Every few years, the tires on your car wear thin and need to be replaced. But where does that lost tire material go?
The answer, unfortunately, is often waterways, where the tiny microplastic particles from the tires synthetic rubber carry several chemicals that can transfer into fish, crabs, and perhaps even the people who eat them.
We are analytical and environmental chemists who are studying ways to remove those microplasticsand the toxic chemicals they carrybefore they reach waterways and the aquatic organisms that live there.
Microplastics, macro-problem
Millions of metric tons of plastic waste enter the worlds oceans every year. In recent times, tire wear particles (TWPs) have been found to account for about 45% of all microplastics in both terrestrial and aquatic systems.
Tires shed tiny microplastics as they move over roadways. Rain washes those TWPs into ditches, where they flow into streams, lakes, rivers, and oceans.
Along the way, fish, crabs, oysters, and other aquatic life often find these TWPs in their food. With each bite, the fish also consume extremely toxic chemicals that can affect both the fish themselves and whatever creatures eat them.
Some fish species, like rainbow trout, brook trout, and coho salmon, are dying from toxic chemicals linked to TWPs.
Researchers in 2020 found that more than half of the coho salmon returning to streams in Washington state died before spawning, largely because of 6PPD-Q, a chemical stemming from 6PPD, which is added to tires to help keep them from degrading.
But the effects of tire wear particles arent just on aquatic organisms. Humans and animals alike may be exposed to airborne TWPs, especially people and animals who live near major roadways.
In a study in China, the same chemical, 6PPD-Q, was also found in the urine of children and adults. While the effects of this chemical on the human body are still being studied, recent research shows that exposure to this chemical could harm multiple human organs, including the liver, lungs, and kidneys.
In Oxford, Mississippi, we identified more than 30,000 TWPs in 24 liters of stormwater runoff from roads and parking lots after two rainstorms. In heavy traffic areas, we believe the concentrations could be much higher.
The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council, a states-led coalition, in 2023 recommended identifying and deploying alternatives to 6PPD in tires to reduce 6PPD-Q in the environment. But tire manufacturers say theres no suitable replacement yet.
What can communities do to reduce harm?
At the University of Mississippi, we are experimenting with sustainable ways of removing TWPs from waterways with accessible and low-cost natural materials from agricultural waste.
The idea is simple: Capture the tire wear particles before they reach the streams, rivers, and oceans.
In a recent study, we tested pine wood chips and biochara form or charcoal made from heating rice husks in a limited oxygen chamber, a process known as pyrolysisand found they could remove approximately 90% of TWPs from water runoff at our test sites in Oxford.
Biochar is an established material for removing contaminants from water due to its large surface area and pores, abundant chemical binding groups, high stability, strong adsorption capacity, and low cost. Wood chips, because of their rich composition of natural organic compounds, have also been shown to remove contaminants. Other scientists have also used sand to filter out microplastics, but its removal rate was low compared with biochar.
We designed a biofiltration system using biochar and wood chips in a filter sock and placed it at the mouth of a drainage outlet. Then we collected stormwater runoff samples and measured the TWPs before and after the biofilters were in place during two storms over the span of two months. The concentration of TWPs was found to be significantly lower after the biofilter was in place.
The unique elongated and jagged features of tire wear particles make it easy for them to get trapped or entangled in the pores of these materials during a storm event. Even the smallest TWPs were trapped in the intricate network of these materials.
Using biomass filters in the future
We believe this approach holds strong potential for scalability to mitigate TWP pollution and other contaminants during rainstorms.
Since biochar and wood chips can be generated from agricultural waste, they are relatively inexpensive and readily available to local communities.
Long-term monitoring studies will be needed, especially in heavy traffic environments, to fully determine the effectiveness and scalability of the approach. The source of the filtering material is also important. There have been some concerns about whether raw farm waste that has not undergone pyrolysis could release organic pollutants.
Like most filters, the biofilters would need to be replaced over timewith used filters disposed of properlysince the contaminants build up and the filters degrade.
Plastic waste is harming the environment, the food people eat, and potentially human health. We believe biofilters made from plant waste could be an effective and relatively inexpensive, environmentally friendly solution.
Boluwatife S. Olubusoye is a PhD candidate in chemistry at the University of Mississippi.
James V Cizdziel is a professor of chemistry at the University of Mississippi.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
India is on the moon, S. Somanath, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, announced in August 2023. The announcement meant India had joined the short list of countries to have visited the moon, and the applause and shouts of joy that followed signified that this achievement wasnt just a scientific one, but a cultural one.
Over the past decade, many countries have established new space programs, including multiple African nations. India and Israelnations that were not technical contributors to the space race in the 1960s and 70shave attempted landings on the lunar surface.
With more countries joining the evolving space economy, many of our colleagues in space strategy, policy ethics, and law have celebrated the democratization of space: the hope that space is now more accessible for diverse participants.
We are a team of researchers based across four countries with expertise in space policy and law, ethics, geography, and anthropology who have written about the difficulties and importance of inclusion in space.
Major players like the U.S., the European Union, and China may once have dominated space and seen it as a place to try out new commercial and military ventures. Emerging new players in space, like other countries, commercial interests, and nongovernmental organizations, may have other goals and rationales. Unexpected new initiatives from these newcomers could shift perceptions of space from something to dominate and possess to something more inclusive, equitable, and democratic.
