What's on Your Mind?

Unwanted phone calls are out of control. Whether it’s a robocall trying to sell you something or spam calls from scammers trying to rip you off, it’s enough to make you want to stop answering your phone. So what can you do to stop them? The scourge of unwanted phone calls has been branded an epidemic by consumer groups, while the Federal Communications Commission says it’s the top consumer complaint. The calls are a nuisance to many ordinary people, some of whom have complained to The Associated Press. “I need help on getting spam calls to stop,” one reader said in an email. She’s getting up to 14 calls a day despite the countermeasures she’s employed. As the name impl…

An attorney for a Texas pipeline company said Wednesday at trial that he will prove various Greenpeace entities coordinated delays and disruptions of a controversial oil pipeline’s construction in North Dakota, and defamed the company to its lenders. Attorneys for the Greenpeace defendants told a jury there is no evidence to back up the claims by Dallas-based Energy Transfer, which seeks potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from Greenpeace. The case is tied to protests in 2016 and 2017 of the Dakota Access Pipeline and its controversial Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s reservation. The tribe has long opposed the pipel…

In this hectic modern world, it’s natural to feel like your ducks aren’t in a row, but every so often the planets seem to align. This week, Mercury is joining Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune for a seven-planet parade (although not all of them will be visible to the naked eye). Here’s what that all means and how best to see it. How exactly do planets align? According to NASA, the term planetary parade isn’t really a technical term in astronomy, but it’s cute and paints a fun picture. Additionally, planetary alignment has a few different meanings; it can refer to when the planets line up with each other or when they line up with the moon or stars. F…

Measles cases continue to rise in the United States nearly two and a half decades after the virus had been declared eliminated in the country. Currently, the epicenter of the U.S. measles outbreak is in Texas, where one child has now died from the disease. Here’s what to know about the outbreak, how far it has spread, and the symptoms to watch out for. Measles U.S. outbreak map As of the time of this writing, there are more than 130 cases of measles across two states alone, reports Reuters. Those states are Texas and New Mexico. However, while Texas has garnered the headlines due to it having the majority of cases, the disease has been found in other U.S. states si…

Many of us want to get promoted at work, but don’t often stop to consider what that means. Moving into the executive ranks often means leading the very people you once worked alongside. And while you might attract attention with stellar performance, it’s not enough to secure your success as a leader. As a CEO and C-Level coach, let me tell you that I, nor any of my most successful clients, would risk elevating a leader to the next level if it would lead to a systemic risk of losing talent or momentum. In those cases, I’d wait to ensure that this high performer is making an effort to work on leadership quality, including their peer relationships. Leadership req…

Since its launch in 2018, Olipop has been a bit of a Cinderella story in the oft-unforgiving beverage game. The prebiotic, fiber-laden soda designed to be healthier than the category classics is currently thriving: It just closed a $50 million Series C and announced a $1.85 billion valuation. Last year, it surpassed $400 million in revenue. Its reps cite it as the No. 1 nonalcoholic brand in dollar and unit growth, “outpacing legacy giants like Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Red Bull.” It’s now sold in nearly 50,000 stores and is even outselling Coke at one major national retailer (though they won’t disclose which one, per that retailer’s regulations). Which is all to say…

In January 2022, when my book The Success Factor was published, I hosted a virtual book launch party. It was a celebration that brought together friends, family, and some of the high achievers I had interviewed for the book—astronauts, Nobel Prize winners, Olympians, and more. Just before the event, one of the astronauts texted me with an unexpected question: “Will [a prominent physician-scientist at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic] be there?” I chuckled and responded, “Omicron just hit; I think he’s a bit busy dealing with that right now. But this Nobel Prize winner will be there.” The astronaut’s reply floored me: “Wow, a Nobel Prize winner? Now that’s a …

Most chatbots want to appear human. But their efforts to sound just like us only widen their uncanny valley feeling. Many are Elon Musk-level awkward. And most are annoyingly verbose. There’s only one AI persona that offers a completely different user experience: Tolan. This AI-powered being—which you can teleport into your iPhone—doesn’t pretend to be like us. Quite the opposite. Tolan embraces being very much unlike us. But in doing so, it feels more human and relatable than any other AIs I’ve come across. Tolan is an alien. The whimsical, colorful creature is made of friendly curved shapes that are designed to reflect, converse, and grow with its user. These AI-drive…

The new Netflix series Running Point stars Kate Hudson as president of a fictional pro basketball team, the Los Angeles Waves. And the Pepperdine Waves have a problem with it. Attorneys for Pepperdine University in Malibu have filed a lawsuit against the streaming service and Warner Bros. Entertainment arguing they “have taken valuable intellectual property” from the school and infringed on its trademark ahead of the show’s premiere today. Attorneys for the University claim the fictional team’s branding is too similar to its own, and that it uses the same blue and orange team colors and mascot. They argue this will create consumer confusion and falsely suggest a link …

Starchitecture is heading to the moon. A lunar design from the international architecture and design firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is part of a just-launched rocket mission that expects to land on the moon in early March. Not architecture per se, the design encases a shoebox-size data storage center that’s attempting to prove the concept of off-world disaster recovery services. Commissioned by Florida startup Lonestar Data Holdings, the solar-powered 8-terabyte data storage device is tacked onto the side of the lunar lander now making its way to the moon. A thin, 3D-printed object with sleek curves and a matte-black finish, BIG’s design sets a higher bar than the wire-ju…

Student loan debt has an influence over borrowers’ career choices long after graduation, affecting their job satisfaction, career advancement, and investment strategies. According to a recent study conducted by MissionSquare Research Institute, the debt that’s carried by one in four Americans under 40 affects job-acceptance decisions for 56% of public-sector employees and 62% of those working in the private sector. “When they choose to accept . . . jobs, [the] majority of them have considered how that position or that job can help them with their student loan debt,” says the report’s author and MissionSquare’s head of research, Zhikun Liu. “It not only impacts pe…

Yope is the latest photo-sharing app vying to take on Instagram and TikTok. The pitch? A hybrid of a private Instagram and a group chat. While WhatsApp and Snapchat allow for group messaging and Instagram offers private accounts, Yope blends the best of both—creating a space where users can share photos exclusively with their chosen circles. Launched in September 2024, Yope has grown exponentially over the past six months, now boasting 2.2 million monthly active users and 800,000 daily active users, many of whom are in the investor-coveted Gen Z demographic. The company also claims that 40% of users are still active on the app seven days after installing it. Accor…

The dramatic images of wealthy neighborhoods burning during the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires captured global attention, but the damage was much more widespread. Many working-class families lost their homes, businesses, and jobs. In all, more than 16,000 structures—most of them homes—were destroyed, leaving thousands of people displaced. The shock of this catastrophic loss has been reverberating across Southern California, driving up demand for rental homes and prices in an already unaffordable and competitive housing market. Many residents now face rebuilding costs that are expected to skyrocket. Climate-related disasters like this often have deep roots in p…

It used to be that if you asked a classroom of kids what they want to be when they grow up, you’d get answers like “firefighter” and “astronaut.” These days, Gen Alpha dreams of becoming content creators. A survey of 910 U.S. Gen Alpha kids (ages 12 to 15) by social commerce platform Whop found that nearly a third want to be YouTubers, while one in five aspire to become TikTok creators. Content creation isn’t their only ambition—19.1% also expressed interest in becoming mobile app or video-game developers. While the “iPad kid” generation is learning plenty from screen time, many feel their schools aren’t keeping up with the rise of digital careers. More than half …