Here at Crunchbase News, we write about a lot of funding rounds and the investors leading them. Most of the time, those investors tend to be venture capitalists, but a growing number have been private equity firms.

The success of a fantastic business idea does not simply come from its creative genius, but also how the idea is put into action. 

Q: How do I know if my million-dollar idea is worth pursuing?

A: The success of a fantastic business idea does not simply come from its creative genius, but also how the idea is put into action. You can’t know if it’s worth pursuing until you start to pursue it.

When we buy something on Amazon or watch something on Netflix, we think it’s our own choice. Well, it turns out that algorithms influence one-third of our decisions on Amazon and more than 80% on Netflix. What’s more, algorithms have their own biases. They can even go rogue.

In his recent book titled, A Human’s Guide to Machine Intelligence: How Algorithms Are Shaping Our Lives and How We Can Stay in Control, Kartik Hosanagar, a professor of operations, information and decisions at Wharton, focuses on these issues and more. He discusses how algorithmic decisions can go wrong and how we can control the way technology impacts decisions that are made for us or about us.

Image: https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

In the last decade, scientists around the world pulled off impressive feats: They imaged a supermassive black hole for the first time, discovered new human ancestors, created groundbreaking new medical treatments, and launched probes to distant asteroids, comets, and moons.

Researchers also invented reusable rockets, sent two landers to Mars, and identified possibly habitable planets outside our solar system.

Image: An artist's depiction of a black hole about to swallow a neutron star. Carl Knox, OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might be reducing your phone battery's lifespan with certain charging behaviors.

Specifically, if you often charge your phone overnight or keep it plugged in for hours after it's reached 100%, you're accelerating the aging process of lithium-ion smartphone batteries.

"If you're going to charge your phone to 100% and keep it at 100% — just keep on charging and charging overnight — this will have negative influence on aging," Dominik Schulte, the managing director of the German battery-technology consultancy firm BatterieIngenieure, told Business Insider.

Dan*, a partner at a major Boston law firm, was due at the office, but instead, he was curled on his bathroom floor, unshaven and in his pajamas, crying into a towel.

Great quotes can be inspirational and motivational. You can use quotes to help guide your decisions in life, work and love. Here are 50 of the best inspirational quotes to motivate you:

Maine is at an economic crossroads.

For generations, our forests, farmlands and waters have created economic opportunity all over this state.

Furs, fisheries, timber and land made fortunes for many until the late 1800s, and then large-scale production of lumber, granite, ice and lime, fishing and shipbuilding drove success in our coastal communities and resulted in a network of railroads. Textiles and paper products drove the work of mills across the state and put food on the table for thousands.

Image: Gov. Janet Mills - https://www.seacoastonline.com

This year was full of astronomical breakthroughs in space.

Photos captured phenomena nobody had ever seen before. Ambitious spacecraft revealed new secrets about the sun and the edges of our solar system. Astronomers spotted the brightest light in the universe, found new planets circling distant stars, and detected a collision between a black hole and a neutron star that warped the fabric of space-time.

Image: An artist's illustration of the Parker Solar Probe approaching the sun. NASA

There is a mountain of evidence to support that a high body mass index (BMI) and obesity negatively impact cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular, and other diseases. Yet, for every “rule” there is always an exception and investigators at Flinders University in South Australia, have found that in some cases a high BMI may actually improve the chance of survival among certain cancers. Focusing on clinical trials of atezolizumab, a common immunotherapy treatment for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the research team found improved responsiveness to the drug in those with a high BMI.

Image: https://www.genengnews.com

This VC investment graph sums up the purpose of Healthcare Pizza. 🍕

As you can see, investors are increasingly focusing on larger, later stage rounds.

At least among CB’s 2019 Top 150 digital health startups.

There’s reasons, including the fact that more mature companies were more likely to be placed on the list.

There’s no board-certified test for becoming an entrepreneur. You don’t have to go to a certain school or have a certain type of experience. That’s what makes this path in life so great. Do you want to do it? Then do it.

People of all ages have started successful companies. Worrying about your age should be the last thing on your mind. It’s true that many businesses fail, but if you hold yourself back, you won’t take a swing at hitting a home run, either. So let’s get down to it.

We asked ‘Start-Up Nation’ coauthor Saul Singer to share his insights into the development of Israel’s startup culture, 10 years after publication of the international bestseller.

We expect 2020 will be an active market, which will not vary dramatically from the volumes we've seen in 2019. It also should be a disciplined market with corporations looking at their core competencies, prioritizing strategic deals, and scrutinizing the use of their balance sheet. And it will likely be a defensive market. Corporations will try to support their standalone organic growth with external growth, supporting their earnings at a time of economic uncertainty.

Relationships are the key to survival and success for entrepreneurs, and first impressions usually turn into lasting impressions. As an advisor to many early-stage entrepreneurs, I caution them to always be prepared for that chance meeting with a famous investor, a potential partner or an industry guru. It’s not smart to believe that your passion and gift of gab will impress anyone.

December 2019 – Respondents’ views on the world economy and their countries’ conditions turn somewhat brighter. Trade tensions remain the most-cited threat to global growth, while social unrest climbs on the list of concerns.

The idea of being a founder has never been so popular around the world, so how is that going to change industries and entire regions? This year we dove headfirst into the rise of corporate venture capital, the changing nature of venture capital education, and the important task of startup ecosystem building.

The startup that raised Central Ohio's two largest VC rounds of 2018 came back this year with the biggest raise in state history. Check out our countdown of the year’s top 10 VC rounds as the Columbus region's startups attract more capital from Silicon Valley and other firms outside the state. 

One of the major concerns of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is that artificial intelligence and automation – robots – will eliminate jobs, both blue-collar and white-collar roles across a variety of sectors.

While C-3PO and WALL-E might be good at processing algorithms, they can never replace living, breathing, thinking humans entirely in the workplace. From the auto factory producing a fine-tuned machine where safety and functionality are of utmost importance, to the commodities trading floor where high-value transactions must take into account complex, rapidly changing geopolitical movements, businesses of all kinds still require human intelligence.

Image: Apprenticeship programs can help global companies fill available jobs and train and reskill workers, says Mercuria. Image: Mercuria

2019 will be remembered as the year humanity captured the first-ever image of a black hole. The year also brought fresh views of some of Earth’s smallest living creatures and ominous signs of its changing climate. Here are the most striking shots from science and the natural world that caught the attention of Nature’s news team.

Image: The Event Horizon Telescope collaboration unveiled this first direct image of a black hole and its event horizon in April. The team used eight radio observatories to capture the ring of light around the void, which is at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87. Credit: ETH Collaboration