Business & Industry News

October 25, 2025

Top Headlines

The Surprising Reason Timber Plantations Explode Into Megafires

Aug. 21, 2025 — Industrial forests, packed with evenly spaced trees, face nearly 50% higher odds of megafires than public lands. A lidar-powered study of California’s Sierra Nevada reveals how dense plantations feed fire severity, but also shows that proactive ...

Brain Drain? More Like Brain Gain: How High-skilled Emigration Boosts Global Prosperity

May 22, 2025 — As the US national debate intensifies around immigration, a new study is challenging conventional wisdom about 'brain drain'--the idea that when skilled workers emigrate from developing countries, ...

Emotional Expressions Shape How Help Is Received in the Workplace

May 21, 2025 — The way people express emotions while helping others can influence whether their assistance is welcomed, resented, or reciprocated, according to new ...

Recognition from Colleagues Helps Employees Cope with Bad Work Experiences

May 14, 2025 — Being appreciated by colleagues can help employees cope with negative experiences at work, according to a new study. Researchers found that employees experience 'embitterment' -- an emotional response to perceived workplace injustice -- on days when ...

Government Urged to Tackle Inequality in 'Low-carbon Tech' Like Solar Panels and Electric Cars

Apr. 14, 2025 — The UK government needs to go beyond offering subsidies for low-carbon technologies (LCTs) like electric cars and solar panels for energy and heating, if it is to meet its net-zero targets by 2050, a ...

AI Tool Makes Sense of Public Opinion Data in Minutes, Not Months

Apr. 14, 2025 — DECOTA transforms open-ended survey responses into clear themes -- helping policymakers make better use of underutilised public ...

Modeling Method Provides Smarter Way to Predict Customer Demand

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers have developed a new forecasting model that helps companies more accurately estimate how many customers are interested in a product -- even when key data is missing. The study introduces a mathematical modeling method that enables ...

Conceptualizing Psychological Contract Theory in the Context of Digital Labor Platforms, App Workers, Gig Economy

Apr. 10, 2025 — In a new article, researchers explored whether a worker can create a psychological contract with a non-human agent in the form of an algorithm that mediates their relationship with an ...

'Ugh, Not That Song!' Background Music Impacts Employees

Apr. 7, 2025 — Have you ever gone to a store or a restaurant where the music was so annoying that you walked right out? Now imagine what it must be like for the employees. In a new study, researchers found that when background music at a workplace is out of sync ...

Digital Technology and AI Can Support Workers with Dementia

Mar. 30, 2025 — People with dementia can enjoy productive and rewarding working lives in the digital era, contrary to the widespread stereotype that dementia is incompatible with the use of modern technology, according to new ...

Is Your Job Making You Happy? Insights from Job Satisfaction Data

Mar. 26, 2025 — New research has found that employers and policymakers might want to start paying attention to how workers are feeling, because employee happiness contains critical economic ...

Want to Climb the Leadership Ladder? Try Debate Training

Mar. 16, 2025 — Research finds people who learn the basics of debate are more likely to advance to leadership roles in U.S. organizations. A key reason seems to be that debate training makes employees more comfortable about being assertive in the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:48pm EDT

For 170 Years, U.S. Cities Have Followed a Hidden Law of Growth and Decline

Oct. 6, 2025 — Despite massive technological and industrial changes, American cities have stayed remarkably coherent in how their economies fit together. This hidden order governs how cities diversify, grow, and ...

Global Study Reveals the Surprising Habit Behind Tough Decisions

Aug. 13, 2025 — A sweeping international study has revealed that when faced with complex decisions, people across cultures—from bustling megacities to remote Amazon communities—tend to rely on their own judgment ...

How You Handle Your Home Life Can Boost Work Performance, Shows New Study

May 27, 2025 — A new study shows that people who proactively reorganise their family routines -- such as adjusting childcare schedules or redistributing domestic responsibilities -- are more likely to demonstrate ...

New Research Explores Mental Health Costs of Emotional Labor at Work

Mar. 14, 2025 — 'Fake it till you make it' might be common advice to climb the corporate ladder, but new research shows that this attitude could also adversely affect job satisfaction and mental ...

Common Approaches for Assessing Business Impact on Biodiversity Are Powerful, but Often Insufficient for Strategy Design

Mar. 13, 2025 — A study has determined that the widely used tools available to businesses for assessing their biodiversity impacts depend on broad assumptions and ...

First Operating System for Quantum Networks

Mar. 12, 2025 — Researchers have announced the creation of the first operating system designed for quantum networks: QNodeOS. The research marks a major step forward in transforming quantum networking from a ...

Lightening the Load of Augmented Reality Glasses

Mar. 10, 2025 — Despite the popularity of augmented reality, AR wearable technologies haven't gained traction due to the weight and bulk associated with batteries and electronic components, and the suboptimal ...

Researchers Develop Efficient Lithium Extraction Method, Setting Stage for Sustainable EV Battery Supply Chains

Mar. 2, 2025 — In the race to meet the growing global demand for lithium -- a critical component in batteries for electric vehicles -- a team of researchers has ...

Rising Wages Drive Innovation in Automation Technology

Feb. 25, 2025 — Labor market policies shape firms' innovation dynamics. A new study shows for the first time that higher minimum wages for low-skill jobs drive firms to develop automation technologies. Rising wages ...

