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If your sofa was made between 1970 and 2014, its foam is likely loaded with flame retardantschemicals that can escape into dust and end up in the air you breathe. A new study led by the California Department of Public Health shows the payoff of swapping it out: people who replaced their old, chemical-filled sofas or chairs with new, flame-retardant-free models saw levels of one common chemical, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), drop by half in just over a year. The chemicals became ubiquitous in upholstered furniture thanks to older regulations in California. The state’s large market meant that flame retardants were used in furniture nationwide. The tobacco industry originally lobbied for the rules in the 1960s, when smoking was a common cause of fires and the industry didnt want to make self-extinguishing cigarettes. But flame retardants didn’t prevent fires effectively. Instead, they were linked to cancer risk, hormone disruption, and reduced IQ levels in children. By the early 2000s, manufacturers began phasing out one type of flame retardant, and by 2014, California finally revised its flammability rules so that companies could sell furniture without flame retardants. In the early 2000s, there was a lot of accumulating evidence of the health effects associated with these chemicals, particularly for neurological development for children,” says Robin Dodson, a research scientist at the Silent Spring Institute and one of the authors of the study. “So the industry kind of saw the writing on the wall and opted for a phase out of BDE flame retardants in upholstered furniture.” Initially, manufacturers switched to organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs). But after California updated its rules, some phased out flame retardants completely, so it became possible to buy furniture without them. In a previous study, the researchers found a significant reduction in PBDE chemicals in dust after furniture was replaced in a house. The new study is the first to look at what happens biologically. The chemicals dont go away immediatelyPBDEs have half lives in the body ranging from 1.8 to 6.5 years. But when large furniture like a sofa is replaced, they quickly drop. (There was less change in OPFRs, which have a shorter half-life in the body and which are still present in other products, from cars to electronics.) The scientists also studied a companion group of people who didnt replace furniture. They also saw a drop in PBDEs in their blood and urine, thanks to the fact that more products are being made without the chemicals. But levels dropped two to four times more slowly than in those who got new furniture. That doesnt mean you need to immediately buy a new couch if your budget is tight. (There’s also currently no safe, environmentally friendly way to dispose of old flame-retardant-filled furniture.) Our number-one tip right now today for flame retardants is to actually keep dust levels low inside of your house, says Dodson. That means, for example, vacuuming with a HEPA filter that can capture dust. Washing hands before making food or eating also makes a significant difference, especially for children. But when you do get new furniture, Dodson says, look for items that are specifically made without the chemicals. We’ve been generally telling people, don’t run and throw out your couch, she says. But when choosing new furniture, choose without flame retardants.
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E-Commerce
From return-to-office mandates, anxiety about AI taking (or reshaping) jobs, and a highly competitive atmosphere for recent graduates and other job seekers, 2025 has been a year of change. Its also been a big year of change for women in the workplace, with a record number exiting the workforce. And, according to a new report, women are now also less inclined to seek promotions. LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. just released their 2025 Women in the Workplace report based on a survey of 124 organizations employing around 3 million people. The survey research found that while companies overwhelmingly say that diversity (67%) and inclusion (84%) are top priorities, just over half (54%) of companies say the same about women’s career advancement. For women of color, only 46% of companies value advancement. And while employers broadly say they value diversity, equity, and inclusion, one in six have reduced DEI budgets. The survey also revealed another worrisome trend. Across categories, women say they want to be promoted at lower rates than men. Only 69% of entry-level women want a promotion compared with 80% of entry-level men. Likewise, 84% of senior-level women want to be promoted, while 92% of senior-level men do. And overall, 80% of women overall say they want to be promoted to the next level, compared to 86% of men. Interestingly, it doesn’t start out that way. Young women are extremely ambitious. In fact, women under 30 are more interested in being promoted than young men, but after 40, only 52% of entry-level women want to advance, while 71% of men still do. According to the report, the statistic seems tied to how much support men and women are receiving, which is far from equal. Only 31% of entry-level women have had a sponsor compared to 45% of men, which the report says can nearly double promotion rates. Likewise, “when entry- and senior-level women and men have sponsors and receive similar levels of support from managers and more senior colleagues, they are equally enthusiastic about getting promoted to the next level,” the report explains. But there’s another undeniable obstacle that women seem to disproportionately face, which is likely to impact their desire to be promoted: families. Almost 25% of both entry and senior level women who are not interested in promotions say it’s due to their personal obligations which would make more responsibility at work too challenging. However just 15% of men said the same. Unfortunately, for women, findings follow a bounty of previous research that women still do more housework and child-rearing than men. Per the McKinsey report, “In 2024, women with partners were more than three times as likely as men with partners to be responsible for all or most housework.” Therefore, it’s not all that surprising that women who are disproportionately weighed down at home may not be as hungry for even more obligations on the job, too.
