What's on Your Mind?

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s radiation levels have significantly dropped since the cataclysmic meltdown in Japan 14 years ago. Workers walk around in many areas wearing only surgical masks and regular clothes. It’s a different story for those who enter the reactor buildings, including the three damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. They must use maximum protection—full facemasks with filters, multi-layered gloves and socks, shoe covers, hooded hazmat coveralls and a waterproof jacket, and a helmet. As workers remove melted fuel debris from the reactors in a monumental nuclear cleanup effort that could take more than a century, they are facing both h…

An influx of copy-and-pasted Christian messages has recently taken over TikTok’s comment sections. Over the past several days, comments about Jesus Christ have surfaced among the top comments on a wide range of unrelated videos. There’s no obvious connection between the accounts posting them, but the pattern is hard to miss. “Jesus died on a cross for you. He defeated death, he defeated your sins. He did this for you, and he gave us the Holy Spirit. Spread the word,” reads one of the most frequently repeated comments. Others follow the same script: Jesus died for our sins, we’ve been given the Holy Spirit, and now it’s our job to evangelize. Some even admi…

A well-funded AI lab with a deep bench of research talent is releasing a powerful new model that generates high-definition video for the film and advertising industries. The company, Moonvalley, on Wednesday launched its first model, named Marey—a nod to early cinema pioneer Étienne-Jules Marey—which could soon help Hollywood studios dramatically speed up production and cut costs. What sets Marey apart—and has caught the attention of risk-averse studios—is its training data. The model was trained exclusively on video content either owned or fairly licensed by Moonvalley, avoiding the copyright gray zones that make much generative content legally fraught. Moonvalle…

Satellite-based disaster monitoring has been a slow and tedious process for decades. The process consists of capturing images, transmitting them back to Earth, and relying on human analysts to interpret the data. This often led to first responders receiving critical information, often too late to act effectively. But AI is now revolutionizing satellite operations in space, aiding real-time image processing and autonomous decision-making. NASA’s latest space venture focuses on AI-powered autonomous satellites that can operate without human oversight. In collaboration with Ireland-based satellite intelligence startup Ubotica, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) has …

Forget a diamond ring, the latest symbol of commitment now comes in the form of wearable tech. The RAW ring, created by the dating app RAW and Queens Tech, allows couples to track each other’s emotions, both good and bad. Coming as a pair—one for you, one for your partner—the rings track the wearer’s heartbeat, use bio-sensors to track their vitals, and detect voice and emotional cues for changes. Think, a digital mood ring, but for someone else’s emotions. “Keep you and your partner’s hearts beating as one. Feel their emotions, share your vibe, and stay connected in ways that go beyond words,” reads a statement on the RAW website. “Marriage evolves, and so does…

Over the last month, Jamie Dimon has rapidly emerged as one of the most vocal proponents of the return-to-office movement. During a recent appearance at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, the J.P. Morgan Chase CEO could not help but complain—again—about workers who were pushing back on RTO policies. When fielding a question about his recent colorful remarks on RTO, Dimon noted that it was only “people in the middle” who were unhappy about going into the office. “If you work in a restaurant, you’ve got to be in. You all may not know this, but 60% of Americans worked the whole time,” he said, seemingly in reference to the pandemic. “Where did you get you…

Welcome to Pressing Questions, Fast Company’s work-life advice column. Every week, deputy editor Kathleen Davis, host of The New Way We Work podcast, will answer the biggest and most pressing workplace questions. Q: I think my manager is burned out. What can I do? A: It’s tough out there for managers, especially middle mangers who are often caught in the—well—middle and may find themselves enforcing unpopular policies that they didn’t create. It’s not explicitly your job to fix your boss’s problems (and you don’t have the power or authority to do so if you aren’t in a leadership role). But, a manager sets the tone for their team and if they are burned out, their enti…

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Mortgage giant Rocket Companies—the parent company of Rocket Mortgage, formerly known as Quicken Loans—announced on Monday it has entered into an agreement to buy Redfin in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.75 billion equity, or $12.50 per share. If completed, the move would integrate Redfin’s real estate search platform, which attracts nearly 50 million monthly visitors, with Rocket’s mortgage services. “Redfin is known for its beautiful product but is also [a] data powerhouse in an AI-driven world—100 million properties, 50 million engaged mont…

For the first time since 1984, the airline Korean Air is updating its charmingly retro look to new branding that’s better suited for the modern era. The rebrand, designed by the global creative consultancy Lippincott, includes a new wordmark, refreshed logo, and pared-down color scheme. It’s set to debut across Korean Air’s operations and on the livery of its aircraft in the coming weeks. The rebrand comes just a few months after Korean Air officially completed merger negotiations with Asiana Airlines, South Korea’s second-largest airline. The two companies will become one mega-airline. [Image: Korean Air]As Korean Air begins to integrate Asiana Airlines’ operations with …

When the Eaton Fire burned through Altadena in January, Patricia Lopez-Gutierrez and her children had to flee from the house they’d been renting for a decade. Lopez-Gutierrez also lost work: She’s a housecleaner, and her clients lost their own homes in the fire. “I’ve been here for 18 years, and I really don’t want to leave this area,” she said through a translator. “My children and their schools are here. I’m trying to get more work so I don’t have to leave.” As she struggles to pay her bills—including at her rental house, which ended up surviving the fire but was so heavily damaged by smoke that she’s desperate to find a new place to live—she turned to St. Vince…

In summer 2022, when artificial intelligence-based text-to-image generation tools hit the mainstream, architects were cautiously excited. The ease of generating real-ish images of design concepts and buildings with just a few simple sentences was irresistible, and many architects began experimenting with ways of letting AI quickly do some of the sketching and ideating they’d gotten used to spending hours or days laboring over. “It’s almost like you’re speaking a building into existence,” one architect said. But now, with AI maturing and getting integrated into tools and industries far and wide, a surprisingly low number of architects are actually using AI in thei…

For the first two-and-a-half years of the generative AI revolution, the AI arms race has been waged between competing companies seeking to make bank from the promise and potential of the technology. But things are maturing in the AI world—and with it, there’s another frontline for AI: the military. Scale AI, the company set up by Alexandr Wang, has been awarded what CNBC reports is a multimillion-dollar deal to help develop Thunderforge, which the U.S. Department of Defense calls “an initiative designed to integrate artificial intelligence into military operational and theater-level planning, and fusing cutting-edge modeling and simulation tools.” Wang told CNBC that …

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 …