There’s no better time than summer to catch up on the books you might have missed this winter and spring. From a feminist retelling of classic mythology to a troubled love story set partly in a prison, here are our favorite novels of 2018 so far.

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For half a century, doctors have said human organ transplants will someday be replaced by xenotransplantation, or putting animal organs into people. But xenotransplant attempts have largely failed, making it seem like the goal will never be realized. “The running joke is that the future of transplantation is xenotransplantation, and always will be,” said Dr. Robert Redfield, a transplant surgeon at UW Hospital.

Pity the IT leader having to listen to yet another management mandate about the importance of “innovation.” We get it: innovation is differentiating, strategic, vital. Those who don’t try to create the future, particularly with emerging digital technologies, risk being left in the dust by those who do. That’s why it’s vitally important to carve out resources to explore, experiment and ask big questions.

Innovation schools have the freedom of charter schools but take advantage of the resources and scale of the school district.

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If you live in San Carlos or Redwood City, California–near San Francisco, but not the most expensive part of the Bay Area–and have a minimum-wage job in retail or at a coffee shop, you won’t make enough to afford a typical studio apartment.

The county’s “housing wage,” or the amount you’d need to make per hour to spend no more than 30% of your income on rent, is $38.73 an hour. The minimum wage in Redwood City, though it will soon increase, is $11. To afford a two-bedroom apartment, you’d need to make more than $60 an hour.

With the invention of Bitcoin in the year 2009, the underlying Blockchain Technology was also introduced to the world. At that point in time, the researchers and the experts could not realize the potential of the Blockchain Technology apart from cryptocurrencies. The Blockchain Technology is finding its application in many domains including the Electoral process, Healthcare industry, Supply chain management, HR industry, and also the entrepreneurship.

“Do Schools Kill Creativity?” is one of the most popular TED Talks of all time. In his entertaining and provocative presentation, Sir Ken Robinson says (referring largely to the state of education today) that “..if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They have become frightened of being wrong.”

Crowdfunding has come a long way in the last decade with the Internet and many popular platforms, including IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. In fact, crowdfunding now rivals both venture capital and angel funding as the money source of choice for new entrepreneurs. As a small business advisor, I often recommend it as the best alternative for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Previously for a startup looking to raise capital, most companies took the same route. Terms like Venture Capital, Seed Funding, Series A, B, C, & Investment Banking were common. Today we have a disruptor in the global finance industry through the power of the distributed ledger, including a popular type known as blockchain, so companies now have another option of financing through what has come to be known as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). In 2017, blockchain startups raised more than $1 billion through traditional Venture Capital, and a whopping $5.6 billion through ICO capital. Let’s take a look at the two models and compare them.

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Leaders in outcome-based cultures (OBCs) are able to concentrate on what people achieve -- the outcome -- not necessarily how they achieve it.

While cultures like these aren't formal business structures, they do require structured leadership input, especially regarding selection and engagement -- they put the right people with the right talents in the right roles and then drive their performance through engagement. OBC leaders and managers don't micromanage. They guide their employees' performance and contributions to overall strategies.

Whether you’re lucky enough to have a great boss or have an uncomfortably rocky relationship with your manager, it pays to put some thought into your interactions. The language you use with your boss could end up dictating whether you get promoted, end up on the chopping block, or fall somewhere in between. With that in mind, here are five phrases you should make an effort to avoid uttering to your boss–even if they seem appropriate on the spot.

The European Commission this week flicked an ignition switch on a competition to build a cheap space launcher, giving new energy to a space race dominated by US companies.

The prize, part of the European Innovation Council pilot, will award €10 million to a commercially viable and affordable launcher for light satellites.

Extra points will go to applicants who have already managed to launch smaller, inexpensive satellites and developed a concept for their launch services by the time of their application – closing date, June 1, 2021.

Image: Arianespace

The Department of Homeland Security recently filed a proposal to remove an Obama-era rule that allows immigrant founders of companies in the US the opportunity to stay for two and a half years, with the possibility of an extension.

It was a long time coming, considering the current administration's push to enforce stricter and broader immigration laws to prevent any loopholes: Last year, the DHS delayed the effective date from July 2017 to March 2018, and announced it would ultimately remove it completely in order to protect the jobs of American workers. 

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In late May, the Trump administration announced that the length of visas for Chinese graduate students working in certain fields would be cut to one year. Not unexpected, the step is intended to protect advanced U.S. technology from Chinese appropriation, as well as limit the speed of Chinese technological advances. The practical impact of the change remains uncertain, and relatively few students will actually see a change; for the most part it may simply add to the hassle and paperwork that these students face.

Image: Image Credit: U.S. Army photo by Kimberly Bratic, TARDEC

Chinese students have been caught in the cross hairs of the brewing trade war between Beijing and Washington, but see little impact – at least for the moment – from the United States’ latest policy change to shorten the validity of visas to some Chinese citizens.

By registering you agree to our T&Cs & Privacy Policy While Chinese international students preparing to go to the US to study in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields said the changes would not affect their plans, education consultants believe the visa changes may prompt some of them to study elsewhere.

The term “innovation” is often associated with geniuses turning startups into gold mines — the next Google, Apple, or Amazon, with products no one even knew they needed. Private equity firms place hundreds of little bets on these startups, hoping one produces a windfall that covers the rest. These bets on the next growth engine often depend on luck more than insight.

For me, decision making is one of those things that I haven’t gotten better at with age. While I might know more than my younger self, I’ve also realized just how much more I don’t know. That realization is pretty scary when it comes to making big decisions. And the more of those I made, the more I realized just how much it changed the direction of my life, for better or worse.

The life science industry is growing rapidly around the country and New York City is poised for an explosion of new companies—but there isn’t enough real estate to accommodate them in Gotham, according to industry experts at the first-ever Life Sciences 2018 Real Estate Development Symposium on June 12.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was, briefly and famously, an ardent fruitarian—meaning he ate a diet composed primarily of fruit, which he believed would cleanse his body of harmful fluids. Just as famously, the actor Ashton Kutcher tried adopting Jobs’s fruit-centric diet, until he ended up in the hospital with an out-of-whack pancreas.

I’ve been part of and have mentored at a number of female-focused accelerators. The programs center around empowering women through networking opportunities, education curriculum, mentorship and access to customers. But I’ve started to wonder if female-focused accelerators are the right choice for women?