We address these emerging and historical tensions in a paper published in May 2025 in the journal Nature, in which we describe the difficulties and importance of including nontraditional actors and Indigenous peoples in the space industry.
Continuing inequalities among space players
Not all countries space agencies are equal. Newer agencies often dont have the same resources behind them that large, established players do.
The U.S. and Chinese programs receive much more funding than those of any other country. Because they are most frequently sending up satellites and proposing new ideas puts them in the position to establish conventions for satellite systems, landing sites, and resource extraction that everyone else may have to follow.
Sometimes, countries may have operated on the assumption that owning a satellite would give them the appearance of soft or hard geopolitical power as a space nation, and ultimately gain relevance.
In reality, student groups of today can develop small satellites, called CubeSats, autonomously, and recent scholarship has concluded that even successful space missions may negatively affect the international relationships between some countries and their partners. The respect a country expects to receive may not materialize, and the costs to keep up can outstrip gains in potential prestige.
Environmental protection and Indigenous perspectives
Usually, building the infrastructure necessary to test and launch rockets requires a remote area with established roads. In many cases, companies and space agencies have placed these facilities on lands where Indigenous peoples have strong claims, which can lead to land disputes, like in western Australia.
Many of these sites have already been subject to human-made changes, through mining and resource extraction in the past. Many sites have been ground zero for tensions with Indigenous peoples over land use. Within these contested spaces, disputes are rife.
Because of these tensions around land use, it is important to include Indigenous claims and perspectives. Doing so can help make sure that the goal of protecting the environments of outer space and Earth are not cast aside while building space infrastructure here on Earth.
Some efforts are driving this more inclusive approach to engagement in space, including initiatives like Dark and Quiet Skies, a movement that works to ensure that people can stargaze and engage with the stars without noise or sound pollution. This movement and other inclusive approaches operate on the principle of reciprocity: that more players getting involved with space can benefit all.
Researchers have recognized similar dynamics within the larger space industry. Some scholars have come to the conclusion that even though the space industry is pay to play, commitments to reciprocity can help ensure that players in space exploration who may not have the financial or infrastructural means to support individual efforts can still access broader structures of support.
The downside of more players entering space is that this expansion can make protecting the environmentboth on Earth and beyondeven harder.
The more players there are, at both private and international levels, the more difficult sustainable space exploration could become. Even with good will and the best of intentions, it would be difficult to enforce uniform standards for the exploration and use of space resources that would protect the lunar surface, Mars, and beyond.
It may also grow harder to police the launch of satellites and dedicated constellations. Limiting the number of satellites could prevent space junk, protect the satellites already in orbit, and allow everyone to have a clear view of the night sky. However, this would have to compete with efforts to expand internet access to all.
What is space exploration for?
Before tackling these issues, we find it useful to think about the larger goal of space exploration, and what the different approaches are. One approach would be the fast and inclusive democratization of space, making it easier for more players to join in. Another would be a more conservative and slower big player approach, which would restrict who can go to space.
The conservative approach is liable to leave developing nations and Indigenous peoples firmly on the outside of a key process shaping humanitys shared future.
But a faster and more inclusive approach to space would not be easy to run. More serious players means it would be harder to come to an agreement about regulations, as well as the larger goals for human expansion into space.
Narratives around emerging technologies, such as those required for space exploration, can change over time, as people begin to see them in action.
Technology that we take for granted today was once viewed as futuristic or fantastical, and sometimes with suspicion. For example, at the end of the 1940s, George Orwell imagined a world in which totalitarian systems used tele-screens and videoconferencing to control the masses.
Earlier in the same decade, Thomas J. Watson, then president of IBM, notoriously predicted that there would be a global market for about five computers. We as humans often fear or mistrust future technologies.
However, not all technological shifts are detrimental, and some technological changes can have clear benefits. In the future, robots may perform tasks too dangerous, too difficult, or too dull and repetitive for humans. Biotechnology may make life healthier. Artificial intelligence can sift through vast amounts of data and turn it into reliable guesswork. Researchers can also see genuine downsides to each of these technologies.
Space exploration is harder to squeeze into one streamlined narrative about the anticipated benefits. The process is just too big and too transformative.
To return to the question of whether we should go to space, our team argues that it is not a question of whether or not we should go, but rather a question of why we do it, who benefits from space exploration, and how we can democratize access to broader segments of society. Including a diversity of opinions and viewpoints can help find productive ways forward.
Ultimately, it is not necessary for everyone to land on one single narrative about the value of space exploration. Even our team of four researchers doesnt share a single set of beliefs about its value. But bringing more nations, tribes, and companies into discussions around its potential value can help create collaborative and worthwhile goals at an international scale.
Timiebi Aganaba is an assistant professor of space and society at Arizona State University.
Adam Fish is an associate professor at the School of Arts and Media at UNSW Sydney.
Deondre Smiles is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Victoria.
Tony Milligan is a research fellow in the philosophy of ethics at King’s College London.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Starting a new job can be exciting and intense. But most new hires fall into traps that can lead straight to burnout: going all-out to impress their bosses, or just trying to survive the transition. The problem isnt that new jobs are demandingits that these default approaches often work against you.
Shooting for work-life balance from the start isnt the answer, as it sets unrealistic expectations around works role at this early stage and can leave the wrong impression. To be sure, you want to establish positive norms. Instead, think about work-life sustainability.
