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The climate tech sector is at a crossroads. We have the tools we need to fight climate change, but the real challenge is scaling and deploying them. This is where “climate-curious” outsiders play a crucial role. At Epic Cleantec, a company I cofounded to tackle water scarcity through innovative reuse technology, none of us came from an environmental background. That outside perspective turned out to be a huge advantage. When I began this journey, I didn’t know much about water. I wasn’t a trained environmental or civil engineer, which meant I never even learned about how things were traditionally done. This lack of traditional expertise freed us from being tied down b…

The skies over New York City may soon get even more crowded as electric air taxi company Archer Aviation is planning to launch a network that connects the city’s major and regional airports with vertiports in Manhattan. The company, which is teaming up with United Airlines for the effort, announced the plans on Thursday. It hopes to connect Manhattan with six airports in the area—LaGuardia, JFK, Newark, and regional airports, Republic, Teterboro, and Westchester—with flights as short as five minutes. Archer’s “Midnight” aircraft could save passengers hours when trying to get between those airports or the three vertiports in Manhattan, according to the company. An…

Le Creuset turned 100, and to celebrate, it released a new cookware collection in a hue inspired by its original color, Flame. Named Flamme Dorée, French for “golden flame,” the set includes round and oval dutch ovens, a braiser, and a saucepan in a rich orange gradient with a shimmering gold finish. Prices for the Flamme Dorée pieces range from $310 to $860, which is more expensive than its standard lines—especially premium prices for what the company is positioning as a special occasion product. The French cookware brand was first known for its orange enameled cast iron cocottes, and it now sells products in a range of more than 200 colors. Last year it par…

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. Leadership transformation isn’t found in boardrooms—it’s happening in our homes. In a world facing converging crises of climate, technology, and social displacement, how we create our spaces reveals everything about how we’ll lead through these transformative times. Integrity derives from the Latin word “integer”—meaning whole, complete, undivided. This word describes both ethical leadershi…

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. How do big companies evolve? How do they learn to do something new? These are questions that have taken up untold pages of books, magazines, and journal articles. As a venture capitalist (VC) in water, I’ve seen firsthand that most large companies in the sector struggle to effectively engage with external innovation, particularly with entrepreneurs developing technologies that could enhance thei…

Millennials (people born between 1981 and 1996) are far more interested in buying homes today than they were just six months ago. That makes the group the only generation whose interest in homeownership has increased since September 2024. However, these same people are tending to put off the investment due to sky-high mortgage rates. The new data comes from an online survey of 2,230 adults conducted by Realtor.com. Six months ago, 15% of millennials said they were interested in buying a home. Now 23% are interested, according to the latest survey. Still, that doesn’t mean more 29- to 44-year-olds are actually buying homes. In a press release, Laura Eddy, vic…

Shares of Docusign Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) surged nearly 18% on Friday, after the electronic signature service reported strong fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, partially driven by its new artificial intelligence-enabled platform, which it introduced last year. The e-signature company reported earnings of 86 cents per share, beating forecasts of 85 cents, with revenue coming in at $776 million, $15 million over forecasts for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, ending January 31. “Fiscal 2025 was a transformative year for Docusign,” CEO Allan Thygesen said in an earnings statement. “We launched Docusign IAM, our AI-powered agreement management platform, wh…

A random tree in Toronto—yes, a tree—has become an unlikely online sensation, racking up dozens of glowing five-star reviews on Google. Known affectionately as “Rodney the Tree,” the landmark recently gained viral attention after a screengrab of its Google Maps listing was shared on the subreddit r/MadeMeSmile. The post’s caption: “Someone marked a random tree in Toronto as a tourist attraction – and the reviews are genuinely taking me out,” alongside a handful of screengrabs of the 180 online reviews. One visitor claimed to have traveled all the way from the UK just to see Rodney, who stands proudly on a patch of grass near King Street and Strachan Avenue.…

The chief executive of Primark, one of Europe’s biggest fast fashion retailers, has resigned after an investigation into his behavior toward a woman in a social environment. Paul Marchant, Primark’s CEO since 2009, has apologized to the individual involved and resigned with immediate effect, the company said Monday. Shares in Primark’s parent, Associated British Foods, fell 4.9% in early trading, compared with a 0.8% drop in Britain’s benchmark stock index. Marchant “acknowledged his error of judgement and accepts that his actions fell below the standards expected by the company,” Primark said in a statement. The retailer has 451 stores in 17 countries across …

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a health alert for a pre-cooked, frozen pork carnitas product sold at Aldi grocery stores that “may be contaminated with foreign material, specifically pieces of metal.” Cargill Meat Solutions manufactures the product for Aldi exclusively, so it was only sold at Aldi stores. According to the USDA, the product was shipped to Aldi stores nationwide, so the alert applies to all U.S. locations. Here’s what you need to know. What’s happened? To be clear, the USDA’s Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert, not a recall, “because this product is no longe…

Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees and eliminate hundreds of open and unfilled positions, CEO Brian Niccol said on Monday. In a memo, Niccol said the cuts will remove duplication “to create smaller, more nimble teams,” and the company will inform employees who are being laid off by midday Tuesday. Starbucks, which has 16,000 corporate employees, said the cuts will not affect staff at cafés. “We believe it’s a necessary change to position Starbucks for future success,” Niccol said in the statement. “Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity, and drive better integration.” Shares of the coffee giant (…

