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It looks like a standard shipping container. But a metal box at a London factory is aimed at solving one of the shipping industrys biggest challenges: how to cut CO2 emissions on cargo ships. The tech, from a startup called Seabound, can capture as much as 95% of the CO2 emissions from the exhaust on ship. The company is now preparing to install a set of the containers on a cargo ship in its first commercial deployment after years of development and pilot tests. [Photo: Seabound] The shipping industry is one of the last hard-to-abate sectors, says 30-year-old CEO Alisha Fredriksson, who cofounded the company in 2021 after working as a consultant and seeing the need for a new solution in the space. Clean fuels like green methanol and green ammonia exist, but only in limited amounts. Were still in very scarce supply of these fuels, and they’re projected to be 2-3x more expensive than the conventional fuels, she says. And the industry faces competition from other industries that can typically pay more for them. Cargo ships also last for decades, and ships in use now cant easily switch to new fuels. As the industry slowly transitionsand in some cases begins to use other low-emission technology like wind powerthe startup is working on the pollution problem of the tens of thousands of ships that are already on the ocean. Cargo ships emitted 973 million metric tons of CO2 in 2024, around 2.5% of global emissions. [Photo: Seabound] Turning ship pollution into solid rock Inside the companys modular containers, there are millions of marble-size pellets of calcium hydroxide, also known as lime. The box sits near the engine and connects to the ships exhaust. As the exhaust flows through the lime, the CO2 reacts with the material to make limestone. Each pellet slightly changes color, from white to off-white, as it captures carbon and soot from the exhaust. One container can capture roughly a days worth of pollution as the ship travels, and to cover a full route, multiple modules are connected together. [Photo: Seabound] Once the ship reaches port, a standard crane offloads the containers of calcium carbonate, effectively a fancy box of rocks, says Fredriksson. The limestone can be sold as a building material. Or, the company can reverse the reactionpulling the CO2 back outso that it can be sequestered or used to make fuels or chemicals. In that scenario, the lime can be loaded back into the containers and sent back onto a ship to capture more CO2. Seabound’s first customer, Heidelberg Materials, will begin using the tech on a cement ship later this year. As the ship travels along the coast of Norway, the containers will capture CO2. Then the company will use the limestone in its kiln to make cement. (Heidelberg’s kilns also capture CO2, some of which will be permanently stored.) The startup’s basic carbon capture process, called calcium looping, is also in use by some direct air capture companies like Heirloom, which uses trays of crushed rocks to pull CO2 from the atmosphere. But by hooking up directly to an exhaust pipe, Seabound can capture CO2 more efficiently. Waste heat from the ships engines also helps the process work faster. Unlike expensive carbon capture technology at industrial facilities, the technology is simple enough that it can be relatively low-cost when it scales up, Fredriksson says. The company has calculated that it can also be one to two orders of magnitude cheaper than some other technology in development for carbon capture on ships. The total process does create some emissions before it’s in use, as the lime is made and transported. But Seabound plans to work with lower-carbon “green lime.” Initially, though the tech can capture 95% of the CO2 as it comes from the exhaust stack, the total capture efficiency of the whole process will be closer to 80%. Over time, it’s feasible for the process to cut emissions by 90%. [Photo: Seabound] Cleaning up today’s ships The startup, which has raised around 8.5 million ($11.6 million) in combined equity and grat funding from shipping companies and climate tech VCs, is working first with customers in Europe, where strict regulations are pushing the industry to quickly cut emissions. In the European Union, shipping is now fully subject to the EU’s emissions trading scheme, and a separate policy is ramping up fines for the emissions from fuel burned by ships. Shipping companies are also facing pressure from large customers, like Ikea, that have ambitious climate targets. Seabound plans to focus on shorter routes that stay within Europe, setting up operations at the ports where ships refuel. Later, it plans to expand to Asia. Though global policy progess was delayed in 2025, after the International Maritime Organization postponed a planned global carbon price for shipping under pressure from the Trump administration, the IMO will be reconsidering the proposal later this year. There are around 60,000 cargo ships in use now globally. Adding the tech to all of them would obviously be a heavy lift, though the industry has made other changes in the past, including adding sulfur scrubbers that capture other pollution. There’s an argument that the new technology poses a moral hazardcompanies might be slower to adopt zero-emission tech if they can use CO capture instead. But Fredriksson says that given the slow pace of alternative fuels and other solutions, carbon capture is necessary. “We started Seabound about four years ago now,” she says. “I think the future fuels feel just as far into the future as they did when I started the company.” If alternative fuels do become widely available, she says, the carbon capture tech could still be used to capture that exhaust. “Then we could do carbon negative shipping,” she says.