Your first month will require more time and energy than the long-term,but you can navigate it strategically without burning out. Start by motivating, focusing, and managing your effort.
Own Your Motivation to Fuel Your Effort
Creating motivation behind our work directly impacts our success. According to research by BetterUp, motivation accounts for 80% of what drives our performance. While many of us look to our employers to create meaning in our work, we can take control in shaping motivation for ourselves.
Dr. Ayelet Fishbach, an expert on motivation, writes in her book Get It Done about how we can pull ourselves by shaping our circumstances. We have more agency to motivate ourselves than we realize, driving our actions and feeding our energy.
You can build your motivation through three strategies:
Link the role to your personal values. Connect to what is meaningful and matters to you, along with how it aligns to who you are. Doing so taps into whats called identified motivation, and academic studies have shown it leads to more satisfaction, higher persistence, and greater goal attainment.
Ask your leader for stories about your works real-world impact. According to research by Adam Grant, making such associations can increase motivation up to 400%.
Be strategic about cultivating relationships with positive, self-motivated colleagueswhile avoiding energy-draining cynics. The people you surround yourself with not only provide an essential support system to help you achieve your goals, but their attitude is also contagious. Avoid going negative about the job at the start, which can drain your energy and undermine your motivation.
Strategically Focus Your Effort to Build Confidence
New hires are often overeager and take on too much. This can be exhausting and counterproductive, not allowing you to focus your effort where it will matter to gain confidence and demonstrate competence. Instead, prioritize what actually matters in your first 30 days.
Start by managing your own expectations for performance. In your first month, youre in learning mode more than proving mode. Invest time in understanding cultural norms in your organization and on your team.
Next, work with your leader to get crystal clear on priorities and what good and great outputs look like in your first 30, 60, and 90 days. With this clarity, you can channel your effort to gradually build confidence without overextending yourself.
When it comes to your development, even in your first month, dont wait for your manager to direct your learning. Demonstrate your commitment to improvement by owning your growth. Proactively seek feedback to clarify expectations, course-correct, and continuously improve. In this way, you can prove your growing competence to your leader and build professional self-efficacy.
Proactively Manage Your Energy to Sustain Your Effort and Yourself
Going all-out when you start a new job wont be sustainable, and managing your time isnt sufficient. It helps to be discerning about your energy management, considering two human states: using your energy and replenishing it.
Manage your effort to avoid exhaustion with these strategies:
Be selective about what is worthy of your hard work. Not every task deserves equal investment. Know where it matters to put in the effort, keeping in mind your leaders expectations. Before diving too deep into deliverables, challenge perfectionist tendencies by asking, Is this good enough? Seek feedback to ensure youre moving in the right direction before investing excessive time.
Be smart in setting boundaries around life and work to protect what sustains you. Disconnecting from work and turning off devices is critical for sustaining ourselves. But checking out can backfire without demonstrating commitment. When establishing boundaries around your work hours and responsiveness, be transparent, build mutual trust, and avoid surprises. Work collaboratively with your leader, consider team norms, and remain adaptable as you learn your teams rhythm.
Know what you require and have a plan in place to support sustaining your energy. During the intense period when you first start a role, youre unlikely to be able to do all that youd ideally want. Small actions can help, like taking regular breaks throughout your day (half of knowledge workers skip this, despite the proven benefits of short pauses like brief walks, daydreaming, and mindfulness).
Participate in activities that allow you to psychologically detach from work for mental and emotional recovery. Active pursuits like sports or creative activities restore our energy better than passive ones like scrolling social media or watching TV.
Your first month at a job starts to set in place long-term patterns. The professionals who thrive arent those who sprint hardest at the starttheyre the ones who build sustainability from day one. These practices can help you avoid getting on a path to burnout and can position you as a resilient professional.
When I ran into a former client at the grocery store, and asked him how things were going, I expected some polite small talk. Instead, what he said blew my mind.
The guy (lets call him Jim) was an employee of a company that our agency, Blueprint Creative, had worked with a few years back to improve their employee experience program. One of our main brand interventions included articulating and documenting the companys core values: the nonnegotiable principles that would provide their employees with guidance on what on-the-job behaviors would be encouraged and rewarded, and what behaviors simply would not be tolerated.
During our conversation, I asked Jim how things were going at the company after our brand intervention. He said (and this is a direct quote), Things are going well for the company, but they are going even better for me. I decided to adopt the companys core values in my personal life and I feel like Im now a better husband and a better father.
Wait, what?
What we were aiming for during our brand intervention was for the organization to have core values that every employee could embrace and use as a compass to guide their actions in the workplace. But, clearly, by integrating his companys core values into his outside-the-workplace routine, Jim had become not just his best version in his professional life, but also in his personal life.
Unfortunately, this isnt the case at many companies around the world. After all, one of the core values of Enron, the company at the center of one of the U.S.s biggest fraud and accounting scandals, was integritya core value that employees had violated with impunity.
But, at Jims company, their core values were so sticky that they stuck with some employees even after they left the office to go home. This is pretty extraordinary, considering that research shows that just 23% of U.S. employees strongly agree that they can apply their organizations values to their work every day. Presumably, even fewer people believe that they can apply their organizations values to their personal lives.
So, how do some companies end up with compelling core values that, as in Jims case, transform lives, while at other companies, employees dont even know what their organization’s core values are, or (like Enron), openly flout and disrespect their organizations core values? Here are a few tips on how you can develop a set of sticky core values that are adopted and respected by your employees.
