Most Popular Editorials: How Long Can We Live?

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How Long Can We Live? New research is intensifying the debate - with profound implications for the future of the planet.In 1990, not long after Jean-Marie Robine and Michel Allard began conducting a nationwide study of French centenarians, one of their software programs spat out an error message. An individual in the study was marked as 115 years old, a number outside the program's range of acceptable age values. They called their collaborators in Arles, where the subject lived, and asked them to double-check the information they had provided, recalls Allard, who was then the director of the IPSEN Foundation, a nonprofit research organization. Perhaps they made a mistake when transcribing her birth date? Maybe this Jeanne Calment was actually born in 1885, not 1875? No, the collaborators said. We've seen her birth certificate. The data is correct. Calment was already well known in her hometown. Over the next few years, as rumors of her longevity spread, she became a celebrity. Continued here

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Your Emails Are 36 Percent More Likely to Get a Reply If You End Them This Way How you sign off on business emails seems like a small thing, but it has a big impact on their effect. As any salesperson, PR rep, or entrepreneur can tell you, the rate at which people open and respond to your emails can be the difference between accelerating your career and the pit of despair. No wonder we all spend so much time obsessing about subject lines, exact phrasings, and crafting the perfect ask. But according to research from email software company Boomerang, there's one part of your messages you're probably not putting enough thought into -- your closing. Most of us slap a pleasant-sounding "Best" or "Regards" on the end of our emails and call it a day. But when Boomerang trawled through 350,000 emails to see how particular closings impact whether a message gets a reply, they discovered how you sign off matters a surprising amount. Continued here

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Lost touch: how a year without hugs affects our mental health Humans are designed to touch and be touched - which is why so many who live on their own have suffered during the pandemic. Will we ever fully recover?There's only so much a dog can do, even if that is a lot. I live alone with my staffy, and by week eight of the first lockdown she was rolling her eyes at my ever-tightening clutch. I had been sofa-bound with Covid and its after-effects before lockdown was announced, then spring and summer passed without any meaningful touch from another person. I missed the smell of my friends' clothes and my nephew's hair, but, more than anything, I missed the groundedness only another human body can bring. The ache in my solar plexus that married these thoughts often caught me off guard. The need for touch exists below the horizon of consciousness. Before birth, when the amniotic fluid in the womb swirls around us and the foetal nervous system can distinguish our own body from our mother's, our entire concept of self is rooted in touch. Continued here

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Sputnik V: How Russia's Covid vaccine is dividing Europe It's no coincidence that Russia has christened its Covid vaccine Sputnik V. The first time the world learned the meaning of the Russian word Sputnik was in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite into orbit. At the height of the Cold War this startling evidence of Moscow's scientific and technical capabilities came as a huge shock to Western powers, which had assumed they enjoyed a comfortable technological lead over the Soviets. Critics of the Putin administration were sceptical when the vaccine was given regulatory approval in Moscow as early as last August. That scepticism, though, has faded. Because once again Russian scientists have surprised the West. An Eastern European diplomat, from a country that regards Russia as a clear and present threat, put it to me like this: "The search for vaccines in 2020 was rather similar to the race for space flight in the 1950s. Once again many outsiders have underestimated Russia. This is potentially the most powerful tool of soft power that Moscow has had in its hands for generations." Continued here

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On the Link Between Great Thinking and Obsessive Walking From Charles Darwin to Toni Morrison, Jeremy DeSilva Looks at Our Need to MoveCharles Darwin was an introvert. Granted, he spent almost five years traveling the world on the Beagle recording observations that produced some of the most important scientific insights ever made. But he was in his twenties then, embarking on a privileged, 19th-century naturalist's version of backpacking around Europe during a gap year. After returning home in 1836, he never again stepped foot outside the British Isles. He avoided conferences, parties, and large gatherings. They made him anxious and exacerbated an illness that plagued much of his adult life. Instead, he passed his days at Down House, his quiet home almost twenty miles southeast of London, doing most of his writing in the study. He occasionally entertained a visitor or two but preferred to correspond with the world by letter. He installed a mirror in his study so he could glance up from his work to see the mailman coming up the road - the 19th-century version of hitting the refresh button on email. Darwin's best thinking, however, was not done in his study. It was done outside, on a lowercase d-shaped path on the edge of his property. Darwin called it the Sandwalk. Today, it is known as Darwin's thinking path. Continued here

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The new fuel to come from Saudi Arabia Green hydrogen is taking off around the globe - its supporters say it could play an important role in decarbonisation, but sceptics question its safety and practicality.On the edge of the Saudi Arabian desert beside the Red Sea, a futuristic city called Neom is due to be built. The $500bn (£380bn) city - complete with flying taxis and robotic domestic help - is planned to become home to a million people. And what energy product will be used both to power this city and sell to the world? Not oil. Instead, Saudi Arabia is banking on a different fuel - green hydrogen. This carbon-free fuel made is from water by using renewably produced electricity to split hydrogen molecules from oxygen molecules. This summer, a large US gas company, Air Products & Chemicals, announced that as part of Neom it has been building a green hydrogen plant in Saudi Arabia for the past four years. The plant is powered by four gigawatts of electricity from wind and solar projects that sprawl across the desert. It claims to be the world's largest green hydrogen project - and more Saudi plants are on the drawing board. Continued here