China’s energy and auto giant BYD has announced an ultra fast EV charging system that it says is nearly as quick as a fill up at the pumps. BYD, China’s largest EV maker, said Monday that its flash-chargers can provide a full charge for its latest EVs within five to eight minutes, similar to the amount of time needed to fill a fuel tank. It plans to build more than 4,000 of the new charging stations across China. Charging times and limited ranges have been a major factor constraining the switch from gas and diesel vehicles to EVs, though Chinese drivers have embraced that change, with sales of battery powered and hybrid vehicles jumping 40% last year. BYD’s news appear…

Another day, another recall: On Tuesday, popular chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely recalled two of its bars, Tony’s Dark Almond Sea Salt Bar (6.35oz) and Everything Bar (6.35oz), following 12 reports from consumers who found small stones “not filtered during third-party almond harvesting and the almond processing process.” The bars were distributed nationwide from February 7 to March 24, 2025 and sold in various retail stores, as well as at Tony’s online store. “We are extremely sorry to have to issue this recall, and for the inconvenience that this will cause,” a company spokesperson told Fast Company. “Whilst the probability of a product being affected is low, …

ADHD content has been trending on TikTok for a while. Unsurprisingly, much of it has been found to be misleading. A study published last week in the journal PLOS One found that fewer than half of the claims in popular ADHD-related TikTok videos aligned with clinical diagnostic criteria or professional treatment guidelines. Researchers also warned that the more ADHD content young adults consume on TikTok, the more likely they are to overestimate both how common and how severe ADHD symptoms are in the general population. Even those with an ADHD diagnosis struggled to separate reliable information from misinformation. The sheer amount of misinformation becomes …

The AI boom is driving an explosive surge in computational demands and reshaping the landscape of technology, infrastructure, and innovation. One of the biggest barriers to widespread AI deployment today is access to power. Some estimates suggest AI-driven data centers now consume more electricity than entire nations. The World Economic Forum projects a doubling of energy use by data centers from 2024 to 2027, driven by the energy-intensive nature of AI workloads. This surge in electricity demand is transforming the utilities industry and redefining how and where data centers are built—power is no longer a given. In the U.S, electricity usage is growing for the first …

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. PFAS contamination is everywhere: clothing, household products, even the water we drink. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), aka “forever chemicals,” are engineered to last, making them commonplace in manufacturing but devastating to human health and the environment. While regulators scramble to set new limits, traditional water treatment methods aren’t keeping up. For industry, th…

Fast Company is the official media partner of Summit Detroit. Summit is an organization that hosts global ideas conferences and immersive experiences. And the programming is always grounded by six core pillars: thought leadership, health and happiness, performance arts, culinary arts, fine art, and impact—all with the express intention to inspire deep attendee presence and build long-term connections both professionally and personally. “Many of our Summit community members are building and running large high-profile companies, managing teams, and are surrounded by people and things to do. But our business leaders often feel incredibly lonely in their pursuits,” s…

In theory, AI should have transformed manufacturing by now. From predictive maintenance and fatigue detection to real-time quality control, the promise has always been smarter, faster, and safer operations. But in practice, the factory floor is still a place where AI ambitions often run into real-world limitations. That’s a huge problem, especially because the size and weight of this industry are hard to ignore. U.S. manufacturing alone contributes $2.9 trillion to the economy, accounting for over 10% of total output and supporting nearly 13 million workers, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. Globally, manufacturing represents 16% of world GDP and…

Tuesday’s news that Google would acquire the Israeli cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion was remarkable on several fronts. The deal, assuming it closes, will be the largest acquisition in Google’s history. And it’s the biggest exit in Israeli history. “Becoming part of Google Cloud is effectively strapping a rocket to our backs,” Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport wrote in a blog post. “[I]t will accelerate our rate of innovation faster than what we could achieve as a stand-alone company.” It also marks the close of a fast-paced, five-year chapter for the company. Founded in January 2020 by Assaf Rappaport, Yinon Costica, Roy Reznik, and Ami Luttwak, Wiz grew quickly, as …

A question I often get when I train editorial teams on the use of AI is, “Is using AI cheating?” Although it’s a yes or no question, it’s obviously not a yes or no answer. The short answer is sometimes, but the key to figuring out the long answer is using the tools with an open mind. If you’re a professional in a field like journalism, you’ll generally be able to tell when it’s speeding up drudgery and when your judgment and expertise are most needed. However, the recent viral story in New York magazine about how colleges and universities are struggling with rampant, unauthorized AI use from students got me thinking about what’s happening much earlier in the pipel…

Most email apps have strong opinions about what your inbox should look like. Notion Mail is the opposite. The new offshoot from productivity app Notion is all about flexibility. It lets you slice and dice your emails however you want: group them by date, create dedicated sections for specific contacts, add notes, or even turn your inbox into a list of action items. There’s also an AI labeling feature that can automatically sort things like package updates or health-related messages. It can feel overwhelming at first—but so can Notion itself. That hasn’t stopped the productivity platform from amassing 100 million users, with use cases ranging from simple note-taking to com…

The American economy runs on what are known as heuristics, a diverse array of mental short-cuts that help consumers make a dizzying number of choices to navigate the wild complexity of everyday life. These shortcuts help us select the restaurants we may choose to patronize, the cars we drive, the food we purchase, and the schools we attend and to which we send our children. We rely on scoring systems, certifications, and ranking methodologies to consider what movies to see, what music to listen to, and whether to purchase fair-trade products. These shortcuts come in many forms, from the complex (like the tools used to rate bonds and other financial products) to the straig…