Latest news with #worldwide
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Why It's Never Been A Better Time To Be A Female Entrepreneur. Plus: Keep Your Focus During Uncertain Times
This is this week's ForbesWomen newsletter, which every Thursday brings news about the world's top female entrepreneurs, leaders and investors straight to your inbox. Click here to get on the newsletter list! I t's never been a better time to be a female entrepreneur: According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there are now some 658 million female founders and company owners worldwide, and as my colleague Grace Chung reports here, nearly two-thirds are early stage entrepreneurs, compared to less than half of their male counterparts. 'Women's entrepreneurship is the number one policy solution to things like health deficits and education deficits,' Amanda Elam, who authored GEM's latest Women's Entrepreneurship Report, told Forbes . 'The types of businesses women tend to lead create places that are great to live in. And it turns out companies like to build their operations in places like that. So in international development, there's been this awakening.' And so, to continue to shine a light on this growing cohort of self-starters, Forbes has published its first-ever standalone global ranking of the world's 50 richest self-made women. The women on this list are worth a collective $276 billion, or $5.5 billion on average—so not quite what we'd define as 'early stage' entrepreneurs, but the successes their businesses have found across sectors ranging from collagen to coal serve as blueprints for those who wish to follow in their wake. Check out the full list here! Cheers! Maggie McGrath Exclusive Forbes Profile: Teens And Tweens Are Obsessed With This Skincare Brand For Babies—Now It Brings In $100 Million A Year Kimberley Ho EVEREDEN Forbes 30 Under 30 alum Kimberley Ho walked away from her Wall Street career to launch Evereden for Generation Alpha. Today, her business brings in $100 million, and while the company sells in Sephora across eight countries outside the United States, including Canada, Australia and the Philippines, most of its revenue comes from direct-to-consumer sales online. 'Billions of investment dollars have gone to women's beauty, cosmetics and skincare, but none of that innovation and investment really went into family skincare,' Ho says. 'That mismatch just didn't make sense for me.' ICYMI: News Of The Week Speaking of lucrative business opportunities… Gail Federici sold her first company, John Frieda Hair Care, in 2002. She's more than doubled her fortune building a second brand, Color Wow, which is now eyeing a $1 billion sale. Forbes recently released its annual list of Top Creators—a ranking of America's most lucrative influencers who earned a collective $853 million last year. Among the women on this list are Alex Cooper, Charli D'Amelio and Lexi Rivera, who advises aspiring content creators to not get discouraged 'if something doesn't perform as you had hoped. It's only a matter of time until consistency pays off.' Some 54 million people tuned in to WNBA games last season, which is why 30 Under 30 alumnae Amanda Calabrese and Greta Meyer jumped at the chance to make their company, Sequel, the first official tampon sponsor for the Indiana Fever. 'From day one we wanted to work with female athletes because we've always believed that they were going to be the future of influencer marketing,' Calabrese told Forbes . According to the World Economic Forum's newly released 'Global Gender Gap Report 2025,' North America ranks highest globally in gender parity, having closed 75.8% of its overall gender gap and ranking first in the category of economic participation and opportunity. And yet: The world writ large remains a century away from achieving true gender parity. The Checklist 1. Consider reuniting with an ex… employer. According to payroll processor ADP, more workers are 'boomeranging' back to an old workplace than ever before. The benefits to doing this include a faster ability to jump into mission-critical work, because you already have a baseline point of reference. 2. Protect your yes. Learning to say no is one of the most powerful tools in business—and when you say yes to everything, you dilute your energy, your focus, and even your impact. 3. Stay focused even when everything feels uncertain. Burnout, lack of purpose, and constant interruptions can destroy our focus. Here are five brain hacks to use that can bring more clarity to your days. The Quiz Stunning images and videos from a new state-of-the-art telescope in Chile were released this week, they're the first visuals from the observatory named for an accomplished astronomer whose research confirmed the existence of dark matter. Who is the observatory named after? A. Caroline Herschel B. Vera C. Rubin C. Maria Mitchell D. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Check your answer. Liked what you read? Click here to get on the newsletter list!
