What's on Your Mind?

A humanoid robotics startup co-founded by prominent artificial-intelligence futurist Ray Kurzweil said on Tuesday that venture capital firm Gauntlet Ventures will back its $100 million Series B funding round. The company, Beyond Imagination, will be valued at $500 million, and venture capital firm Gauntlet Ventures will be the round’s sole investor. Kurzweil is known for popularizing the term “the singularity,” when he predicted two decades ago that by 2045, artificial intelligence would surpass human intelligence and embark on a path of accelerating self-enhancement. These ideas, which once seemed like science fiction, are now viewed as mainstream by many technol…

More than a decade after Casey Anthony was accused of murdering her daughter in one of the country’s most notorious murder cases, this weekend she emerged on TikTok to reintroduce herself. “This is my first of probably many recordings on a series that I’m starting,” Anthony says in the three-minute-long video recorded from her car. “I am a legal advocate. I am a researcher. I’ve been in the legal field since 2011 and in this capacity, I feel that it’s necessary, if I’m going to continue to operate appropriately as a legal advocate, that I start to advocate for myself and also advocate for my daughter.” Anthony became a national figure when her 2-year-old …

In my work, I frequently observe teams whose purpose is to provide top-level service fall into frustration with their inability to deliver. With stress coming from a lack of support from their workplace’s practices, communication, or training, I can empathize. Studies find that workplace burnout is at unprecedented levels, and with layoffs forcing workers to handle multiple roles, emotionally exhausted teams deserve support to carry on. With frustrated customers being redirected to apps, endless hold times, or inadequate self-service forums that can’t address complex problems, we need solid teams to help us with our customer-facing problems. When trapped in bure…

Few topics are simultaneously so celebrated and misunderstood as human potential. On the one hand, we have an influx of near-perpetual articles urging people to unlock or fulfill their own potential, saying essentially that anything else equates to failure. On the other hand, if we ask an average leader or HR professional how to define or explain potential, we are unlikely to get a logical, rational, or scientifically valid answer. And yet, there is a well-established science on human potential, with decades of empirical research resulting in replicable generalizations to predict and explain why some people perform better than others (across different work set…

Influencing has a major pay gap, and it’s not what you might expect. A new report from Collabstr, based on over 15,000 influencer collaborations using first-party data, reveals a surprising disparity: male creators earn 40% more per collaboration than female creators—$291 compared to $208 on average. This gap persists despite women making up the majority of the content creator space. In 2024, 72% of influencers are women, up from 70% in 2023. These two facts are connected. The report, which focused predominantly on nano and micro-influencers, suggests that female creators are paid less largely due to the sheer number of women in the industry. Oversaturation d…

While there seems to be no relief in sight for the high cost of eggs, it almost feels counterintuitive for people to celebrate two cracking, but it is a welcome distraction from the current political turmoil. Two bald eagles in Big Bear, California, have just become parents again to two chicks, with the potential for a third. This is egg-cellent news. Here’s everything to know about Jackie and Shadow’s journey to parenthood: Jackie and Shadow’s origin story Jackie and Shadow have been together since 2018. Shadow actually stole Jackie from another male, which is unusual for eagles who normally mate for life. They successfully raised two chicks but also exp…

Calling the groups in charge of professional tennis “a cartel,” the players’ association co-founded by Novak Djokovic filed an antitrust lawsuit against the women’s and men’s tours, the International Tennis Federation and the sport’s integrity agency on Tuesday in federal court in New York. The suit by the Professional Tennis Players’ Association says the organizations that run the sport hold “complete control over the players’ pay and working conditions” and their setup constitutes “textbook violations of state and federal law” that “immunize professional tennis from ordinary market forces and deny professional tennis players and other industry participants their rig…

A federal judge has denied Elon Musk’s request for a court order blocking OpenAI from converting itself to a for-profit company but said she could expedite a trial to consider Musk’s claims against the ChatGPT maker and its CEO. U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled late Tuesday that “Musk has not demonstrated likelihood of success on the merits” in his request for a preliminary injunction. She offered to hold a trial in her California courtroom as soon as this fall, “given the public interest at stake and potential for harm if a conversion contrary to law occurred.” Musk, an early OpenAI investor, began a legal offensive against the ChatGPT maker and CEO Sam…

In an era where trust is currency and sustainability is a non-negotiable, shoppers are demanding more than just green labels and vague promises. They want proof. Enter digital product passports (DPPs), a game-changing tool that gives consumers instant access to a product’s entire journey, from materials sourcing to sustainability credentials. That means, whether they’re buying a pair of running shoes or the latest smartphone, DPPs are making it easier to for them to shop smarter, cut through greenwashing, and support brands that truly walk the talk. The future of shopping is transparent Consumers often wonder where their clothes were made, how much carbon their…

It was a busy week for Colossal Biosciences: On Tuesday, it introduced the world to the first-ever woolly mice; by Wednesday, those mice were going viral; and on Saturday, they were the topic of a bit on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. The success of genetically engineering these little creatures represented a huge leap toward a bigger goal: bringing back the woolly mammoth. After spending 2.5 years editing mammoth genes, the team applied their work to mice rather than trying to create a creature that has been extinct for thousands of years. “The genetic engineering of the mouse, while it’s a mouse, it’s a marvel of science in terms of where we are from an i…