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E-Commerce
The U.S. workforce is facing a pivotal challenge: A widening skills gap that threatens economic growth and innovation. While demographic trendslike declining birth rates and a shrinking pipeline of young workersare real, the more actionable issue is the growing mismatch between the skills employers need and those available in the labor market. According to Pearsons recent Lost in Transition research, nearly 90% of U.S. employers report difficulty finding candidates with the right skills, and more than half of workers feel unprepared for the demands of the future workplace. This problem is decades in the making, and its consequences will be global. Without action, this gap threatens economic stability, public health systems, and critical infrastructure. Projections indicate the U.S. could face skills shortages in 171 occupations by 2032. But instead of focusing on the inevitability of demographic change, we should zero in on the skills gapa challenge we can address through education, collaboration, and the smart use of technology. The skills gap is not just a statistic; its a call to action for educators, employers, and policymakers to rethink how we prepare people for work. AI AS A CATALYST FOR WORKFORCE READINESS Artificial intelligence, when thoughtfully designed and applied, is already helping to close the skills gap. When used as a tool for guided learning rather than a shortcut, AI can help bridge the skills gap and equip the workforce to succeed where human touch is required. AI-powered learning tools in educational environments are already accelerating pathways into critical professions by enabling learners to demonstrate measurable improvements in critical thinking and adaptability, as well as build durable skills that employers need most and are essential for thriving in a rapidly changing economy. Employers, too, are leveraging AI to upskill their current workforce, using adaptive platforms to identify and close skills gaps faster than traditional training methods allow. This approach is not about replacing people with technology, but about empowering workers to learn, adapt, and grow alongside digital tools. THE NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: LEARNING HOW TO LEARN The ability to learn how to learn is now a core competency for career success. As the shelf life of technical skills shortens, the most valuable workers will be those who can continuously acquire new knowledge and adapt to new roles. AI can support this by personalizing learning experiences, promoting metacognition, and helping people build the confidence to navigate transitions throughout their careers. Were already seeing data showing that AI can promote the real learning and adaptability skills that are needed in the workforce. High school and college students are improving their academic performance and demonstrating critical thinking skill through the use of science-backed AI tools that align with Blooms Taxonomy of Learning framework. AI in education is doing more than raising test scores; it’s teaching students how to learn, adapt, and thrive in an economy where continuous upskilling is the norm. Closing the skills gap will require collaboration across education, business, and government. We need to align AI literacy standards, invest in educator training, and ensure responsible use of technology that prioritizes data privacy, bias mitigation, transparency, and measurable learning outcomes. By focusing on the skills gapand leveraging the best of AI and learning sciencewe can build a workforce that is not only prepared for the future but empowered to shape it. Tom ap Simon is the President of Pearson Higher Education and Virtual Learning
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E-Commerce