The Independent
20 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Cold sore virus takes over human DNA within just one hour, study finds
The cold sore-causing Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV-1) hijacks human cells and reconfigures its DNA within just an hour after infection, according to a new study that may help tackle the pathogen. Viruses are dependant on their hosts for replication, and upon infecting cells they tend to take over its cellular machinery to make new copies of themselves. Scientists have now found that the herpes virus not only hijacks its host's genome, but tends to reorganise the entire internal structure of the cells it infects within an hour after infection. Two out of every three people under the age of 50 live with HSV-1, and once infected, they have the virus for life. Although most cases are asymptomatic or manifest as mostly benign but recurrent cold sores, in rare cases the virus can cause blindness or life-threatening disease in newborns or those with compromised immunity. herpes infection and dementia in older adults. The new study, published in the journal Nature Communications, found that HSV-1 reshapes the human genome's structure, making it compact and dense so that the virus can access host genes most useful for it to reproduce. This finding could lead to new treatments to control the virus, which infects nearly four billion people worldwide, researchers say. "HSV-1 is an opportunistic interior designer, reshaping the human genome with great precision and choosing which bits it comes into contact with. It's a novel mechanism of manipulation we didn't know the virus had to exploit host resources," said Esther González Almela, first author of the study. While previous studies have suggested that HSV infection leads to compacting and reshaping host chromosomes, it remained unclear whether it was a side effect of the cold sore virus infection or caused directly by the pathogen itself. The latest study is the first to prove that HSV-1 reshapes the human genome deliberately and within hours of infection. Researchers also found that blocking a single host cell enzyme – topoisomerase I – completely blocked the cold sore virus' crucial ability to rearrange the human genome. "In cell culture, inhibiting this enzyme stopped the infection before the virus could make a single new particle," said Pia Cosma, another author of the study. "That gives us a potential new therapeutic target to stop infection,' Dr Cosma said. In the study, scientists used super-resolution microscopy to peer into ultra small cell structures just 20 nanometres wide, which is around 3,500 times thinner than a strand of hair. They combined this with another technique that reveals which bits of DNA are touching inside the nucleus. These techniques showed that the herpes virus' hostile takeover begins within the first hour, with the virus hijacking a key human enzyme – RNA-polymerase II – to synthesise its own proteins. Just three hours after infection, the virus causes a sizeable fraction of molecules involved in human DNA replication to abandon the cell nucleus and enter viral replication compartments. The wholesale theft causes a collapse of any activity across the host genome, which then gets crushed into a dense shell just 30 per cent of its original volume. Scientists hope the latest findings can help address the global health challenge posed by HSV-1 due to its prevalence and ability to cause recurrent outbreaks.
Forbes
a day ago
- Health
- Forbes
A Compound Made From Shrimp Shells Can Rid The Body Of Microplastics
For those unaware of the extent of the problem, microplastics (MPs) are said to be in essentially every person in every part of the world. Ice samples from the poles and tissue samples from the penis show the extent of penetration. Given that these pieces of plastic have been found in placenta samples and reproductive organs, we can say that children are being subjected to plastic exposure from birth. To what degree these nano and microplastics will hurt humans is still debated and research is ongoing, and the FDA states that they'll take regulatory action when adverse effects are known. However, the reason that people prefer to avoid becoming plasticized is the conventional wisdom that having small pieces of plastic within our immune cells, nerve cells, and altering which genes are expressed is something we'd want to avoid. There's certainly no known benefit. Microplastics have ben detected basically everywhere, including the brain and penis. Recent studies discuss the 'ubiquitous' extent of microplastics and their varied effects. Kidney death, liver inflammation, oxidative stress, cellular toxicity, alterations in gene expression and changes to the DNA itself are some of the observed effects of microplastic exposure. I will hypothesize that there's potentially a link between nanoplastics and mental wellbeing. Not just from the obvious observation that plastics in the brain are bad, although this is true; I instead refer to the interference that our gastrointestinal microbiota are suffering with their extracellular vesicles because of microplastics. Understanding the brain-gut-microbe axis and the effect that our intestinal flora there have an impact on our neurological function, one may observe that altering this intestinal environment with nanoplastics can have an effect on mental wellbeing. If you do start depressed, try milk aromatherapy. It shows promise in rats depressed because of gut-brain issues. The Dentist For those of us who don't enjoy visits to the dentist, we have reasons to be validated. Different materials are used in different dental practices, but a lot of them are plastic or packaged in plastic. By the nature of installing implants that will be subjected to the wear and tear of using one's mouth in daily life, microplastics are created and ingested. Other procedures like polishing restorations, ceramic crowns, using elastics, orthodontic appliances, and so on can generate particles. Think about the plastic fibers on the plastic toothbrush you grind against your teeth twice a day. Should we go back to chewing spruce sap? Remedies Chitin is a compound