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All Companies Should Live by the Jeff Bezos 70 Percent Rule A guide to making business decisions--even without all the information--inspired by the Amazon founder.There are times when companies move too swiftly into a decision that hurts them. There are also occasions when they're too slow and they fail. Jeff Bezos lives by a rule that addresses that problem. In a 2016 annual shareholder letter, Bezos talked about his approach to decision making. He suggested that while it's always nice to have access to all of the information someone wants, in the vast majority of cases, waiting until you know everything you should know is a problem. "Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70 percent of the information you wish you had," Bezos wrote in the letter. "If you wait for 90 percent, in most cases, you're probably being slow." That's a framework that every business owner should adopt. Continued here

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An Oxford researcher says there are seven moral rules that unite humanity In 2012, Oliver Scott Curry was an anthropology lecturer at the University of Oxford. One day, he organized a debate among his students about whether morality was innate or acquired. One side argued passionately that morality was the same everywhere; the other, that morals were different everywhere. "I realized that, obviously, no one really knew, and so decided to find out for myself," Curry says. Seven years later, Curry, now a senior researcher at Oxford's Institute for Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, can offer up an answer to the seemingly ginormous question of what morality is and how it does - or doesn't - vary around the world. Continued here

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3 Signs You Possess a Skill Most Don't Have (and How to Capitalize On It) When you recognize where your gifts are, you're one step closer to finding ways to leverage them in business. There are many things that can give entrepreneurs an advantage over their competition. Unique life experiences. Strong leadership capabilities. Or even being able to assemble a high-performing, driven team. But like so many other aspects of life, you are your most valuable asset. This is especially true when you bring unique skills to the table--abilities most people don't have. The challenge, of course, is recognizing where your gifts lie and then finding ways to capitalize on them. Though this certainly isn't easy, here are three signs to look for to start the process. Continued here

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High-Performing Teams Need Psychological Safety. Here's How to Create It "There's no team without trust," says Paul Santagata, Head of Industry at Google. He knows the results of the tech giant's massive two-year study on team performance, which revealed that the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety, the belief that you won't be punished when you make a mistake. Studies show that psychological safety allows for moderate risk-taking, speaking your mind, creativity, and sticking your neck out without fear of having it cut off - just the types of behavior that lead to market breakthroughs. Continued here

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The Japanese art principle that teaches how to work with failure Your cracks and flaws make you more amazing - if handled artfully.Like a favorite cup or plate, people sometimes crack. We may even break. Obviously, we cannot and ought not throw ourselves away when this happens. Instead, we can relish the blemishes and learn to turn these scars into art - like kintsugi (金継ぎ), an ancient Japanese practice that beautifies broken pottery. Kintsugi, or gold splicing, is a physical manifestation of resilience. Instead of discarding marred vessels, practitioners of the art repair broken items with a golden adhesive that enhances the break lines, making the piece unique. They call attention to the lines made by time and rough use; these aren't a source of shame. This practice—also known as kintsukuroi (金繕い ), which literally means gold mending—emphasizes the beauty and utility of breaks and imperfections. It turns a problem into a plus. Continued here

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The future of social media is sharing less, not more We may never leave social media completely. But we will control which aspects of our identities we share, and with whomThe emergence of Facebook has been significant in how we conceive of social media. Almost every platform we use encourages us to share as much of our personal lives as possible, incentivising us with more features, filters and monetisation tools. Instead of the conscious curation that characterised social networks of the past, these platforms continue promising users that if they simply post more about themselves and their friends, they can have more fulfilling social experiences. In recent years, however, public conversations around the darker elements of social media platforms - from data collection and privacy issues to fake news and propaganda - have led to more thinking on how we should use them (or if they should even be used at all). In the next decade, as we reassess our relationship with social media - and by extension, the Big Tech companies that run them - we will see more people leave public platforms entirely, sticking instead to small communities and friendship groups on more private platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram or Signal. But this will be a luxury only few will be able to choose. Continued here

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How to work with someone who isn't emotionally intelligent If you ever worked with someone who is volatile, temperamental, moody, or simply grumpy, you will understand the difficulties. Here are ways to cope.Few psychological traits have been celebrated more during the past 20 years than emotional intelligence (EQ). Loosely defined, it's the ability to keep your own emotions under control, as well as read and influence other people's emotions. Ever since Daniel Goleman wrote a best-selling book on the topic (popularizing earlier research by two Yale psychologists), organizations are placing increasing importance on EQ when hiring and developing employees and managers. Sadly, many managers have low EQ, which is a common cause of anxiety and stress for their employees. If you ever worked for someone who is volatile, temperamental, moody, or simply grumpy, you will understand the difficulties of putting up with a low EQ boss. Even if organizations make progress in developing EQ in their managers, you are always going to have to learn how to deal with low EQ individuals, including, at times, a boss. No amount of coaching can turn someone with chronic anger management problems, severe empathy deficits, and lack of social skills, into Oprah Winfrey or the Dalai Lama. Continued here