Each business has its unique challenges, but one commonality today is that AI is poised to disrupt almost every business everywhere. Organizations arent the only ones rapidly shifting to adopt AIattackers are too, and theyre doing it faster. The implications of this AI arms race are alarming for legitimate businesses around the world. Security teams must rapidly evolve their cyber strategy to meet these new threats, moving away from a reactive posture that detects and then responds after an incident happens. To outpace attackers, organizations will need to be preemptive insteaddeterring, neutralizing, and preventing threats before they happen. HOW AI IS CHANGING THE GAME Anthropic recently revealed that a threat actor group was able to use AI (Claude) to perform 80-90% of an espionage campaign, with only sporadic human intervention, to attack 30 enterprises around the globe. The AI made thousands of requests per second, something even a team of highly skilled human attackers couldnt do. Anthropic concluded that less experienced and resourced groups can now potentially perform large-scale attacks of this nature with the help of AI. That means the barrier to entry for cybercrime has dropped dramatically. Individuals who previously lacked the technical skills to code can now leverage AI tools to create and execute complex attacks. This will inevitability lead to a surge in the number of sophisticated attacks unleashed on business and governments worldwide. Most enterprises and cybersecurity vendors are responding to this change by taking legacy, reactive security approaches and trying to add AI on top of them. The idea is that you should fight AI-powered attackers with AI-powered defenses. However, this is akin to taking a tank and adding AI to it to battle a fleet of drones. Yes, the AI-enabled tank will get better, but it is fundamentally too slow and too expensive to meet the new threat and win. As AI makes large-scale attacks accessible to anyone, its not just the volume of threats that will explode, its their uniqueness. Attackers are no longer limited to reusing the same malware, they can now target specific infrastructure vulnerabilities with single-use attacks. MASS PERSONALIZATION: A NEW FRONTIER FOR ATTACKERS Before AI, attackers built and then reused malicious software (i.e. malware) to attack as many enterprises as possible, but AI changes that entirely. It enables mass personalization: the ability to generate custom, one-off attacks for each target, at scale. As more and more attackers use these types of specialized, single-use malware to target their victims, businesses relying on legacy approaches will experience an exponential increase in breaches. They will face a never-ending battle to contain breaches before they can cause millions or even billions of dollars in damage. The traditional security model, and thus your business, relies on identifying patient zerospotting the first instance of a new threat, then blocking it everywhere else. However, when every attack is unique, there is no patient zero. In a world where even unskilled attackers can use AI to perform thousands of tasks a second, novel threats can be created and evolve faster than legacy, reactive security systems’ ability to observe and respond. This is not a future problem; this is a problem today. Last year, Infoblox classified over 25 million new domains as malicious. Ninety-five percent of them, or about 24 million, were unique to one enterprise, meaning the domains were made to specifically attack a singular organization. Last year, attackers personalized 24 million attacks for enterprises all over the world, each able to initially evade most legacy, reactive security tools. If your executive team and boardroom are not already discussing this, they need to start now. THE FUTURE OF YOUR CYBERSECURITY IS PREEMPTIVE AI has changed the nature of attacks, so now, it must change the nature of our defenses. To combat these threats, its no longer enough to be reactive. Instead, the cybersecurity industry and enterprises must urgently undergo huge changes to become more preemptive in their approaches to security. Gartner analysts are saying the same, predicting that preemptive cybersecurity will make up 50% of IT security spending by 2030, up from almost 5% in 2024. The firm specifically cites AI-enabled attacks as the force behind this change. Its time for a mindset shift. Leaders must see the security fight with a higher-level view. Instead of just focusing on using AI to speed up how fast they can detect and respond to individual fires, they must focus more of their energy and investment on using new approaches to stop the fires from ever starting. By developing strategies to preempt threats, teams can beat attackers to the punch, stopping threats before they can wreak havoc on their businesses. Scott Harrell is CEO of Infoblox.