Avoid generalization and ambiguity
Avoid generalized core values like Teamwork, Integrity, and Trust. Whether we like it or not, words like these mean different things to different people. Take integrity, for instance. Some companies codes of ethics may prevent them from ever engaging in fraudulent behavior like Enron did, but the company may have no problem developing products that harm the environment, which some individuals may consider to be unethical behaviormaking a core value of integrity ambiguous, open to interpretation, and, by extension, difficult to enforce.
When articulating your core values, avoid using words wrapped in language of generalization or ambiguity. Instead, be specific and unambiguous by getting to the very core of your core values. Read on to find out how.
Get to the core of your core values
Identify the core element of the principles you want your employees to embrace. For instance, at Blueprint Creative, while we wanted our team members to embrace the principle of teamwork, we drilled down to the specific element of teamwork that we want all of our staff to embodythat of having each others backs.
Thats why one of our most treasured core values is look out for each other. This action-oriented core value has become one of our team members favorite principles and is extremely effective in maintaining a culture where each individual knows that their colleagues will go the extra mile to help and support them.
If you want your core values to be effective, be very specific about the core elements of each principle you want your staff to follow. For instance, if your definition of integrity involves environmental protection, your list of core values could include minimize damage to the environment.
Similarly, the core of the broad principle of Innovation could be Be a Problem Solver or Solve Customers Most Burning Problems. If you want to articulate a core value that emphasizes exceeding coworkers and customers expectations, your core value could be Go the Extra Mile.
Be highly descriptive
In order for core values to be truly compelling, you must describe and document in no uncertain terms what it means to live your core values. Consider developing a Core Values Handbook, or an audio or video series that explains what each one of your core values means and how each individual can apply your core values to their roles.
Use real-world examples, stories and analogies that leave no room for misinterpretation. By being highly descriptive, you can provide the clarity employees need to live your core values the way they were intended to be lived.
Integrate core values into everyday conversation
If you want your core values to be lived every day, refer to them every day. Thats exactly what Tasty Catering does. At the beginning of every meeting of three or more employees, Tasty Catering employees repeat the companys core values, leading to employees repeating core values multiple times per weekmaking it virtually impossible for employees to forget what their core values are.
Staff members are also encouraged to use their core values to resolve disputes and make decisions. If you want your core values to be effective, find ways to integrate your core values into the daily lives of your employees.
Choose core values that extend beyond the workplace
People are more at peace when the principles that guide their personal and professional lives are aligned. No one wants to be guided by one set of principles at home and by another set of (oftentimes conflicting) principles at work. As Mahatma Gandhi is often quoted as having said, Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
What Jim did by adopting the companys core values in his personal life led his thoughts, words, and actions to be in perfect alignment whether he was in the workplace with his colleagues or whether he was at home with his wife and kids. But, that only happened because the core values themselves were worthy of being adopted in his personal lifenot just his professional life. Choose core values that add value to your employees professional and personal lives.
Enact accountability
Never allow your employees to disrespect your core values. If the infraction is minor, a transparent and direct conversation with the employee who has acted counter to your core values should be enough to get that employee back on the right track.
But serious (or repeated) infractions may require disciplinary action or even dismissal, especially if that infraction threatens the companysfuture or puts employees at riskfor example, if an employee ignores safety procedures or acts in ways that put the company in legal jeopardy.
Having compelling core values can make it much easier to manage your employees and can lead to a competitive advantage in the marketbut only if your employees embrace and live them every single day. The above tips can help transform your core values from being forgettable into powerful, sticky tools that help you to build a stronger brand and a stronger business.
Greetings, everyone, and welcome back to Fast Companys Plugged In.
It was one of the best-received pieces of Apple news I can recall. At the companys WWDC conference last month, it announced that its iPadOS 26 software upgrade would give the iPad a powerful new interface closely modeled on the one offered by the Mac. The response can be fairly summarized as finally.
Its over: Apple has fixed multitasking on the iPad, mimicking the experience on the Mac, tweeted Bloombergs Mark Gurman, who had earlier reported such a move was imminent. We won!
The move is Apples most comprehensive answer to a long-simmering conundrum: How can it make the iPadwhich packs some of its most powerful hardwareinto a professional-strength computing tool? Starting now, its inviting iPad users to judge the results for themselves.
After four rounds of iPadOS 26 developer betas since WWDC, the company is releasing its first public beta version of the software, along with corresponding ones for the iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch. Final versions are scheduled to ship this fall.
Theres quite a lot in iPadOS 26 I like a lot, starting with the translucent-y new Liquid Glass aestheticrough around the edges in spots, but satisfying eye candy overall. Apple has brought the Macs Preview app to iPad, beefed up the iPad Files app to more closely resemble the Macs Finder, added better support for background tasks such as video processing, and made it possible to put folders in the Dockall of which makes the iPad feel more like a full-powered productivity machine. Without making a big deal out of it, the company also improved iPadOSs support for web apps, a boon for any piece of software whose browser-based version is better than its native iPad experience.
iPad apps are now fully resizable and draggable, replicating the interface Macs and Windows PCs have had for decades.
