What's on Your Mind?

A new scientific study warns that using artificial intelligence can erode our capacity for critical thinking. The research, carried out by a Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University scientific team, found that the dependence on AI tools without questioning their validity reduces the cognitive effort applied to the work. In other words: AI can make us dumber if we use it wrong. “AI can synthesize ideas, enhance reasoning, and encourage critical engagement, pushing us to see beyond the obvious and challenge our assumptions,” Lev Tankelevitch, a senior researcher at Microsoft Research and coauthor of the study, tells me in an email interview. But to reap those benef…

If you’ve ever been to a Nashville honky-tonk, you’ve witnessed the chorus of cowboy boots, the thrumming acoustic guitars, the roadhouse neon, the Stetsons, the buoyant bourbon-and-barbecue-fueled energy. You probably wouldn’t describe this scene as simply “a bar.” And yet, if you’re blind or have low vision and happen to use a screen reader to read the alt text of a photo of a honky-tonk, that’s likely the description you would get: “This is an image of a bar.” “The current [state of alt text] is pretty abysmal, just to be quite candid. It’s almost a bit ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ literally and figuratively,” says Josh Loebner, creative marketing agency VML’s…

Every morning, after Richard J. Davidson meditates, he opens his calendar and sets an intention for each meeting. He brings each person into his mind and heart, expresses gratitude for their work in the world, and considers how he can best support them. I was inspired to try this practice. I reflected on the people that I planned to see that day and chose one thing that I’d like to thank them for. I was surprised that a simple “thank you” caused them to visibly light up. Davidson was right: It not only transformed our conversation, but the entire nature of my day. This is an example of microdosing well-being and its impact on ourselves and others. It’s also the heart…

To make the most of its stores and keep customers coming back to shop in person, baseball hat retailer Lids announced Wednesday that 20 locations will have a newly redesigned store concept this month built for customization and personalization. Physical retail’s not dead, but to breathe new life into it—not to mention make more money from the remaining square footage—brands are rolling out more personalized in-store customer experiences. Concierge-style customer service along with customizable products have become the name of the game to counter the many headwinds physical retail has faced in recent years, including the rise of online and social media shopping, the pa…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Since the pandemic housing boom fizzled out, the number of unsold completed U.S. new single-family homes has been rising. Here’s a look at the recent historical numbers for January: January 2018: 63,000 January 2019: 76,000 January 2020: 76,000 January 2021: 40,000 January 2022: 32,000 January 2023: 68,000 January 2024: 83,000 January 2025: 115,000 The January figure (115,000 unsold completed new homes) that recently published is the highest level since July 2009 (126,000). Let’s take a closer look at the data to bett…

A typical RV has to plug in at a campground to run the power inside. But Airstream’s newest Basecamp 20Xe trailer is designed to power itself in remote locations: If you want to spend a week in the wilderness, you can theoretically use an induction stove, keep your laptop charged, turn on the air-conditioning, and have hot water for the shower—even if you’re nowhere near any utilities. [Photo: Airstream] “Over the past several years, we’ve seen a growing demand from our customers for what we call energy independence,” says Bob Wheeler, Airstream president and CEO. “The flexibility to not have to go to a campground with established power and energy supplies, to give…

KitchenAid just unveiled its “color of the year,” a retro, comforting Butter yellow. While most people are aware of Pantone’s color of the year program (hello, Mocha Mousse), fewer might be clued in to the fact that the beloved appliance company KitchenAid has been running its own version of the concept since 2017. Each year, KitchenAid picks a trendy new hue to outfit a line of its iconic stand mixers. In 2023, the pick was an electric pink Hibiscus, followed by a powdery Blue Salt in 2024. Now the company is all-in on its nostalgic buttery hue. The new mixer retails online for $499.99. [Photo: KitchenAid] A team of analysts from KitchenAid’s parent company, …

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to feel that external circumstances dictate our existence. We attribute success and failure to factors beyond our control—the economy, the government, societal expectations, or unforeseen events. But here’s the thing: Blaming externalities diminishes our sense of agency and hinders our growth and fulfillment. The opposite is also true. Choosing personal sovereignty—claiming our power as the ultimate architects of our life experience—leads to a more empowered and authentic existence. The illusion of control From a young age, we are conditioned to seek validation and direction from external sources. Society’s norms, cultura…

Julian Baggini is a philosopher with a long and deep interest in food and where it comes from. His books include internationally bestselling How the World Thinks; How to Think Like a Philosopher; The Virtues of the Table; and The Pig That Wants to be Eaten. He is the Academic Director of the Royal Institute of Philosophy and a member of the Food Ethics Council. He is a regular columnist for The Guardian, Prospect magazine, Financial Times, and The Wall Street Journal. What’s the big idea? Food is such a big topic that few really grasp the whole of it. Using his philosophical skillset, Julian sketches a picture of how all the elements of food consumption and product…

We need to talk about AI. Have you noticed it often just isn’t—well, very intelligent? Already, we’ve lived through years of AI hype. We’ve watched companies pitch AI as a great tool for writing boring corporate emails. We’ve seen it shoehorned into all kinds of places it doesn’t belong. And it’s often just been bad. We’re all exhausted. So let’s cut through the fluff: The AI we’re about to go over is actually impressive. I’ve never felt that AI truly delivered—until now. I’m genuinely impressed—and I didn’t expect to be. If you’re intrigued, great! If you’re thinking, “We’ll see about that,” that’s also OK—don’t take my word for it. You truly need to try it y…