found in mushrooms and the exoskeletons of crustaceans and insects. Chitosan is easily made from chitin. It's used as a dietary supplement and sold to help consumers feel full, block fat absorption and lower cholesterol. Good for wound care as well. We ought to produce more of it and make it mainstream because we have another important reason to like it. A new study has shown that it can benefit our well-being in a novel and needed way: ridding our bodies of microplastics. The study was short but revealing, and I hope it will be reproduced with longer durations and human subjects. The researchers share two important conclusions. For even short periods of ingestion, microplastics accrue in the digestive tract, primarily the cecum which is the pouch between the small intestine and colon. Assuming that chemicals can leach from these plastics and that the particles themselves will eventually absorb into the wider body, it's clearly advantageous to expel this poison before it accrues/accumulates. The group of rats that was fed a diet supplemented with chitosan expelled more MPs that any of the other groups. Intriguingly and encouragingly for me, over a few days the rats released more MPs than they took in. This suggests that chitosan won't just block absorption of current MPs, but in fact facilitate the cleansing of the colon of recently ingested microplastics. Further, after the rats were euthanized and dissected, the chitosan group had the lightest colons which suggests that they had the least total waste accumulated. As side effects for adding chitosan to one's diet are minimal beyond some stomach upset, UNLESS YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO SHELLFISH OR MUSHROOMS, it seems like a reasonable addition. This is not medical advice and as I said, I look forward to studies done with humans for longer periods to provide us with more information. With said I'm intrigued. Singapore. Green buildings trap microplastics, clean the air and water, and cool the city. Prevention A better way to go than solving a problem is to prevent it. Microplastics come from plastics, and despite some laws and public initiatives, the industry is vital and won't fade away naturally. Proactive investment in alternatives will bring about a whole society shift; personal choice is not an option here. Plastic is ubiquitous and a consumer doesn't have a real option to move away from it. Our tap water and the air we breathe are contaminated, so we must do more than avoid microwaving food in plastic containers, or stop buying items packaged in plastic. If anyone has been to any store ever, they would know that this is impossible. Everything is wrapped in plastic. To exist in the modern world is to be a creator of waste; even the well-intentioned can do little more than be frustrated. Green roofs are 97.5% effective in removing microplastics. They're generally good for retaining storm water, cleaning the air and runoff, which lessens the work of wastewater treatment plants. Green roofs can contribute to an urban cooling effect, countering the Urban Head Island (UHI) problem. Singapore has been a prime example of this for years. Now, we find another reason to widely adopt the practice in every city, immediately. Singapore exemplifies greening a city to everyone's benefit. Great Pacific Garbage Patch Removing what's already been released is a net benefit. When considering the scale of the undertaking to clean the North Pacific Garbage Patch and the greenhouse gasses that will be released or the marine life that will be interfered with, it isn't immediately clear what the best approach might be. Leaving it and hoping a reef grows on top of it could make sense, given the rubber tire reef projects we've all heard about. A comparative analysis of the Ocean Cleanup shows that while there will be some impact from action, the effect of doing nothing is significantly worse. Proactive action where possible to remove what's been released before it continues to break down into microplastics and nano plastics is a viable strategy for long term environmental health. In the scenario presented, plastic pollution levels drop to below what's considered a safe limit. Inaction has the higher cost. Leaving plastics in the oceans will be more damaging than removal. Complex problems can't be solved with simple solutions. Plastics can't be completely replaced, but we can adapt the ways we use them and consider novel strategies to mitigate their harm. When these strategies prove themselves to be effective, they ought to be systematically applied.
Skift
2 days ago
- Business
- Skift
Skift Travel Health Index: May 2025 Highlights
In May 2025, Skift Travel Health Index, at 102, indicates a period of balanced growth in the global travel industry. While the hotel sector faces challenges and revised forecasts, the strong performance of vacation rentals and steady growth in other segments paint an optimistic picture for global travel. Report Overview This report highlights the latest insights from the Skift Travel Health Index. The index covers travel's performance since January 2020, up to and including May 2025. The Skift Travel Health Index is a real-time measure of the performance of the travel industry at large, and the core verticals within it. The Index provides the travel industry with a powerful tool for strategic planning, which is of utmost importance as times remain uncertain. Skift Research launched the Index in May 2020 as the Skift Recovery Index. At the start of 2022 we rebranded the Index as the Skift Travel Health Index, to reflect some far-ranging changes: the addition of many more indicators, additional data partners, and most importantly, our continued effort to track the industry health beyond the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are thankful for the continued support of our other data partners: Amadeus, Aviasales, Beyond, CarTrawler, Cendyn, Cloudbeds, Collinson, Criteo, Duetto, Hotelbeds, Key Data Dashboard, Lighthouse, Nium, OAG, Onyx CenterSource, Shiji Group, Skyscanner, Sojern, The Data Appeal Company, TravelgateX, and TrustYou. Their data allows us to provide you with a monthly assessment of travel's performance.