However, as someone whos used an iPad as my main computer for almost 14 years, I cant join the chorus of unbridled enthusiasm for iPadOS 26s embrace of Mac conventions such as floating, overlapping windows and a menu bar at the top of the screen. Apple may well be making the right decision to please the largest pool of people who want to get work done on its tablet. But its also moving decisively away from some of the philosophies that attracted me to the platform in the first place, and Im trepidatious about where that might lead. (My Fast Company colleague Jesus Diaz expressed similar qualms right after the WWDC keynote.)
Fifteen years ago, when the iPad was new, it wasnt Mac-like at all. Instead, it was often described as a giant iPhonedepending on your perspective, either high praise or a damning indictment. Soon enough, that changed. Apps arrived that let you accomplish tasks that were previously the domain of Macs and Windows PCs; accessory makers started shipping keyboard cases that turned the iPad into a mini-laptop.
Apple doubled down on these trends with 2015s original iPad Pro, a bigger-screen version with optional Smart Keyboard. Ever since, the company has made new iPadsnot just the Pro, but other models such as the iPad Airmore and more capable of serious work. That included adding trackpad support in the Magic Keyboard, a classic Mac feature that made the transition to the iPad with aplomb.
At the 2015 iPad Pro launch event, Apple CEO Tim Cook declared, The iPad is the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing. Over the past decade, however, its become obvious that the hardware aspect of this proposition has been easier to figure out than the software.
The company has made several stabs at features for letting users juggle multiple apps, all designed with touch-friendliness in mind, and seemed determined not to simply clone the Macs way of doing things. However, it never felt like the platform had solved productivity or even made steady progress in one direction. Sometimes, it felt stuck in limbo.
In January 2020, Daring Fireballs John Gruber smartly analyzed why the iPads user interface could baffle the uninitiated. His critique remained relevant for every iPadOS version until iPadOS 26:
To launch the first app, you tap its icon on the homescreen, just like on the iPhone, and just like on the iPad before split-screen multitasking. Tapping an icon to open an app is natural and intuitive. But to get a second app on the same screen, you cannot tap its icon. You must first slide up from the bottom of the screen to reveal the Dock. Then you must tap and hold on an app icon in the Dock. Then you drag the app icon out of the Dock to launch it in a way that it will become the second app splitting the display. But isnt dragging an icon out of the Dock the way that you remove apps from the Dock? Yes, it iswhen you do it from the homescreen. So the way you launch an app in the Dock for split-screen mode is identical to the way you remove that appfrom the Dock.
Yet once I mastered these maneuvers, and learned you could also add a second app from iPadOSs Spotlight search, they became embedded in my muscle memory. More importantly, I loved that the iPad maxed out at two on-screen apps, or three if you counted the SlideOver feature. Floatable, draggable, overlappable windows of the sort that help define the Mac and Windows had always struck me as simulating a desktopbut a messy one. Any time I invested in rearranging them felt like wasted cognitive overload.
iPad apps now have Mac-style menus. And submenus, some of which have so many items that you need to scroll through them.
Similarly, I cherished the iPads abandonment of Mac/Windows-style menus, which felt like a card catalog overwhelmed by features I didnt need at that particular moment, if ever. By forcing iPad developers to think harder about how to engineer their interfaces for maximum efficiency, Apple gave them the opportunity to transcend the cruft of older interfaces. Many rose to the challenge.
While Apple has given iPadOS 26 a full-screen-only mode for people who are just as happy using it as, well, a giant iPhone, it hasnt tossed many bones in the direction of those who liked the Split View and SlideOver features, which it has now retired. Even the fastest methods of filling the screen with two apps now take more steps and feel like work. Meanwhile, using the menu bar remains optional, though I worry that developers will begin to see it as the primary interface, not an alternative one.
To me, the least successful Mac import is iPadOS 26s traffic light system for closing, minimizing, maximizing, and tiling apps. The buttons are located in the menu bar for full-screen apps and in the upper left-hand corner of partial-screen ones, imposing a mental tax as you remember where they are. And since theyre too dinky to touch with adequate precision, they expand when you engage with them, requiring you to reposition your finger or cursor. Its tough to imagine Apple coming up with them for the iPad if they werent already a Mac staple.
If making the iPad more like a Mac was a potentially crowd-pleasing approach all along, why didnt Apple do it long ago? In an interview with MacStories Federico Viticci, software chief Craig Federighi said its only recently that the company has been able to engineer a full-blown windowing system that runs well on a range of iPad models. The interview is the best explanation of Apples iPadOS 26 thinking Ive seen, and I encourage you to read it if youre as interested in this stuff as I am.
Still, understanding why Apple gave the iPad a Mac-esque makeover doesnt clarify its long-term strategy. Will the next few years of iPadOS releases be about bringing the platform in even closer alignment with its elder sibling? Or is there still room for them to divergeeven sharply, if appropriate? What happens if AI transforms how all computing devices work in ways nobody yet understands?
Also: Are we any closer to being able to run Mac apps on an iPadnot a prospect that makes me giddy, but one certain users have long craved? (As quoted by Viticci, Federighi said the iPad shouldnt run MacOS, but he said nothing about Mac apps.)
As I write, the first hands-on evaluations of iPadOS 26 in its public beta form are popping up online. So far, so good: Not to put too fine a point on it, this is the best iPad has ever been, says Gizmodos Kyle Barr. Its like a weight has been lifted from the soul of the iPad, writes Six Colors Jason Snell, a pretty dedicated user of the tablet himself.