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How This Chinese Vaping Billionaire Became One Of The World's Richest Women In Three Years Kate Wang, 39, jumped into the ranks of the world's richest when her vaping company RLX went public on the New York Stock Exchange in January. Now the Procter & Gamble and Uber veteran faces looming threats from Chinese regulators and skeptical investors.In a period of 55 hours starting on the morning of March 22, shares in Chinese vaping company RLX Technology collapsed 54%, slashing more than $16 billion from the startup's market cap. The slump continued through the week as investors sold on the news of a potential industry crackdown by China's tobacco regulator and the Securities and Exchange Commission's announcement that it would start enforcing a law to require Chinese listed companies to provide audits or risk being delisted. It was just another twist in the rollercoaster history of a company that rose from nothing to become the largest e-cigarette brand in China in three years. Just two months prior, it raised $1.4 billion in a blockbuster IPO on the New York Stock Exchange that catapulted four of its cofounders into the ranks of the world's wealthiest. Among them was CEO Kate Wang, 39. One of a record 57 self-made women billionaires from China, Wang was worth $9.1 billion on the day of the IPO, thanks to her 20% stake in RLX. Continued here

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Is Your C-Suite Equipped to Lead a Digital Transformation? The Covid-19 pandemic dramatically accelerated technology adoption across all industries. According to one survey, 77% of CEOs reported that the pandemic sped up their companies' digital transformation plans, and as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted in the early days of the crisis, "We've seen two years' worth of digital transformation in two months." A study conducted by Twilio found that Covid-19 accelerated companies' digital communications strategies by an average of six years. Historically, success rates for digital transformation efforts are dismally low. Many organizations rush to boost headcount and budget, hiring teams of talented engineers, data scientists, and cybersecurity experts. Continued here

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Identify -- and Hire -- Lifelong Learners The most pertinent question one can ask of a current or future employee may just be: How do you learn? Lifelong learning is now roundly considered to be an economic imperative, and job candidates or employees who consider, update, and improve their skills will be the high performers, especially over the longer term. Pressing ourselves on the question of how we learn brings a hard, pragmatic edge to the important but nebulous notion of growth mindset. The world and the workplace have changed considerably in the past year. The skills we need to function and flourish have correspondingly changed, and so we need to bring them into a smarter, sharper focus to know what they are and to seek them out proactively, persistently, and methodically. Continued here

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Eliminate Strategic Overload How to select fewer initiatives with greater impactAs companies respond to intensifying competitive pressures and challenges, they ask more and more of their employees. But organizations often have very little to show for the efforts of their talented and engaged workers. By selecting fewer initiatives with greater impact, companies can make their strategies more powerful. A strategic initiative is worthwhile only if it does one or more of the following: - It creates value for customers by raising their willingness to pay. As your company finds ways to innovate or to improve existing products, the maximum price people will be willing to pay for the offering rises. - It creates value for employees by making work more attractive. Offering better jobs lowers the minimum compensation that you have to offer to attract talent to your business. - It creates value for suppliers by reducing their operating cost. As suppliers' costs go down, the lowest price they would be willing to accept for their goods falls. As companies expand the total amount of value created for their customers, employees, and suppliers, they position themselves for enduring financial success. Continued here

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Debranding Is the New Branding From Burger King and Toyota to Intel and Warner Brothers, major brands are discarding detail and depth. Why now, and what's the rush?Advertising's oldest cliche has the client asking: "Can you make the logo bigger?" But the internet has forever constrained the dimensions of design. In a pre-Web world - when the smallest canvas for many brands was the business card - intricacy could be embraced. Nowadays, corporate identities must "click" inside an ever-expanding warren of tiny boxes, from 120-pixel iPhone buttons to 16-pixel browser "favicons." The difficulty of ensuring that any logo (let alone an intricate, dimensional logo) stands out from the kaleidoscopic eye-candy of ads, apps and open tabs is one driver behind "mobile first" design. Here identity and functionality are conceived from the outset inside the tightest constraints - for what works on a cellphone will surely work on a water-tower. Continued here

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'A wonderful escape': the rise of gaming parents -- and grandparents Video game popularity soared during the pandemic, as people sought distraction and ways to connect with loved onesHelping his seven-year-old daughter Romy set up the Nintendo Switch she got for Christmas, Paul Cliff managed to get himself hooked on Animal Crossing. "I've somehow played over 600 hours on it since January," says Paul, 56, of the life simulation game where villagers carry out daily activities such as gardening, furniture arrangement and gathering fruits. "I love the collecting in it, it's so gentle and oddly rewarding," he says, recalling an afternoon spent fishing together when Romy finally caught the Stringfish she'd been trying to catch for ages. "She couldn't wait to show me. We've been amazed at each other's achievements and creativity," Paul says. "I've found it an immersive and relaxing experience. I love my wee island, it's a wonderful escape from what's going on outside our four walls." Continued here