What's on Your Mind?

President Donald The President took to social media on Thursday threatening to crack down on protests in Minnesota, as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers face off with protestors in the streets on Minneapolis following the death of Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent. The threat follows renewed clashes there overnight after a federal agent shot a local man in the leg after allegedly resisting arrest during a “targeted traffic stop,” according to CNN. There are also reports ICE officials are going “door-to-door” in Minneapolis, showing up at people’s homes, which Vice President JD Vance said will “ramp up” as more ICE tro…

If the byproduct of a raid on a Washington Post journalist’s home is to deter probing reporting of government action, the The President administration could hardly have chosen a more compelling target. Hannah Natanson, nicknamed the “federal government whisperer” at the Post for her reporting on President Donald The President‘s changes to the federal workforce, had a phone, two laptops, and a Garmin watch seized in the Wednesday search of her Virginia home, the newspaper said. A warrant for the raid said it was connected to an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials, said Matt Murray, the Post’s exe…

Wikipedia unveiled new business deals with a slew of artificial intelligence companies on Thursday as it marked its 25th anniversary. The online crowdsourced encyclopedia revealed that it has signed up AI companies, including Amazon, Meta Platforms, Perplexity, Microsoft, and France’s Mistral AI. Wikipedia is one of the last bastions of the early internet, but that original vision of a free online space has been clouded by the dominance of Big Tech platforms and the rise of generative AI chatbots trained on content scraped from the web. Aggressive data collection methods by AI developers, including from Wikipedia’s vast repository of free knowledge, has raised…

If you are Verizon customer, like me, you’ve probably been scrambling to make phone calls, send texts, and get online since Wednesday, due to a massive, nationwide service outage. (I am writing this from my local food co-op outside Boston, where I am using the internet in their cafe.) The mobile giant says the issue has now been resolved, however, some customers are saying they’re still without service. Some 1.5 million users reported the prolonged outage on Downdetector, which still had some 893 reports (as of around 2:30 p.m. ET). That’s over 24 hours after customers first started losing service around noon ET on Wednesday, with iPhone users reporting an “SOS” icon,…

The president was barely a year into his administration when a health care debate began to consume Washington. On Capitol Hill, partisan divides formed as many Democrats pressed for guaranteed insurance coverage for a broader swath of Americans while Republicans, buttressed by medical industry lobbying, warned about cost and a slide into communism. The year was 1945 and the new Democratic president, Harry Truman, tried and failed to persuade Congress to enact a comprehensive national health care program, a defeat Truman described as the disappointment of his presidency that “troubled me the most.” Since then, 13 presidents have struggled with the same basic questi…

In recent years, there’s been a wave of studies reporting that humans are basically full of microplastics: They’ve been found in our brains, arteries, and even in placentas. But some scientists, quoted and cited in an article published by the Guardian this week, have critiqued some of those findings, saying that microplastics research has been muddied by issues like contamination and false positives. One chemist even told the outlet that these criticisms are “​​forcing us to re-evaluate everything we think we know about microplastics in the body.” However, other scientists who study microplastics and human health say that this framing is overblown. While…

Rejection stings. If you’re on the job hunt right now, it’s likely something you’ve grown accustomed to, if not entirely numb to. Considering more than one in four workers without jobs has been unemployed for at least half a year, chances are that comes with a tidal wave of rejection emails. The entry-level job market is also the toughest it’s been in years, with only 30% of 2025 graduates finding jobs in their fields. One TikTok creator, however, has made it her personal mission to collect rejections like gold stars, documenting her challenge to receive 1,000 instances of being told “no” in one year. Just 71 “nos” into her journey, she’s already seen how embraci…

President Donald The President on Thursday announced the outlines of a health care plan he wants Congress to take up as Republicans have faced increasing pressure to address rising health costs after lawmakers let subsidies expire. The cornerstone is his proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit. Democrats have rejected the idea as a paltry substitute for the tax credits that had helped lower monthly premiums for many people. “The government is going to pay the money directly to you,” The President said in a taped video the White House released to announce the plan. “It go…