Forbes
2 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
5 ChatGPT Mistakes That Are Keeping You Broke
One in eight people on earth use ChatGPT, but many are still using it ineffectively ChatGPT crossed over one billion users within a two and a half years since its launch. It's permeated thousands of workplaces worldwide and has been the catalyst to set off the AI revolution. But even though one in eight of the global population are using this generative AI tool, there are still many professionals who are not utilizing it the way it should be. Incorporating AI into your workflow or using it to help you make money as a freelancer is not as simple as plug-and-play and hope for the best. You need to be strategic and ensure that you're avoiding making the common mistakes that others are falling into, so that you stand out in an AI-ridden job market. In this article, we'll explore a few common mistakes that both employed professionals and freelancers make when using ChatGPT, and how to fix them easily. The 5 Biggest Mistakes ChatGPT Users Make No doubt you've heard, 'Generative AI will replace your job,' or 'ChatGPT will make you money.' And while both statements are true to a great extent, here's the part you need to know even more importantly: Here are the mistakes you're likely already repeating every day you use ChatGPT, plus how to remedy them: If you use AI outputs to write your content for you, you have a big problem. Here's what you should do instead: Let AI assist you in outlining, brainstorming, researching, and grammar-checking. Even use it to give you ideas to spruce up your existing content. But never copy-paste ChatGPT word-for-word and pass it off as your own. Also, don't forget to incorporate personal stories and insight into your content. This makes you more relatable, and more trust, connections, and rapport, leads to more partnerships, clients, and job opportunities. People are the currency of business after all. There's nothing wrong in using AI to write your resume, but you must know where your limits are. After all, only you can sell your story honestly. ResumeNow's recent Hiring Trends survey of more than 900 professionals noted that most recruiters and talent managers are cautious about candidates using AI to create their resumes, noting that their should be regulations in place or this can cost them their jobs. 'Workers using AI to write applications should do so thoughtfully,' ResumeNow suggests. "While AI can help with formatting and phrasing, employers still expect authenticity and personalization. An AI-generated skills section should only include skills that the candidate actually has. 'Job seekers should review and edit AI-generated content to ensure it accurately reflects their experience, avoids exaggeration, and includes specific, human details that demonstrate genuine interest in the role,' the report advises, before adding: 'Using AI to apply for jobs is efficient, but it must be done with care.' Stop using AI as a replacement for your own critical thinking skills. While it helps to have a second pair of eyes or an assistant, a fresh MIT study revealed some insight into the fact that repetitively using tools like ChatGPT could potentially negatively impact your critical reasoning skills. So it's essential to allow your expertise to lead the way and allow AI to guide you along the process. Do this instead: Every now and then, practice stepping away and performing cognitive functions without using AI. This helps you in situations like a live negotiation, when you're in a meeting or confronted with a situation that doesn't permit you the time to 'check with ChatGPT.' In times like these, this skill set becomes invaluable and a direct precursor to financial and career success. This shouldn't need to be said but it must be said: stop sending bots into emails and DMs. How would you like it if you received a generic, robotic outreach email or LinkedIn InMail? Cold pitching is already something that puts people's backs up initially, so why make it harder for yourself and place any roadblock in the way? Instead, try this: Use ChatGPT to write the template and research the individual you're reaching out to, then personalize your outreach. Never build your entire freelance business model off AI. It's not worth it. You'll look fake in the end and it will seriously hurt your profits. Instead, focus on: ChatGPT can certainly boost your salary and your income, but you've got to know how to wield this tool ethically, learn the guardrails, and balance with your personal expertise. After all, whether you're freelancing or employed in a traditional job sense, that's why they hired you. Every now and then, exercise your brain and practice independent thinking outside of AI FAQs How do I avoid ChatGPT and Gen AI making me sound fake and robotic? Audit your AI usage, and focus on defining your personal voice and let that shine through. Rewrite in your words, edit the output, and use the AI results as a rough outline. Most importantly, blend your unique insights and stories. Is prompt engineering a high-income skill? Yes it is, but you can only build a high income by combining your prompting skills with your own expertise and domain knowledge, to produce the highest quality results.