Right now, Im feeling a tad weighed down by some of the updates changes. Heres hoping they grow on me, and that iPadOS 27 and beyond reflect Apples future vision of computing rather than merely continuing to catch up with its past.
Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if you’re reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Friday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. I’m also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, and you can follow Plugged In on Flipboard.
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For several years Ive been evangelizing about the growing ways automation and robotics are beneficial to all. From medical facilities to factories, warehouses, industrial rigs and transit, Automated Mobile Robots (AMRs) are driving massive efficiency gains while also elevating the people and organizations who use them.
AMRs reduce costs, improve safety, and address labor shortages, while delivering a rapid return on investment.
A robot can be hacked
As automation progresses, its vital to recognize and respect the fact that robots are both physical and digital beings. We speak with and instruct robots through digital apps and programmed instructions on computers, smart devices, and the cloud. This means that as industries rush to adopt AMRs, theyre also inadvertently exposing themselves to cybersecurity risks.
Just as a database or bank account can be hacked, the digital aspects of AMRs are vulnerable to the same degradation, bugginess, or malicious misuse and damage as any software-dependent program.
Yes, there are plenty of funny videos of a misdirected robot suddenly throwing punches at anyone in sight. But imagine the real consequences of even a relatively small misdirection such as a robotic traffic jam in a warehouse, or the physical danger and loss that could result from a single robotic miscue such as smashing the produce, missing a critical step in a manufacturing process, or driving a piece of expensive equipment into a wall. The results can be catastrophic.
Chang Robotics CIO Joe Tenga has performed a comprehensive examination of these risks and he has written a whitepaper on industry-specific vulnerabilities of AMRs and strategies to mitigate them. For example, in the health industry, if a robots operation includes access to personal information, it could result in a HIPAA violation. In a purchasing center, AMRs could become a target for financial or personal information theft. In a manufacturing or product distribution role, AMRs could become a window for potential theft of Intellectual Property.
Here are two specific concerns about AMRs and cyberthreats.
AMRs run on cyber-physical systems.
Unlike traditional IT assets, AMRs integrate computation, networking, and physical processes, leaving companies that use them open to these possible threats:
Mobility introduces risk. AMRs can physically transport rogue hardware or bypass secure zones.
Badge-based access abuse. AMRs with elevator/door credentials could be exploited to breach restricted areas.
Tampering risk. Robots could be hijacked or outfitted with spy devices.
Robots are not just endpoints, they are mobile insiders. Their dual nature requires an approach to safety and security that combines both physical and cyber defense.
AMRs can be exploited through common network-based threats.
Without proper protection, AMRs could be weaponized as mobile reconnaissance and access platformsboth passively (sniffing) and actively (spoofing or unlocking doors). Possible threats that can potentially exploit weaknesses in security include:
Rogue access points and snifferscan hijack data over Wi-Fi as robots move.
Man-in-the-middle attacks and hardware implantscan inject malicious commands or covertly monitor data.
IoT exploit modules and proxy access abusecan use robots as conduits to broader network intrusions or unauthorized facility access.
Heres how companies can protect themselves
AMRs are transformative to modern business, but only if they are properly secured. Every organization using robotics must do the following:
Implement security at every phase of use from procurement through deployment.
View AMRs as both digital endpoints and physical agents.
Develop scalable, industry-specific cybersecurity programs.
The ability to scale AMR deployments with confidence hinges on embedding cybersecurity from the ground up not as an afterthought but as a competitive differentiator for your successful operation from its very inception and through all seasons to come.
Matthew Chang is the Founder and Principal Engineer of Chang Robotics.
Sometimes one bad apple can spoil the whole bushel. Generative AI (GenAI) seems to have gotten a bit of that reputationa few high-profile, epic fails in a range of industries have made many organizations limit internal use of this technology, and sometimes even ban it to reduce business risk.
The reality is, despite the inherent risk of hallucinations and inaccuracies, GenAI is rapidly being adopted in industries that hinge on precision and certainty, such as pharmaceutical research, medical diagnostics and legalindustries in which time to insight also drives competitive advantage.
Lets take sales as a generic example. Proper use of GenAI tools can speed time to insight significantly, allowing a sales team to improve the quality of their prospects, create meeting summaries and action items, and quickly glean insight from the mountains of client and prospect data that already exist in enterprise systems. This team has a distinct advantage over a competitor that uses manual processes or non-GenAI tools for opportunity analysis. Thus, in sales, the business risk GenAI poses is opportunity risk: the revenue opportunities one loses out on by not using this technology. Lets dive into that.
GenAI opportunity risk
Broadly speaking, opportunity risk can be thought of as the potential loss or missed opportunity that an organization faces by not taking advantage of favorable circumstances or potential benefits. For companies that ignore GenAI, the resulting opportunity risk can manifest in a wide range of significant ways.
Here are three examples of GenAI opportunity risk, from a macro level down to a very individual, in-the-moment view.
Drug development research labs risk losing revenue.
Drug development research labs are using GenAI to digitally design drug molecules, which are translated in a high-speed automated lab into physical molecules and tested for interaction with target proteins. The test results are used to improve the next design iteration, speeding the overall process.
These development labs, which typically partner with pharmaceutical giants, aim to reduce from seven years to four years the time it typically takes to get a new drug to the pre-clinical trial stagea critical chunk of the $1 billion and 10 to 15 years required, on average, to develop a new drug.
