Employees at Costco have 14 reasons to celebrate. Marketwatch reports: "Costco Wholesale Corp. said Thursday it would raise its minimum wage and boost pay for 130,000 U.S. store staff, intensifying the battle for unskilled workers in a tight U.S. job market. The retail chain, second only to Walmart Inc. in terms of U.S. sales, said... Continue Reading →

This fall, thousands of billboard and lawn signs will be erected all over the country in advance of the midterms, bearing names of politicians up for election. But a new campaign by the organization For Freedoms aims to use those tools not to promote specific candidates but to galvanize debate and political participation through art.... Continue Reading →

Pope Francis warned that climate change risked destroying humanity on Saturday and called on energy leaders to help the world to convert to clean fuels to avert catastrophe. “Civilization requires energy but energy use must not destroy civilization,” the pope told top oil company executives at the end of a two-day conference in the Vatican.... Continue Reading →

Blockchain technology could soon revolutionize the global banking industry, according to the chief executives of two major European lenders. Banks have invested millions in developing blockchain applications in recent years, as part of a broader industry effort to try to cut costs and simplify their back-office processes. The technology, which is perhaps better known as... Continue Reading →

In a present-day situation, a lot of level-headed discussions are occurring with respect to the quick pace at which Artificial Intelligence (AI) is creating and the benefits and bad marks of the same. The possibility of a super-shrewd machine taking control of people sounds like an implausible plot of a science fiction novel. However, in... Continue Reading →

Being counted counts, but sometimes counting is harder than you’d expect it to be. That seems to be true for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which this morning released its first “Contingent Workforce Survey” (CWS) in 13 years. It’s a welcome new data set but, I believe, a sorely inadequate one. WHAT THE GOVERNMENT’S DATA DOESN’T... Continue Reading →

Modern society’s stance on artificial intelligence — AI — is generally split down the middle. While some insist that next-gen robotics and AI-driven machines are set to take over the world, others take a more realistic approach. Instead of fighting against the trend of increased automation in the workplace, tech-savvy professionals are embracing smart machines... Continue Reading →

NASA’s Curiosity Rover has found some new and exciting information about Mars, and the space agency is announcing that discovery to the world on Thursday. The Curiosity Rover launched from Earth in November 2011 and landed on Martian soil on August 6, 2012. It has since been cruising around the red planet’s surface, functioning as... Continue Reading →

Robots have been taking our jobs since the 1960s. So why are politicians and business leaders only now becoming so worried about robots causing mass unemployment? Again, in an ideal scenario, humans may be able to focus on doing the things that make us human, perhaps fuelled by a basic income generated from robotic work.... Continue Reading →

YOU LIKE EATING, yes? Apples, oranges, berries? For these foods we can thank bees and their extraordinary pollinating powers. Unfortunately, to show our appreciation, humans are killing off bees in staggering numbers—destroying their habitats and poisoning them with pesticides. And at the same time, our population is skyrocketing, which means if we can't get our... Continue Reading →