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E-Commerce
February 1 was National Change Your Password Day, a well-intentioned reminder that, ironically, highlights everything wrong with how we think about security in 2026. Here’s the truth: if you spent the first day of the month dutifully changing “Summer2025!” to “Winter2026!” across your accounts, you didn’t make yourself safer. In fact, you might have made things worse. Decades of Bad Advice We’ve spent decades teaching people the wrong lessons about password security. Add a number. Throw in a special character. Change it every 90 days. These requirements were etched into our collective consciousness, repeated by IT departments, enforced by login forms, and internalized by millions of users who thought they were doing the right thing. Meanwhile, the actual threat landscape evolved in an entirely different direction. Today’s attackers aren’t sitting at keyboards manually typing password guesses. They’re running offline brute force attacks with dedicated GPU rigs that can attempt 100 billion passwords per second against hashing algorithms like MD5 or SHA-1. At that speed, your clever substitution of “@” for “a” buys you microseconds of additional security. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which sets the gold standard for cybersecurity guidance, understands the new reality. Their latest digital identity guidelines represent a fundamental shift in how we should think about password security, and it’s not what most people expect. Length Beats Complexity Every Time NIST’s guidance is refreshingly straightforward. Length matters far more than complexity. A password should be at least 15 characters, but those characters don’t need to be a cryptic jumble of symbols that you’ll inevitably forget (or worse, write on a sticky note). Instead, NIST endorses the concept of “passphrases” or multiple words strung together that are easy to remember but difficult to guess. “DontAskMeToChangeMyPassword” is more secure than “P@ssw0rd!” and infinitely easier to recall. Even more surprising to many, NIST no longer recommends requiring special characters or numbers, and they’ve abandoned the practice of forcing regular password changes. Why? Because these rules don’t make passwords more securethey just make them harder for humans to manage, which leads to predictable workarounds that actually weaken security. Passwords Are the Problem, Not the Solution But here’s where NIST’s guidance gets really interesting. They acknowledge that even the strongest password is fundamentally insecure. Phishing attacks don’t care how long your password is. Data breaches expose credentials regardless of complexity. And with over 3,000 data breaches in 2025 alone, the question isn’t whether your password has been compromisedit’s how many times. NIST’s primary recommendation isn’t about crafting the perfect password. It’s about moving beyond passwords entirely. They emphasize multifactor authentication (MFA) as essential, not optional. They champion passkeyscryptographic keys stored on your devices that can’t be phished, guessed, or stolen in database breaches. They endorse password managers that generate and store unique credentials for every account. Organizations are realizing that the password is the problem, not the solution. Passwordless authentication isn’t a futuristic concept anymore. It’s a practical necessity for companies serious about security and user experience. What You Should Actually Do If you must use passwords (and let’s be honest, you probably still need them for many accounts), follow NIST’s guidance. Make them long, use a password manager, and enable MFA everywhere it’s available. Better yet, embrace passkeys when offeredthey’re more secure and more convenient than any password could ever be. But the real question isn’t “how do I create a better password?” It’s “why am I still relying on passwords at all?” Instead of changing your password on National Change Your Password Day, why not change your entire approach to authentication?
