You may have read the famous “monkey and the banana” story on the Internet in various blogs and articles. If not, it’s definitely worth a read. It’s about five monkeys, a ladder and a banana, and the key takeaway is about the human behavior of not challenging assumptions.

Imagine a world where you’re driving to campus, and before you get there, your car tells you to park in one lot because it already knows another is full. That could soon be the reality at Carnegie Mellon University, where researchers have teamed up with Google to place wireless sensors around the campus to connect everyday items with the web.

Where is business travel going over the next few years? What about the next decade? What kind of innovative technologies and practices will become commonplace?

According to Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the five following trends will shape the future of business travel: customization, mobile technologies, fresh booking practices, the sharing economy and digital payment solutions.

We know this much so far about Harper Lee's new book: Atticus Finch is 72 and suffering from rheumatoid arthritis; Scout is a grown woman who has a suitor most anxious to marry her.

And Scout's older brother, Jem, apparently has died.

The first chapter ran of "Go Set a Watchman" ran in Friday's editions of The Wall Street Journal and The Guardian. It begins with Scout, otherwise known as Jean Louise Finch, returning by train to Lee's legendary Maycomb, Alabama, on one of several annual visits she makes from New York, where she is greeted by young Henry Clinton.

In the film Jaws, sharks are characterized as mindless eating machines.

In truth, they are far from dumb. Great whites are cunning hunters, and their mechanical efficiency is the result of millions of years of evolution. The specifics of how they move and feed are stunning to behold and terrifying to contemplate.

Competing for European Research Council grants is often likened to entering European football’s Champions League, with success seen as the ultimate affirmation of excellence. But while the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United have underachieved in recent years in the Champions League, British researchers have been running away with trophy after trophy since the ERC was established in 2007.

Image: https://www.insidehighered.com/

Social entrepreneurship is making waves in the worlds of business and social justice. Over the last decade and a half, an ideal environment has been created, fostering an explosion of this (relatively) newfound way of doing business. As a result, a model has been hatched that focuses not only on creating sustainable revenue sources, but on aiding society in new ways.

True success of an entrepreneur comes not from their ideas, but from their inner mindset and character traits. It takes a certain type of leader to endure startup life and persevere past the hurdles that will inevitable lay ahead in their efforts to inspire disruption or bring a new innovation to life.

Encountering failure as an entrepreneur can be crushing, especially if you’re new to the experience. 

While leading a business, you’re in charge of making the decisions, and you’re the one that’s accountable when something goes wrong. When something does go wrong (and something always will), it’s easy to take it as a sign of your own incompetence, or to believe that there’s little to no hope of recovery. And because you’re so passionate about pushing your business to succeed, failure can be utterly heartbreaking.

Deloitte’s latest research has outlined the key traits required in leaders to tackle the biggest changes to diversity in coming years.

According to the report, Fast forward: leading in a brave new world of diversity, outlines three key ways in which increasing diversity affecting the business world, and offered insights from senior ANZ business leaders on how they are confronting the changes in their organisations.

PRLog - July 9, 2015 - NEW YORK -- The German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) is proud to announce the release of its fifth annual report. Since its launch in 2010, the center has become a prominent facilitator of German-North American scientific and technological exchange, thanks to its diverse network and wide range of events. Increasingly, it is becoming a key resource for representatives from science, industry, and government interested in developing sustainable collaborations among corporations, educational institutions, and other centers of innovation in the U.S., Canada, and Germany. The number of requests for information about contacts, funding opportunities, collaborations, and scientific placements in German research institutions has grown substantially in recent years.

When you spill a bit of water onto a tabletop, the puddle spreads — and then stops, leaving a well-defined area of water with a sharp boundary.

There’s just one problem: The formulas scientists use to describe such a fluid flow say that the water should just keep spreading endlessly. Everyone knows that’s not the case — but why?

This mystery has now been solved by researchers at MIT — and while this phenomenon might seem trivial, the finding’s ramifications could be significant: Understanding such flowing fluids is essential for processes from the lubrication of gears and machinery to the potential sequestration of carbon dioxide emissions in porous underground formations.

Drowning does not happen the way most people think. On television and in movies, a frantic swimmer kicks, thrashes, and shouts, says Graham Snyder, an emergency room physician. But real-life drowning is nearly silent.

Drowning swimmers say nothing because they can barely breathe, Snyder explains. Rather than thrash, they bob up and down before quietly slipping below the surface. Amid the splashing and noise of pool play, a lifeguard’s eyes search for the child making no splashes and no sound. Drowning detection, Snyder says, is “trying to notice the unnoticeable.”

The U.S. West is still baking. The temperatures for June are in and five Western states saw their warmest June ever (helping to make the month the second warmest June for the contiguous U.S.), and four continue to see their warmest year-to-date, just as 2015 hits the halfway mark.  

In drought-plagued California, “we’re beating the record set just last year” and “not by a razor thin margin,” Daniel Swain, a PhD student at Stanford University, said.

Image: NOAA

Researchers from across the globe recently teamed up to accomplish what might seem like an impossible (and scary) task: counting as many of the ocean's sharks as possible.

The giant shark census, dubbed the Global FinPrint, is expected to last three years and involves surveying more than 400 reef locations around the world. Researchers will use underwater cameras on the ocean floor to capture images of sharks and other animals as they pass by, and the scientists are calling on boaters, sailors and other ocean lovers to help get this equipment into position, according to the Global FinPrint website.

Image: Global FinPrint

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced the designation of 12 new communities as part of the Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership (IMCP) initiative. This second round of manufacturing communities was selected by an interagency panel to receive targeted support from 11 different federal agencies and programs. The IMCP initiative is intended to accelerate U.S. manufacturing by investing in partnerships and long-term economic development strategies in key regions. More than $1 billion in federal assistance will be available to the 12 designated communities.

“My job is to help product managers own their ideas, work with stakeholders, get people on board and amplify their insights. Our product managers are my products," says Jack Krawczyk, VP of Product at Pandora. It's about using the same skills, but with a subtle shift of application.

As the first PM dedicated to seamlessly integrating advertising into the product, Krawczyk knows what it's like to work on mission-critical projects. Now as he leads product for the entire organization, his imperative work is all about building the most skilled and adaptable teams possible.

Image: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com

Few executives would argue that speed and innovation are critical success factors in today’s digital world. Being able to innovate quickly and cheaply, test digital products and services in the market, refine them, and release them on a regular basis has become a competitive advantage. But how can companies do it consistently and succeed with their digital products and services at scale?

Recently, a California court ruled that a driver for Uber was entitled to benefits as an “employee” rather than a “contractor.” Uber has since appealed the ruling. But the case raises anew the question about whether such legal actions could eventually lead to higher labor costs for the ride-sharing service and other businesses like it in the sharing economy.

Money wasn’t the only thing that enabled financier Cosimo de’ Medici  to become de facto ruler of Florence for much of the Italian Renaissance. He exemplified a special leadership skill — the ability to get diverse teams of contending bankers, merchants, and traders to collaborate effectively. How? He identified with each group’s sentiments and mindsets. With that understanding, he succeeded where others failed: He built new bridges of common purpose, resulting in a “team” that produced greater, more sustained economic, social, and cultural value for all parties — and the broader society.