Most of us want to remain in our existing homes as we grow older. The practice of “aging in place” aligns with preferences for familiar places and routines and preserves our sense of independence. These preferences, though, raise questions about what support seniors want and need in their current homes. Japan has advanced the use of robotics specifically for this purpose, with mixed results. Despite these early results, the continued development of robotics and artificial intelligence to assist those aging in place seems obvious. What’s less obvious is how seniors foresee AI and robots living alongside them and what specifically they envision these things doing. To …

U.S. consumers often pay more for gluten-free products, yet these items typically provide less protein and more sugar and calories compared with gluten-containing alternatives. That is the key finding of my new study, published in the journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition. This study compared gluten-free products with their gluten-containing counterparts, and the findings suggested that many perceived benefits of gluten-free products—such as weight control and diabetes management—are exaggerated. Currently, many gluten-free products lack dietary fiber, protein, and essential nutrients. Manufacturers often add supplements to compensate, but the incorporation of d…

Do artists and scientists see the same thing in the shape of trees? As a scientist who studies branching patterns in living things, I’m starting to think so. Piet Mondrian was an early 20th-century abstract artist and art theorist obsessed with simplicity and essence of form. Even people who have never heard of Mondrian will likely recognize his iconic irregular grids of rectangles. Tableau I by Piet Mondrian, 1921. [Image: Kunstmuseum Den Haag] When I saw Mondrian’s 1911 “Gray Tree,” I immediately recognized something about trees that I had struggled to describe. By removing all but the most essential elements in an abstract painting, Mondrian demonstrated som…

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 …

Struggling to get enough spinach in your diet? Rather than rustling up a salad or green smoothie, one TikToker has a rather unusual hack to ensure she hits her daily greens goal. “I call it dinosaur time,” TikTok user @sahmthingsup said in a video posted last month, wherein she stands over the sink and stuffs handfuls of raw spinach into her mouth. While it may not be the most appetizing way to consume the leafy greens, the food “hack” has already racked up more than one million views. “For added enrichment, put on a dinosaur documentary,” one user commented. Another added: “My life changed when I realized I could do this with any food I should be getting…

Vietnam is revising its energy plans to focus more on large solar farms and less on reliance on coal and natural gas. The fast-growing economy now aims to get 16% of its energy from the sun — more than triple its earlier target of just 5%. A draft of the new policy outline, likely to be finalized in coming weeks, scraps plans to build offshore wind turbines, instead building more onshore wind capacity, rooftop solar and energy storage. Offshore wind and new gas projects have proven expensive and difficult. Large solar farms are cheaper and easier to build. But Vietnam also is emphasizing expansion of large solar farms to meet soaring demand for power generation. It for…

It’s popular right now to talk about meritocracy and how we want the most talented people to be able to rise to the top. Yet that’s not the reality for many. Lots of people experience a workplace reality where they see a few charmed people become the darlings of leadership. These darlings get recognized for their contributions and fast-tracked for honor, opportunity, and promotions. Sometimes, that’s for good reason. If you’re feeling jealous of the office favorite, it’s worth trying to be objective. Perhaps you wanted the recognition and reward and didn’t get it, and so you’re projecting your frustration on someone who really deserves the recognition. But, there …

Eighty-four Indonesians freed from scam centers in Myanmar were set to return home Friday as the repatriation of thousands of such workers after a crackdown strains regional resources. The Indonesians were among more than 7,000 people being held in the Myanmar border town Myawaddy following a crackdown on the scam centers by Thailand, Myanmar and China. Two buses carrying the Indonesians arrived Thursday in the Thai border city of Mae Sot, where the passengers had health checks and their identities were verified. Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been lured to work in Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos to commit global scams through false romances, bogus inve…

We love our social media, and more frighteningly, we love getting medical information from social media. Almost 20% of Americans say they trust TikTok as much as doctors, even though 45% of the medical information on TikTok is false or misleading. Now, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open, the problem goes deeper: Social media might be promoting the overuse of medical tests such as MRIs. In some circles, such tests have even become a luxury status symbol. What the new study found Researchers analyzed a cross-section of 982 posts from account holders with more than 194 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok. They selected posts ref…

Alexander Balan was on a California beach when the idea for a new kind of drone came to him. While tossing a football, he realized that its form factor could translate into a lightweight unmanned aerial system (UAS) designed for rapid deployment and autonomous targeting. This eureka moment led Balan to found Xdown, the company that’s building the P.S. Killer (PSK)—an autonomous kamikaze drone that works like a hand grenade and can be thrown like a football. To create the PSK, Xdown teamed up with several defense companies, including Corvid Technologies, a North Carolina-based military contractor that specializes in the design, development, and prototyping of weap…

The Fast Company Impact Council is an invitation-only membership community of leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual dues for access to peer learning, thought leadership opportunities, events and more. We all want our companies to make a real difference, but how often does our message truly cut through the noise? It’s a complex challenge: How do we ensure our genuine efforts to create social impact actually resonate with the people we want to reach? Because in today’s world, simply doing good isn’t enough; we need to communicate the impact of that work effectively to build trust and inspire re…