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E-Commerce
Being adaptable has always been a useful skill. But in todays world, its essential. In our volatile, AI-accelerated workplaces, adaptability lets us transform uncertainty and pressure into clarity, learning, and discerning action. Thankfully, adaptability is a skill we can develop. In fact, there are science-backed practices we can adopt to improve our adaptability, and the benefits go far beyond our careers. In practical terms, adaptability is being able to regulate and adjust your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors amid changing circumstances while staying aligned with your values and longterm goals. True adaptability is not passive compliance: its conscious ongoing calibration. Research links adaptability with higher life satisfaction and lower stress, especially when you add a sense of agency and social support. Many people discuss adaptability as an external performance metrichow fast you can pivot, how many priorities you can juggle. For smart professionals, the real question is: how do you build adaptability from the inside out, without burning out? Thats where the BRNT framework, which stands for Breathe, Rest, Nourish, and Talk, comes in. How to go about cultivating adaptability I designed the BRNT framework as an easy-to-remember anti-burnout tool, but it also forms the infrastructure of adaptability. Integrating the BRNT practices helps you alchemize your own adaptability. Its simple enough to act on and sophisticated enough to support sustainable high performance. Heres how: Breatheallowing you to regulate before you respond Breathe is about using breath, meditation, and movement to engage your parasympathetic nervous system, repair stress damage, and anchor yourself in the present moment. Practical expressions include guided meditation, a long walk, yoga, swimming, or simply watching the sunset with full attention. From an adaptability standpoint, Breathe is your first line of defense. When you flood your nervous system, you react from habit and fear. But when you regulate it, you can choose your response. Breathe widens the gap between trigger and action, which allows you to: Make better, calmer decisions. Distinguish between noise and meaningful signals. Access creativity instead of defaulting to defensiveness. Restrebuilding the system that adapts Rest focuses on improving and stabilizing sleep, taking breaks during the day, and disconnecting from work in the evenings, on weekends, and on vacation. As plenty of research shows, rest isnt a luxury: it is system maintenance for your adaptive capacity. Cognitively, adaptability relies on working memory, emotional regulation, and perspective taking. When you have chronic sleep debt combined with nonstop stimulation, these functions degrade sharply. By prioritizing rest, you protect the very hardware that allows you to pivot. Deep sleep consolidates learning, and breaks and disconnection create space for insights. In practice, rest might look like turning off your phone for an hour, taking a different route home to reset your senses, or setting a firm “no email after 8 p.m.” boundary. These microchoices accumulate into a state where you can tackle change with clarity, rather than exhaustion and fear. Nourishcurating your inputs Nourish is about making wise choices about what you consume. That encompasses nutrition, information, surroundings, and community. Thats why its important to be hydrated, have healthy social media practices, and block out some time in your week to do the things you love and spend time in nature. Inputs shape adaptability. It is the food that stabilizes or spikes your energy, the social feeds that calm or inflame your mind, and the environments that drain or restore you. When you nourish yourself deliberately, you achieve the following: Stabilize your baseline mood and energy, so change feels challenging, not catastrophic. Reduce cognitive overload by limiting junk information, which leaves bandwidth for real problem-solving. Reinforce a sense of self that isnt entirely defined by your work, which buffers you when roles or titles shift. For high-achieving professionals, nourishment is often the most radical act. That requires you to choose quality over quantity in everything from meals to media to meetings. That curation is itself a form of adaptive intelligence. Talkadapt together, not alone Talk is about building and nurturing strong social connections and surrounding yourself with people you can be open and honest with. Practical expressions include texting with a friend, joining a vulnerable conversation with colleagues, scheduling a coaching or therapy session, or having lunch with coworkers instead of alone at your desk. Adaptability is social, not solo. Social connection is one of the strongest predictors of both resilience and adaptability. Conversations can help you realitycheck your perceptions, access new perspectives, and co-create responses to change rather than carrying everything all alone. Talk supports adaptability by enabling you to: Surface and regulate emotions through language, instead of acting them out unconsciously. Borrow other peoples ideas, strategies, and courage when you feel depleted. Build networks that make practical adaptationlike changing roles, projects, or organizationspossible and even enjoyable. Putting everything together When you put everything together, the demand for adaptability will only increase. The challenge and the opportunity arent to meet that reality with frantic hustle, but with intentional inner work. Consider using BRNT as a weekly selfreflection ritual. To do so, ask yourself the following questions: Where did I breathe before reacting this week? How did I rest and restore my system? What did I nourish myself with, and what do I need to cut? Who did I talk to honestly about what is shifting for me? Over time, these practices do more than prevent burnout. They transmute everyday stress into data, insight, and growth. This is what real adaptability is. Its not about not becoming a different person every quarter. It is about continually evolving to meet the moment with a steady nervous system, a rested mind, a nourished body and soul, and a supportive community behind you.
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E-Commerce
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