David Lidsky's Blog, page 390

How to foster cooperation and healthy competition on teams

Competition can be healthy, but not when it pits coworkers against each other. Here’s how to build a cooperative environment at work.

If you want to get ahead, you’ve got to be ready to take on your competitors. You might adopt an “every person for themselves” approach, doing whatever it takes to gain an advantage. But is this style of head-to-head competition really the path to winning? 

Could you live without a refrigerator? Science may soon make chilling everything unnecessary

Human health, economic inequality, the environment, food safety, food waste, biodiversity, or even the composition of the upper atmosphere . . . as many problems have been created or enabled by refrigeration as have been solved by it.

Nicola Twilley is the coauthor of Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine, named one of the best books of 2021 by Time, NPR, The Guardian, and the Financial Times. She is cohost of Gastropod, the award-winning and popular podcast that looks at food through the lens of science and history, and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker.

‘Back to school’ fall book guide for adults

You don’t have to be enrolled in school to do some educational reading.

The temperatures are getting cooler, and the kids are returning to school. Elementary-age students armed with new backpacks and lunch boxes are hitting the classrooms, and junior high and high schoolers are continuing their quest to create the most ridiculous new slang words possible. College and graduate students receive reading lists to expand their knowledge of the world—but where does that leave those of us whose school days are behind us? 

Where the next billion creatives will come from

Far from Silicon Valley, new waves of innovation in shopping, streaming, and other technologies are emerging in China, India, Africa, and beyond.

Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina described China as an imitator nation in her interview with Time in 2015:

Sweden says children under 2 shouldn’t have any screen time

Sweden’s recommendations ease slightly as children age: From 2 to 5 years old, they should have a maximum of one hour a day in front of a screen; while for youngsters aged 6 to 12, it’s two hours.

Sweden says children under the age of 2 should not be exposed to any digital screens. The recommendations, issued by the Scandinavian country’s public health agency earlier this month as a new school year begins, are the latest in a worldwide effort to limit screen time for young children. The coronavirus lockdowns exacerbated the problem as schools turned to Zoom for distance-learning and parents relied on TV shows and movies to keep their children occupied while they worked from home.

How Paralympians’ fashion in Paris is embracing inclusive design

Alison Brown, a podcaster who has been covering Olympics for years, says this Olympic cycle is the first where she has seen signs of adaptive fashion taking hold.

Three years ago, when Team Canada appeared at the opening ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the athletes were dressed in sleek white jeans. They may have looked good, but for some Paralympians on the team, they were a challenge.

It’s time to get your iPhone ready for iOS 18. Here’s how

Apple will roll out iOS 18 as early as next week. Here are the steps you should take to make sure your iPhone is ready.

On Monday, Apple will be holding its annual iPhone event. This year’s presentation is dubbed “It’s Glowtime,” and Apple is expected to use the occasion to debut its new iPhone 16 series as well as new AirPods and new Apple Watches.

‘Everything you know about happiness is a lie.’ This is the secret to getting the ‘new happy’

After 10 years of research, Stephanie Harrison defined Old Happy: our society’s incorrect definition of happiness and the culture we’ve created around it, and how to improve it.

Stephanie Harrison is an expert in the science of happiness and founded a company called The New Happy, where she teaches millions of people how to be happier. Through it, she hosts The New Happy podcast. She is also a Harvard Business Review and CNBC contributor, and her work has been featured in other publications such as Fast Company, Forbes, and Architectural Digest. She regularly speaks at Fortune 500 companies, advising on employee well-being and company culture.

Safety vs. swag: Why Guardian Caps aren’t an unfettered win in the NFL yet

Helmet branding was a vital way to promote and celebrate an NFL team’s identity.

Fall brings football season in the U.S. and, with it, the parade of distinctively decorated helmets that the players wear.

America’s climate and economic policies have overlooked its oil and gas towns

Today, the oil and gas industry contributes more than half of the county’s economic output.

On a recent visit to Rangely, a small town in northwest Colorado, my colleagues and I met with the administrators of a highly regarded community college to discuss the town’s economy. Leaving the scenic campus, we saw families driving into the mountains in off-road vehicles, a favorite activity for this outdoors-loving community. With a median household income above US$70,000 and a low cost of living, Rangely does not have the signs of a town in economic distress.