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E-Commerce
CIOs are grappling with how to leverage AI, but most are asking the wrong question. Its not about an AI strategy. Its about a business strategy powered by AI. At Samsara, when we focused AI on clear business problems, we cut support chat volume by 59% with virtual agents, our IT help assistant auto-resolved 27% of tickets during the pilot, and engineers accepted about 40% of suggested code from AI code-assist, freeing teams to ship faster and tackle harder work. My takeaway is that if you treat AI as a separate initiative, youll chase tools. If you treat it as leverage on a business KPI, youll create impact. The VC Mindset: Investing in AI My philosophy on AI investment mirrors how a Venture Capital firm manages its portfolio. While every investment should strive for success, organizations must adopt a portfolio mindset: expecting only 10% of AI pilots to yield a high return. This crucial insight is what drives a VC firm, and what should drive your AI funnel. This means maintaining an active, well-fed funnel of AI investments. Working diligently to narrow this funnel through rapid pilots and experimentation allows businesses to move fast and fail quickly on small, contained experiments to find the few truly transformative applications. This approach is crucial given the sheer volume of AI solutions available. The typical vendor evaluation process might involve vetting three or four key solutions. In the AI space, that number can balloon into the thousands. Applying a VC mindset allows us to efficiently triage and prioritize, focusing our resources where the potential business impact is highest. Scaling AI Through Change Management Investment is only half the battle. The most sophisticated AI tool is worthless if employees don’t use it effectively. Success demands a robust AI change management program that builds new organizational muscles. 1. Driving Adoption: A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Engine True organizational change requires synchronized effort from the C-suite to the front lines. This is the top-down and bottom-up mandate for AI adoption. Top-Down Commitment: This begins with the CEO and C-suite making AI a core business priority. At Samsara, two of our four company priorities are explicitly AI-relatedone focused on internal efficiency, and the other on product innovation. This executive mandate, championed by leaders like our CEO and reinforced through my partnership with our CFO, ensures AI initiatives are treated as strategic imperatives, not discretionary projects. Bottom-Up Application: While CIO organizations are natural early adopters, the people best positioned to apply AI are those who live with the business problems dailyin supply chain, finance, sales, and operations. These colleagues have a nuanced, first-hand understanding of where AI tools can create the most value. And they can bridge this gap by empowering those teams to identify and lead implementation. 2. Scale Literacy with an AI Champions Network To connect the top-level vision with bottom-up execution, businesses must actively cultivate AI literacy. At Samsara, weve implemented a two-pronged approach to ensuring that AI skills and uses are being scaled across our business. AI Champions Network: Our AI Champions are a bridge to realizing our AI ambitions. We identify individuals across every function with a strong understanding of technologythe natural thought leadersand designate them as AI Champions. We give them concrete roadmaps for how to use AI in their specific function, making them evangelists who drive enablement and comfort within their teams. General Education: We use channels like our daily Slack digest to deliver short, 5-minute to 10-minute lessons to provide general AI education and demystify the technology for all employees. 3. Frame AI as Partnership, Not Replacement Any companys ethos on AI should be clear: AI wont replace people who embrace it. They should position these tools to their staff as partners that will better their teams and outputs, freeing them up for higher-value work. As I alluded to above, for our R&D and BizTech teams, weve implemented AI Code Generator tools. Our teams accept, on average, over 40% of the prebuilt code suggested, accelerating development cycles and allowing them to focus on complex, innovative challenges. On the service side, our use of AI chat agents has driven a 59% reduction in chat ticket volume in customer support, allowing staff to focus on complex issues. Similarly, our internal Generative AI-powered help assistant for the IT Help Desk resolved 27% of tickets with no human touch during the pilot, freeing up IT staff for strategic work. The CIOs Evolving Role In this new era, the CIO’s job is to stay intensely agile. They must mirror the companys need for external innovation with a commensurate drive for internal modernization. The path to AI success is not paved with technology alone, but with strategic discipline and cultural transformation. The new CIO mandate is simple: Stay intensely agile. Mirror the companys need for external innovation with an equivalent drive for internal modernization. The path to AI success is not paved with technology alone, but with strategic discipline and cultural transformation. Stop chasing the latest platform and start asking: What is the core business problem we need to solve? Anchor your investments in quantifiable business value, embrace a venture-style portfolio approach to experimentation, and aggressively equip your employees to be partners of AI, not its victims. This shift from technology buyer to strategic portfolio manager is the key to enduring competitive advantage.
Category:
E-Commerce
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