Wednesday 15th January 2025

Cosmic first: supermassive black hole caught "turning on" in real-time

At the center of practically every galaxy lies a supermassive black hole. The one in our Milky Way is about four million times the mass of our Sun, but others can be billions or even tens of billions of solar masses. Most of the time, these black holes are quiet: simply gravitating as matter orbits around them. But every once in a while, some object or collection of objects passes too close by the black hole, and the black hole begins to feed on that matter: heating it, accelerating it, and launching jets of particles and radiation. Overall, what gets emitted is so energetic, it can be detected from all across the Universe, with active galaxies and quasars among the most distant objects ever discovered.

These periods of activity can endure for long periods of time: tens of millions, hundreds of millions, or even more than a billion years (in at least one case), or far longer than humans have been observing the Universe. Up until recently, we had never witnessed a supermassive black hole in an active galaxy either “turn on” or “turn off” before, but a 2018 event changed everything. After an unexpected optical “brightening” in distant galaxy 1ES 1927+654, a remarkable set of new features appeared: consistent with a supermassive black hole activating and launching a jet after a long period of inactivity. Here’s what we saw, and what we think it might mean.

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Why "human-AI symbiosis" is essential for business and society

Today’s AI Renaissance is taking us on two different learning curves at once. The first has to do with method and technique. We need to learn to use the tools because they are changing everything we do at work. The second is broader: We need to understand the new landscape opening up before us at breakneck speed.

Both learning curves go beyond a pure technology orientation. The first—learning to use the tools—has as much to do with human capabilities as it does with automated systems. AI technology adoption isn’t primarily a computational affair. Its transformative potential extends beyond coding algorithms. We must learn to decide what to code, what data to use, and how to use it on behalf of people. When we work with natural language processing and GenAI, we must relearn our own human languages. Our current communications skills may seem familiar, but they don’t work with automated systems as they do with people.

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Lessons from the "pain cave": What marathoners can teach investors

In the 1968 Olympic marathon in Mexico City, Tanzanian runner John Stephen Akhwari crossed the finish line hours after the race was over. The medals had been handed out, most of the crowd had gone home, and the stadium was nearly empty. Yet there Akhwari was, hobbling on a bloodied, bandaged leg, determined to finish. When asked why he didn’t quit, his response was simple and profound: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish it.”

That story stuck with me — not just because of Akhwari’s grit, but because it seemed like the perfect metaphor for resilience: not quitting, even when every logical instinct tells you to. It also made me feel slightly guilty about skipping my morning run because I “needed more coffee.” (In my defense, the coffee did seem urgent.) As I thought more about Akhwari’s experience, it became clear that the lessons marathoners embrace extend far beyond the track. They’re a blueprint for enduring challenges in business and investing, where setbacks and grueling stretches are par for the course.

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Philosophy has lost its transformative power. Here's how we can revive it.

In my early twenties, I fell headfirst into what I thought would be a grand love affair with academic philosophy. With starry eyes and a mind parched for meaning, I eagerly dove into a bachelor’s degree, sampling courses on the philosophy of religion, language, and South Asia. I naively envisioned professors as wise sages who would illuminate life’s thorny questions of identity, purpose, and meaning. Instead, my romantic notions smashed against the cold, hard reality of professors droning from papers and skimming the edges of my deepest existential yearnings. They delivered knowledge, yes — but wisdom? That precious spark was nowhere to be found. Disillusioned and aching, I abandoned my studies after just three months.

Fast forward two decades, and I returned to professional philosophy, older, wiser, and with a sober understanding: transformative teachings would need to be sought elsewhere. This time, I advanced rapidly through doctoral and postdoctoral research, mastering the demands of academia while accepting its limitations. Yet, the core of philosophy within the academy hadn’t changed. Take, for instance, a recent conference on practical philosophy. Despite my tempered expectations, I couldn’t help but hope that philosophy might finally step down from its ivory tower into the vibrant chaos of lived experience. But as the lectures began, I was once again let down. The discussions were brilliant, laden with intricate arguments and esoteric concepts, yet stubbornly tethered to the abstract. The speaker, glued to his prepared notes, never once paused to ask: What do Kant’s musings on aesthetics mean for how we experience beauty in the everyday? Or better yet, how do we live these ideas, moment by moment? It was a reminder that while philosophy is unparalleled in posing questions, it often stumbles when faced with the urgent task of applying them to life itself.

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How to Keep Up with the News Without Getting Overwhelmed

Studies suggest that increased exposure to news, whether through traditional media or social media platforms, can negatively impact mental health. In other words, more news correlates with higher anxiety. But the answer is not to check out altogether. In this article, the author shares advice from three experts on how to be more intentional about where, when, and how you catch up on the news so that you don’t become a victim of round-the-clock triggering headlines.

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How to Get Better at Saying No

Our families, schools, and workplaces often train us to comply: taking on additional work when asked, agreeing with the group’s consensus, and going along to get along with our bosses and colleagues. So, even when we’re told to “think different” and “embrace conflict,” we often hold ourselves back. But when individuals learn to say no more often, it can have huge benefits for their careers and organizations, says Dr. Sunita Sah. A psychologist and professor at Cornell’s SC Johnson College of Business, she shares a research-backed framework for evaluating whether to comply or defy at work and offers advice on how to do both more effectively. Sah is author of the book Defy: The Power of No In a World That Demands Yes.

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Research: Gen AI Changes the Value Proposition of Foreign Remote Workers

Gen AI may herald a significant shift in remote work hiring patterns. As it continues to bridge gaps in the output quality of knowledge work, the cost advantage of hiring foreign workers becomes increasingly attractive. The leveling-up effect of gen AI enhances productivity of all workers, and as a result strengthens foreign remote workers’ competitive advantage, driving companies to expand their talent search globally.

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Make Better Strategic Decisions Around Slow-Developing Technology

Many breakthrough products include multiple technologies that evolved very slowly — sometimes over decades. To avoid being surprised or overtaken by competitors, companies must systematically track the evolution of these “slow-cooking” technologies as they improve in performance and decrease in price. The window of opportunity that arrives when all the right technologies reach the point of maturity may be smaller than you think.

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3 Ways to Nail Your Presentation to the Board

The boardroom is a distinct forum that requires a different type of presentation and preparation. In this article, the author outlines three practices every business leader should embrace to enhance their board presentations: 1) Start with a governing thesis: a big idea or perspective that captures the main point of the discussion. Presentations that start this way leave the audience with a compelling message. 2) Understand that the CEO is not the target audience. A board presentation has to provide some quick refreshers on the operating environment and — more importantly — identify the biggest problems that need fixing. 3) Steer the presentation toward getting valuable feedback. Instead of concluding remarks that restate key business results, share two or three important ideas that will drive future success and concerns that could benefit from director input. The goal: Get the board’s validation or critiques of a proposed course of action. The result, invariably, is a mix of candid feedback and intelligent, probing questions that create thoughtful board engagement.

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Dear Manager, You're Holding Too Many Meetings

New research shows that 70% of meetings keep employees from doing productive work. While there was a 20% decrease in the average length of meetings during the pandemic, the number of meetings attended by a worker on average rose by 13.5%.  In addition, newly promoted managers are holding almost a third more meetings than their seasoned counterparts. To reduce the number of meetings for your team:

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