wall Street Journal, fewer than 13% of online influencers earned more than $100,000 last year—while nearly half made $15,000 or less. A fintech startup called Alchemy wants to change that. Founded by Isaac Wagschal, the company has launched a $100 mil…

Firefighters in North and South Carolina were battling multiple wind-driven wildfires Monday in rugged terrain that complicated containment efforts, officials said. Millions of trees knocked down by Hurricane Helene last year combined with long stretches of dry weather this spring are making for a long and active fire season in the Carolinas, North Carolina State University forestry and environmental resources professor Robert Scheller said. “Helene just dropped tons of fuel on the ground,” Scheller said. “Then these flash droughts allow that fuel to dry out very fast.” Both South Carolina and North Carolina have issued statewide bans on outdoor burning. N…

3:52 a.m.: Wake up. 3:54 a.m.: Pour out a cup of Saratoga Water. 4:04 a.m.: Work out next to a bottle of Saratoga Water. 5:49 a.m.: Dunk face in ice-cold bowl of Saratoga Water. These are just a few of the steps of fitness influencer Ashton Hall’s extremely specific morning routine, which grabbed the internet’s attention over the weekend for its oddly regimented timing and near-comical flaunting of wealth. One particular video of Hall’s schedule has amassed 98.4 million views on TikTok and 674.5 million views on X, spawning countless reactions and copycats, as well as shout-outs from Mr. Beast and Sweetgreen. And there’s one brand that’s clearly the …

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—the provision that protects tech platforms from legal liability for content posted by their users—has long been a point of contention among lawmakers. Since its passage in 1996, it has fueled frustration across the political spectrum, with critics arguing that it enables Big Tech to dodge accountability. Now, nearly three decades later, a bipartisan group of senators is making a renewed push to dismantle it, with Senators Lindsey Graham and Dick Durbin crossing party lines to draft a bill aimed at repealing Section 230, according to The Information. For years, Section 230 has been a scapegoat not just for politicians eager…

Turkish authorities have detained 1,133 people across Turkey since the start of protests five days ago against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Monday. The detention last Wednesday of Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, has triggered the biggest street protests in Turkey in more than a decade. On Sunday, a court jailed him, pending trial, on corruption charges that he denies. Despite bans on street gatherings in many cities, the mostly peaceful anti-government demonstrations continued for a fifth consecutive night on Sunday, with hundreds of thousands taking part. Yerlikaya said 123 …

After nearly 13 years leading PepsiCo design, its first chief design officer—Mauro Porcini—is departing the company. (Previous to PepsiCo, he was the first designer named to a chief design officer role at 3M.) Under Porcini, design at the PepsiCo family of brands has seen a significant glow up. He arrived shortly after 2008’s disastrous Pepsi rebrand during the era of flat design. And he spent the next decade investing in more internal talent—successfully arguing that the approach would actually save the company money while offering stronger creative autonomy. Porcini opened a flagship design center in NYC in 2012, then following its success, he added 18 more across t…

StubHub’s 2024 revenue surged 29.5%, it reported on Friday in its U.S. initial public offering paperwork, as the online ticketing marketplace moves ahead with its long-sought New York flotation. A handful of companies are moving ahead with stock market listings despite volatility arising from uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. Nvidia-backed startup CoreWeave and Swedish fintech Klarna are among the companies gearing up to go public in New York. StubHub, one of the biggest secondary ticketing marketplaces for live events, will sell new shares in the proposed offering, it said. Its revenue jumped to $1.77 billion in 2024, compared with $1.37 billion a yea…

ADHD content has been trending on TikTok for a while. Unsurprisingly, much of it has been found to be misleading. A study published last week in the journal PLOS One found that fewer than half of the claims in popular ADHD-related TikTok videos aligned with clinical diagnostic criteria or professional treatment guidelines. Researchers also warned that the more ADHD content young adults consume on TikTok, the more likely they are to overestimate both how common and how severe ADHD symptoms are in the general population. Even those with an ADHD diagnosis struggled to separate reliable information from misinformation. The sheer amount of misinformation becomes …

An Orthodox Jewish passenger says a United Airlines pilot forcibly removed him from an airplane bathroom while he was experiencing constipation, exposing his genitalia to other flyers during a flight from Tulum, Mexico, to Houston. Yisroel Liebb, of New Jersey, described his trip through allegedly unfriendly skies in a federal lawsuit this week against the airline and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, whose officers he said boarded the plane upon landing and took him away in handcuffs. Liebb and a fellow Orthodox Jewish traveler said the pilot made disparaging remarks about their faith. They said they were forced to miss a connecting flight to New York City whil…

A jury in Georgia has ordered Monsanto parent Bayer to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the company’s Roundup weed killer caused his cancer, according to attorneys representing the plaintiff. The verdict marks the latest in a long-running series of court battles Monsanto has faced over its Roundup herbicide. The agrochemical giant says it will appeal the verdict, reached in a Georgia courtroom late Friday, in efforts to overturn the decision. The penalties awarded include $65 million in compensatory damages and $2 billion in punitive damages, law firms Arnold & Itkin LLP and Kline & Specter PC said in a statement. That marks one of the larges…