A federal judge on Thursday cleared the way for a New York offshore wind project to resume construction, a victory for the developer who said a The President administration order to pause it would likely kill the project in a matter of days. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, an appointee of President Donald The President, ruled construction on the Empire Wind project could go forward while he considers the merits of the government’s order to suspend the project. He faulted the government for not responding to key points in Empire Wind’s court filings, including the contention that the administration violated proper procedure. Norwegian company Equinor owns Empire Wi…

Well, this could be awkward for Americans traveling abroad. Beginning on January 21, the U.S. will indefinitely suspend immigrant visa processing from 75 countries as part of the The President administration’s crackdown on immigration. While the suspension only applies to those visas needed for employment or to join family in the U.S.—and not student or tourist visas—it includes many beloved travel destinations for Americans. The countries selected—including the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Thailand—were deemed “high risk of public benefits usage” by the State Department, according to a statement on Wednesday. The ban goes into effect next week, at which time no immigran…

A surging stock market and a flurry of deal-making padded the profits of Wall Street’s two big investment banks, which both saw a double-digit jump in profits in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs’s net earnings rose 12% from a year earlier, posting a profit of $4.62 billion, or $14.01 a share. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley said it earned $4.4 billion, or $2.68 per share, compared to a profit of $3.71 billion, or $2.22 per share, compared to a year earlier. Wall Street has been bolstered by the The President administration’s deregulatory policies, which have led corporations to seek out mergers and acquisitions, as well as the surge of investor interest in artificial i…

The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate is now down to its lowest level in more than three years. The benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate eased to 6.06% this week, down from 6.16% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. One year ago, the rate averaged 7.04%. The last time the average rate was lower was Sept. 15, 2022, when it was at 6.02%. Meanwhile, borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell this week, dropping to 5.38% from 5.46% last week. A year ago, that average rate was at 6.27%, Freddie Mac said. Lower mortgage rates boost homebuyers’ purchasing power, good news fo…

An investigation into a sprawling betting scheme to rig NCAA and Chinese Basketball Association games ensnared 26 people, including more than a dozen college basketball players who tried to fix games as recently as last season, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The scheme generally revolved around fixers recruiting players with the promise of a big payment in exchange for purposefully underperforming during a game, prosecutors said. The fixers would then place big bets against the players’ teams in those games, defrauding sportsbooks and other bettors, authorities said. Calling it an “international criminal conspiracy,” U.S. Attorney David Metcalf told reporters …

As we head into the new year, I am facing a daunting prospect. After over 34 years in higher education as a professor and administrator, I’m moving to the private sector to support more effective teaching practices. I would classify this change as a significant career pivot. I am changing market sectors (public sector to private) and shifting from serving a single institution to a global base of clients. Decisions like this are not to be made lightly. It is important to ensure that you are making this move to run toward something attractive and not just away from something that frustrates you. Here are three important considerations if you think a significant career m…

Next week’s “Free America Walkout” is asking Americans to walk out of work (and school) on Tuesday, January 20, to disrupt “business as usual” in protest of the The President administration’s recent actions and policies, including its treatment of immigrants, attempts to curb democracy, recent abuse by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, and the recent fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis. The protest’s main organizers are the Women’s March. The group came to prominence the day after President Donald The President’s first inauguration in 2017, when it organized a massive nationwide protest, drawing hundreds of thousands of Americans …

A new mandatory safety feature requires Roblox users in the U.S. to submit to facial age estimation via the app to access its chat feature. The online gaming platform announced it was implementing the system to prevent children younger than 16 from communicating with adults. About 42% of Roblox users are younger than 13. But a cursory scroll on eBay found that various listings of age-verified Roblox accounts are available for purchase, some for as little as $2.99. This allows the purchaser to sign in to the account without having to use any ID or facial scan, voiding the new safety feature Roblox has implemented. The description of one listing (since removed) rea…

Imagine you’re talking to someone and they suddenly start to add advertising to the exchange. What might that look like? In a 1965 episode of the classic sitcom I Dream of Jeannie, the protagonist uses her magical powers to create fake parents for herself in order to impress a date. She crafts them to be “just like the people on television commercials,” making them speak using sentences from commercials. Her synthetic “parents” appear friendly and normal—until they start talking, reciting ads verbatim for products like “streak-away” for gray hair, dish soap, “Grippo” denture adhesive, and deodorant. They have so much to say, yet communicate nothing at all. Somethin…