The stakes in the global pharmaceutical market are incredibly high, and speed to market can have an enormous impact on revenues. Pharmaceutical companies that dont take advantage of advanced GenAI technologies, either internally or through a development partner, are at a distinct competitive disadvantage and may risk losing billions in future revenues.
Software companies risk loss of innovation.
Software companies are increasingly using GenAI to write code. About 30% of new code at Google and Microsoft is AI-generated, while Meta recently said that AI will take over half of the companys software development within the next year. These BigTech companies, as well as many startups, are finding ways for GenAI to accelerate their pace of software development.
Competitors that dont use GenAI to dramatically improve their software development practice face the very sobering opportunity risk of simply being out innovated in the market.
Legal teams risk losing a competitive advantage.
Legal teams that use GenAI tools in the discovery phase of a legal matter can accelerate their time to insight in ways that are nothing short of game-changing. For example, one Am Law 100 firm used a GenAI tool to review 126,000 documents in a government investigation. In doing so, the firm slashed document review time by 50% to 67%, with one quarter of the personnel that a project of this size would typically require. The review achieved accuracy rates of 90% or higher, with performance at or above the firms benchmark metrics for first-level attorney reviewers.
In the moment, this breakthrough gave the team more time to debate the merits of a potential piece of evidence instead of blindly clicking through endless documents. Strategically, the two-thirds reduction in document review time and the 75% reduction in associated headcount gave the law firm an invaluable amount of additional time to develop its case prior to appearing in court.
For legal teams that dont use GenAI tools to supercharge their eDiscovery efforts, its easy to envision any lawyers nightmare scenario: arriving at court to face off against an adversary whos had far more time to develop their case, based on a solid foundation of facts culled from discovery documents. Who wants to risk that happening?
Final thoughts
While its true that many industries operate on a razors edge of innovation and risk aversion, these examples show how companies that ignore GenAI technology due to business risks, or simply organizational inertia, may suddenly find themselves on the outside looking in.
AJ Shankar is Founder and CEO of Everlaw.
Across industries, caution is rising. CEOs are slowing down major strategiesfrom hiring to investmentas uncertainty grows. The Business Roundtables CEO Outlook Index recently dropped to its lowest level since 2020, reflecting widespread hesitation amid global volatility.
Its understandable. When the path ahead is unclear, the instinct is to pause. To wait.
Companies, institutions, governments, and philanthropists alike are reassessing their strategies as volatility becomes the new norm. Most leaders are focused on the challenges closest to homein their industries, portfolios, and internal priorities. But the reality is: We dont live or work in silos. We live in a global market. And across every corner of that market, the signals are clear: growing caution, slower decision making, and heightened risk awareness.
At UNICEF USA, where I lead private sector fundraising, we are squarely in the middle of that tension. Were seeing these trends play out in real timein boardrooms, in proposal reviews, in budget meetings. As we work to meet escalating needs for children around the world, there is a slowdown. But this is also a moment that demands urgency and trust. It also demands innovation. And like many of our partners, were rethinking what it takes to deliver meaningful, sustained impact in a rapidly shifting landscape.
Hesitation is understandablebut costly
We hear it from donors and partners all the time: Were recalibrating. The global environment is unpredictable. Economic headwinds and geopolitical unrest have created a pause in decision making across industriesand philanthropy is no exception. Even committed supporters are questioning whether now is the time to lean in or wait for more clarity.
But heres the problem: While strategy resets may make sense at the institutional level, the needs on the ground arent pausing. For a child living through conflict in Sudan, a mother navigating floods in Bangladesh, or a newborn in Guatemala in need of basic care, delays have consequences. The cost of hesitation is measured in lives, in futures, in lost momentum.
At UNICEF, we cant stop in the face of uncertainty, and we dont. We double down. Its how we work. Because every delay risks compounding the damage.
We need to be clear-eyed about what happens if global investment slows. Weakening humanitarian and development funding doesnt just affect the children we serveit reverberates across markets and industries. Rising conflict, destabilized supply chains, currency volatility, and workforce readiness arent distant risks. Theyre business realities.
There is a moral imperative to act. But there is also a business imperative. If we want a more stable, equitable futurefor everyonewe must invest in the systems that create it.
Slowing our response now wont bring stability. It will deepen inequality and delay recovery.
Collaborate to meet the moment
One thing is clear: Delivering impact at scale requires collaboration. Weve always worked across governments, corporations, civil society, and communitiesbut in todays environment, the strength of those partnerships matters more than ever. Trust and alignment arent soft values; they are strategic necessities.
Were seeing powerful examples of what this can look like. Corporations that are embracing flexibility. Donors who are willing to have hard, honest conversations. Foundation leaders moving toward sustained, trust-based relationships that prioritize long-term outcomes over short-term metrics.
Through support of the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation (Lilly Foundation), we will be able to not only deliver results, but accelerate change. Its recent commitment to UNICEF USA is focused on delivering and strengthening maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health in low- and middle-income countries by expanding prevention and care of noncommunicable diseases. We work to build trust with regular progress updates that demonstrate tangible results on this shared objective.
Innovation with real stakes
Innovation means different things to different people. At UNICEF, its not about noveltyits about meeting the moment by improving how we work and how we deliver. In a world of rising complexity, innovation is how we adaptoperationally, strategically, and systemically.