Socially Dominant Individuals Are More Confident but Not Necessarily More Competent

Feb. 21, 2025 — Research has found that people who strive for dominance, whether in personal or professional life, are more confident in their decision-making but ...

Earlier Headlines

Stars or Numbers? How Rating Formats Change Consumer Behavior

May 19, 2025 — Researchers found that consumers tend to overestimate fractional star ratings and underestimate fractional numerals. In either case, the ratings can be misleading, potentially causing a company to ...

Basketball Analytics Investment Is Key to NBA Wins and Other Successes

Mar. 25, 2025 — A study finds NBA teams that hired more analytics staff, and invested more in data analysis, tended to win more ...

Study Explores How Characteristics of Communications Networks Affect Development of Shared Social Identity, Group Performance

Mar. 25, 2025 — Researchers explored how the characteristics of communication networks in groups (i.e., density and centralization) affected the development of shared social identity and, as a result, group ...

Stock Market Performance Enhanced Through Integrated Reporting

Mar. 24, 2025 — Companies can significantly enhance their stock market performance by adopting Integrated Reporting (IR) and Combined Assurance (CA) practices, according to new research that underscores the ...

Sometimes, When Competitors Collaborate, Everybody Wins

Feb. 27, 2025 — A framework helps rail system operators or other planners identify the best joint infrastructure projects to collaborate on with other firms. Their tool can tell an operator how much to invest, the ...

Gender Plays a Role in Long-Term Unemployed Individuals' Perception of Their Capabilities

Feb. 25, 2025 — A study shows that long-term unemployed individuals perceive their capabilities as weaker than the general Finnish population. Capabilities refer to the opportunities to achieve important things in ...

Another Way Longer Paternity Leaves Help New Parents

Feb. 20, 2025 — A longer paternity leave after the birth of a child can improve the co-parenting relationship between moms and dads in a key way, a new study finds. Researchers found that mothers were less likely to ...

Ai in Retail: How to Spark Creativity and Improve Job Satisfaction

Feb. 19, 2025 — AI is reshaping workplaces, particularly in retail. Researchers explored how AI service quality impacts retail employees' innovation, job fit, and satisfaction. Findings show when employees ...

Inconsistent Reporting Leads to Underestimation of Climate Impact of Methane

Feb. 14, 2025 — Companies around the world are underestimating their total greenhouse gas footprints because of inconsistent accounting standards for methane emissions, finds a new ...

Study in India Shows Kids Use Different Math Skills at Work Vs. School

Feb. 5, 2025 — A study by economists shows a wide gap between the kinds of math problems kids who work in retail markets do well and the kinds of problems kids in school do ...

What's the Best Way to Organize People to Generate Ideas? New Research Offers Insight

Feb. 4, 2025 — Is it better to work in large groups? Smaller ones? With other people who are similar or different? New research offers insight into these questions -- and some of the results are not what you'd ...

Building a Circular Future: Study Reveals Key Organizational Capabilities for Sustainability

Feb. 3, 2025 — A recent study by management scholars underscores the importance of organizations' dynamic capabilities for greener business practices. Analyzing data from 139 manufacturing companies, the ...

Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility Can Create Social, Economic Value

Jan. 28, 2025 — Strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts that are directly related to a hospitality company's core business operations and competencies can help companies create both social and ...

Vacations Are Good for Employee Well-Being, and the Effects Are Long Lasting

Jan. 27, 2025 — If you're like many Americans, you probably didn't take all your vacation time this year. Even if you did, it's highly likely you didn't fully unplug while off the clock. But you ...

UMaine-Led Team Develops More Holistic Way to Monitor Lobster Industry

Jan. 23, 2025 — After two years of data collection, quantitative and qualitative analyses, meetings and stakeholder interviews, a team of researchers developed new socioeconomic indicators to holistically monitor ...

Why Are Most Companies Failing to Benefit from AI? It's About the People Not the Tech

Jan. 22, 2025 — Successful uptake of new technology is a matter of emotions -- and with 4 in 5 companies saying they're failing to capitalize on its potential, managers need to know how to deal with them, say ...

A Team With Diverse Expertise Produces Novel Ideas -- But Are They Practical?

Jan. 21, 2025 — A first-of-its-kind study shows that while teams with differing skill sets and perspectives bring fresh, unique ideas to the table, they often struggle to create practical, workable solutions -- ...

Researchers Find Betrayal Doesn't Necessarily Make Someone Less Trustworthy If We Benefit

Jan. 9, 2025 — Both intuition and past research suggest that whether people deem someone trustworthy depends on that person's past behavior and reputation for betrayal. In a series of experiments, ...

Is There Really a Mid-Career Crisis? Job Satisfaction Follows a U-Shaped Curve Only Among Highly Skilled Workers, According to New Study

Jan. 9, 2025 — Contrary to the long-held belief that the mid-career crisis plagues everyone, new research suggests that job satisfaction follows a U-shaped trajectory only for managerial and professional workers. ...

Growing Divide: Agricultural Climate Policies Affect Food Prices Differently in Poor and Wealthy Countries

Jan. 3, 2025 — Farmers are receiving less of what consumers spend on food, as modern food systems increasingly direct costs toward value-added components like processing, transport, and marketing. A study shows ...