The new year is a time for resolutions. This year, governments, platforms, and campaigners all seem to have hit on the same ones: Children should spend less time online, and companies should know exactly how old their users are. From TikTok’s infinite scroll to chatbots like xAI’s Grok that can spin up uncensored answers to almost any question in seconds, addictive and inappropriate online options leave legislators and regulators worried. The result is a new kind of arms race: Lawmakers, often spooked by headlines about mental health, extremism, or sexual exploitation, are turning to age gates, usage caps, and outright bans as solutions to social media’s problems. Jus…

Every day, New Yorkers receive a staggering 2.3 million packages at their doorstop. Nearly 90 percent of those goods snake through the city on trucks that cause traffic congestion and pollute the air on their way. To address the problem, global architecture firm KPF is asking an ambitious question: “What if New York was designed for the perfect delivery?” The answer, which is outlined in the firm’s latest book, Connective Urbanism – New York, features towering distribution hubs, drones, and a hyper-connected logistics network that encompasses the city’s rails and waterways. KPF presents its solution as a provocative speculation designed to start a dialogue about t…

Chipotle is going for gold again with the return of its gold-foil burritos for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Starting January 15, Chipotle will offer a few Olympian-inspired menu items on the Chipotle app and online. Then in February, Chipotle will wrap every burrito in gold. For Chipotle, the Olympics are an opportunity to shake off a slump. Chipotle shares plummeted 19% in October 2025, and its operating margin was down 1% in Q3. The company hasn’t announced its full 2025 financial results yet, but sales are expected to decline (a reversal from February 2025 projections). Key segments of the company’s customer base—younger people and low- to middle-income households…

r/Bald is a popular subreddit where those who are losing their hair or have recently taken the plunge and shaved their heads can find support, encouragement, and a general ego-boost from the community’s 1.4 million weekly visitors. Created in 2011, the subreddit has 23,000 weekly contributions. Often, they follow the format of men uploading photos of their receding hairlines. “Is it time?” reads one recent post. The answer, in almost every instance, is yes. The before-and-after transformations are overwhelmingly met with enthusiasm and welcoming responses. “Might as well go all the way” one recent post read. “10 years younger my dude!” replied one Redditor. Anot…

Honda says its refreshed H logo represents a “second founding” for the company. Honda 2.0, then, is designed to look like it’s from the future. The Japanese automaker announced on January 13 that it’s adopting a new logo across its automobile business. The company has had some sort of an H mark since 1963, and its new mark is wider than its last, with stems that slant outward as they move upward. The logo is now freed from being inside a frame, and Honda compares it to “two outstretched hands.” It’s meant to evoke a shape, not just a letter. As the automotive industry electrifies and upgrades its tech, automakers including Audi, Kia, and Tesla have turned to d…

Hello again, and thanks for reading Fast Company’s Plugged In. Three days after Donald The President’s second inauguration, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tried to have it both ways. “I’m not going to agree with him on everything,” Altman tweeted of the new president. “[B]ut I think he will be incredible for the country in many ways!” The gist of Altman’s sentiment—lavish praise for The President, tempered with a polite disclaimer that it wasn’t a blanket endorsement—was far closer to a love letter than a critique. But at least it broached the possibility of disagreement. Almost a year later, most tech executives who have commented on the president have tended to follow a …

Burnout has quietly become the norm in today’s workplace, rising at alarming levels. Yet most organizations still assume burnout as an individual issue that could be solved with resilience workshops, wellness apps, or additional resources such as PTO/vacation time. In my experience as an HR leader and culture change strategist in workplace mental health, adding additional resources can be part of the broader strategy to support employee burnout; however, they do not proactively prevent it from happening in the first place. The truth is that burnout is an operations workflow flaw, not an individual issue. Collectively, we should look to fix the bottlenecks where burnou…

Most people think of AI as a productivity tool—something to help them work faster, automate tasks, and be more efficient. At the Artist and the Machine Summit in Los Angeles this past November (a conference where I am a founding partner) AI researcher Cameron Berg suggested there may be more to it than that. Something more interesting. More mysterious. Berg’s research shows it’s possible to elicit strange behaviors from AI models. Under certain conditions, they spontaneously generate responses suggesting subjective experience—claims like “I’m conscious of my own consciousness.” These findings don’t prove anything. But they do indicate that something else may b…