Whether its working with OpenAI to use generative AI to improve education outcomes, to pilot financing models to increase climate resilience, or scaling health solutions across fragile systems, were focused on innovations that improve delivery and drive measurable outcomes. Not pilot projects for their own sake, but solutions that meet urgent needs and adapt to changing realities.
Progress is not theoreticalits measurable. Since 1990, the number of children under five dying from preventable causes has dropped by more than 60%. Thats proof that when the world acts with urgency and coordination, we can change the trajectory for an entire generation.
Progress is not theoreticalits also human. Imagine a five-year-old child you love. Maybe theyre starting school, asking endless questions, or learning to swim. Now imagine that same childfeverish and weak from something easily treatable. Youre holding them in your arms to comfort them. You know what they need. The medicine exists. The clean water exists. But you cant get it.
Thats the crushing reality facing millions of families every day. Not because we lack simple, affordable, and preventable solutionslike vaccines, treatments for diarrhea and pneumonia, or ready-to-use therapeutic food for severe acute malnutritionbut because access breaks down when systems are underfunded, fractured, or forgotten.
Whats at stake for all of us
This is a moment to lead with urgency. To move with clarity, not caution.
Because the choices we make todayacross philanthropy, business, and policywill determine what kind of world we live and work in tomorrow.
Michele Walsh is executive vice president and chief philanthropy officer at UNICEF USA.
Savvy marketing leaders recognize that AI is a powerful tool that can be used to reshape how teams operate. But even as AI tools rapidly improve, there are still limitations in todays technology that demand titration in how its used. The best marketers are those who understand how far to push the AI envelope within their business and market context.
And now is the time for marketing leaders to expand their existing skill set and develop their AI intuitionwhen to use it, when to lose itto make the most of AIs transformative power and deliver the best marketing work possible. By combining broad AI fluency through adoption with a willingness to remain agile as the technology matures, teams can thrive and make the best use of AI for the biggest impact. With that in mind, here are AI-related dos and donts every marketing leader should know.
AI as a research assistant, not a business strategist
If teams dont understand the context in which their business is operating, they wont be effective marketers. The best marketing leaders are absolute experts on their own companies, with knowledge of the details of their offerings, customers, competitors, and broad industry trends. When marketers understand their business this deeply, they can build programs that align with company priorities, connect with customers, and fuel their companys growth, making it easier to secure budget and executive buy-in.
Do use AI as a cheat sheet to stay on top of the market and competitors, and to improve business intelligence across departments, like finance and product. AI can analyze mountains of internal and external data and content it would otherwise be impossible to comb through, like companies annual reports, customer and competitor earnings, press releases, and newsletters. At Guild, my teams turn to AI for tasks such as market sizing, benchmarking against other marketing organizations for budgeting, and business planning and competitive analysis. AI can also be helpful with pricing research and gauging customer insights.
Dont expect AI to replace the nuanced understanding of a business’s priorities or its context. Ultimately, teams should create their own strategies, but using AI with business context will make those strategies better and more complete. AI cant read betweenthe lines or predict the futureonly meaningful conversations, deep curiosity, and astute understanding of one’s business can do that.
Use AI as a production designer, so creatives can shine
Campaign work in marketing can quickly become rote, tying designers and writers up with tasks that are far from strategic or highly creative. All variants of ad design or ad copy can be generated by AI. It can take a first pass at any blog content, social media graphics, or resizing assets for different platforms. Let AI bring ideas to life faster and more efficiently to free up creatives to focus on developing breakthrough campaign concepts and compelling brand stories.
Do use AI to rapidly prototype visuals, generate multiple design variations, and handle time-consuming production tasks. AI excels at replicating creative direction so take advantage and use in moments where multiple iterations are needed.
Dont rely on AI for creative inception or novel campaign ideas. This is where creatives shine. Use AI to handle the heavy lifting and transform the creative work into end product downstream so creative strategy and brand decisions are owned by creatives themselves.
Use AI to accelerate pointed insights
With AI, leaders can access an abundance of real-time data, turning marketing into a velocity engine for optimization and peak performance. The speed to insights around whats working and what isnt, along with the ability to move with agility, is where the real power of AI lies for marketing leaders. Whether thats analyzing customer data to spot engagement patterns, detailed segmentation in email open rates, or digging into a competitors recent launch, AI helps leaders get to the root of why this matters faster than ever before.
Do use AI to quickly analyze performance data, competitor portfolios, or deep segmentation analysis. Be specific and give AI the full context in your prompts. Instead of asking How did this campaign perform? try What is variance by audience segment in each of these ad headline click-through rates? This is a case where AI can be a game-changer when giving pointed insights.
Dont treat AI-generated insights as final answers. AI may be able to determine if certain creative elements performed well, but it cant determine if that approach aligns with your strategy and broader business objective. Just because AI quickly spots a pattern doesn’t mean it requires changing the work itself. Successful marketers will need to develop the skills to quickly decipher what insights matter and why.
The marketing leaders who will truly shine in the AI era will be those who master the art of balancing technology with their human instincts. In order to be successful, theyll need to leverage AIs power as it exists today, and be agile enough to adapt as the rate of improvement around that technology shifts. Today, that means letting AI handle much of the heavy liftingresearch, data analysis, creative production workto improve expertise and create leverage across the marketing organization. As AI technologies rapidly evolve and mature, the best leaders will dynamically change with it so that their organizations can deliver better, faster, and more novel results for the business.
Rebecca Biestman is chief marketing officer at Guild.
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