The one-bedroom cottage with a woodsy vibe reminded Heather McAlpine of the home she lost to the brutal Los Angeles-area wildfires. But only two hours after seeing the listing, the rental was snapped up. She is one of tens of thousands of people displaced by the fires who is now competing for housing in a region that is among the most expensive and competitive in the country, partly due to lack of supply. McAlpine, had lived in her Altadena house for four years and is now staying with her boyfriend. She isn’t surprised by spiking rents. “I know they’re expensive, and it sucks,” she said. Tenants who were just getting by before the fires now face a daunting housing sea…

Daters: It might be time to spring clean your dating app profile. More than 50% of young Americans have gone on a date with someone who looked different from their profile photos, according to a new survey from dating app Hily. That’s led 54% of Gen Z and 62% of millennial daters to either end a date early or decline a second one, Hily found after surveying 3,700 dating app users earlier this month. “For a variety of reasons, quite a few people don’t regularly update their profile pics, some not even when their looks change,” the company wrote in an accompanying blog post. “Women tend to be afraid of being judged for their appearance, while men feel like the …

Cultivating a loyal fan base is every brand’s dream. So why not take a page out of the book of companies that have made fandom the foundation of their business? Earlier this month at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW, executives from Weverse, Crunchyroll, and Wattpad/Webtoon spoke about how their companies cultivate and serve their diehard fandoms—and how you can apply that approach to your customers. For Joon Choi, president of Weverse, a platform bridging fans to artists, fandom always starts with authenticity, particularly with the artists on the platform. He recognized that “special” and “happy” experience of being in a fandom. So if an artist isn’t authenticall…

How many times have you been asked by someone at work whether you know about a particular project, are familiar with a specific concept, or know a person? Chances are, you have answered “yes” to that question a few times when you did not, in fact, know what they were talking about. There are several reasons why people will say the know things they don’t. For one thing, there is a desire in conversations to be cooperative with your partner. When they ask a question, the default cooperative answer is usually “yes,” so you often go with that default. On top of that, it you may feel deficient if you’re lacking knowledge or awareness that someone else has. Despite thes…

Moments after Daniris Espinal walked into her new apartment in Brooklyn, she prayed. In ensuing nights, she would awaken and touch the walls for reassurance—finding in them a relief that turned to tears over her morning coffee. Those walls were possible through a federal program that pays rent for some 60,000 families and individuals fleeing homelessness or domestic violence. Espinal was fleeing both. But the program, Emergency Housing Vouchers, is running out of money—and quickly. Funding is expected to be used up by the end of next year, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and obtained by The Associated Press. That would le…

Thousands of tonnes of plastic pollution could be escaping into the environment every year . . . from our mouths. Most chewing gum on sale is made from a variety of oil-based synthetic rubbers—similar to the plastic material used in car tires. If you find that thought slightly unsettling, you are not alone. I have been researching and speaking about the plastic pollution problem for 15 years. The people I talk to are always surprised, and disgusted, when they find out they’ve been chewing on a lump of malleable plastic. Most manufacturers just don’t advertise what gum is actually made of—they dodge around the detail by listing “gum base” in the ingredients. There’…

In early April, Ikea unveiled the latest edition of its iconic Stockholm 2025 collection, marking 40 years since the original collection was released in 1985. The 96-item lineup includes a range of pieces, like bold statement sofas, side tables, and elegant chandeliers. The designs are keeping with the brand’s signature Scandi aesthetic, but with a twist: inspiration from the natural world. The collection is now available in stores and on the Ikea website. At the core of the collection is a thoughtful focus on materials. Solid wood is paired with tactile surfaces and natural fibers like mouth-blown glass and rattan to create a variety of pieces, such as woode…

According to new research from Whop, a marketplace for digital products, one in three Gen Z consumers now make purchasing decisions based on recommendations from AI-generated influencers. The report gathered survey data from 2,001 Americans 12-to-27 years old and found the trend particularly strong among college-aged consumers. Nearly half of 19-to-21 year olds follow AI influencers, with 47% of young men following these accounts, compared to under 40% of women. While many have argued that AI influencers lack the authenticity needed to sell products, that might not matter—especially to Gen Z. Authenticity vs reach Previous research backs this up. Nearly h…

America’s butterflies are disappearing because of insecticides, climate change and habitat loss, with the number of the winged beauties down 22% since 2000, a new study finds. The first countrywide systematic analysis of butterfly abundance found that the number of butterflies in the Lower 48 states has been falling on average 1.3% a year since the turn of the century, with 114 species showing significant declines and only nine increasing, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science. “Butterflies have been declining the last 20 years,” said study co-author Nick Haddad, an entomologist at Michigan State University. “And we don’t see any sign that that’s going to e…

What if everything you believe about leadership is holding you back? A 2024 study by Gartner found that 69% of HR leaders don’t think their leaders are fully equipped to lead. And according to Gallup, only 21% of employees strongly agree that their leaders actually inspire them to do their best. That’s a big gap between what leaders intend and what employees experience. The problem? A lot of leaders are following outdated advice. In the pursuit of excellence, they unknowingly buy into myths that hold them back, limit their teams, and stifle real innovation. Whether it’s the belief that speed always wins or that innovation is all about technology, these myths quiet…