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A potent winter storm threatened blizzard-like conditions, treacherous travel, and power outages in parts of the Upper Midwest as other areas of the country braced Monday for plunging temperatures, strong winds, and a mix of snow, ice, and rain.The snow and strengthening winds began spreading Sunday across the northern Plains, where the National Weather Service warned of whiteout conditions and possible blizzard conditions that could make travel impossible in some areas. Snowfall totals were expected to exceed a foot (30 centimeters) across parts of the upper Great Lakes and as much as double that along the south shore of Lake Superior.“Part of the storm system is getting heavy snow, other parts of the storm along the cold front are getting higher winds and much colder temperatures as the front passes,” said Bob Oravec, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service office in College Park, Maryland. “They’re all related to each other different parts of the country will be receiving different effects from this storm.”The weather service warned of “dangerous wind chills” as low as minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34.4 degrees Celsius) in North Dakota and into Minnesota from Sunday night into Monday.In the South, meteorologists warned severe thunderstorms are likely to signal the arrival of a sharp cold front bringing a sudden drop in temperatures and strong north winds that will abruptly end days of record warmth throughout that region.The high temperature in Atlanta was around 72 F (22 C) on Sunday, continuing a warming trend after climbing to 78 F (about 26 C) to shatter the city’s record high temperature for Christmas Eve, the National Weather Service said. Numerous other record high temperatures were seen across the South and Midwest on the days after Christmas.But the incoming cold front was expected to drop rain on much of the South late Sunday night into Monday, and a big drop in temperatures Tuesday. Forecasters said the low temperature in Atlanta to 25 F (minus 3.9 C) by early Tuesday morning. The colder temperatures in the South are expected to persist through New Year’s Day.In Dallas, Sunday temperatures in the lower 80s (upper 20s C) could drop down to the mid 40s (single digits Celsius). In Little Rock, high temperatures of around 70 (21 C) on Sunday could drop down to highs in the mid-30s on Monday.“We’re definitely going back towards a more winter pattern,” Oravec said.The storm is expected to intensify as it moves east, drawing energy from a sharp clash between frigid air plunging south from Canada and unusually warm air that has lingered across the southern United States, according to the National Weather Service. Leah Willingham and Jeff Martin, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Construction materials are responsible for nearly one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions. And as global demand for construction continues to rise (it has already tripled over the past 25 years), its emissions are bound to climb even higher.eIn fact, some, like environmental engineer and University of Virginia professor Andres Clarens, see materials potential negative impact as so existential that he calls them the last major frontier in the fight against climate change. If thats the case, we need to reduce the emissions associated with commonly used building materials like cement and steeland we need to develop alternative materials that emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions by default. And we need to do it fast.This year, material designers delivered. Some of these new materials are still in the testing phase, others are already on the market. All five have tremendous potential to make our buildings more sustainable.[Photo: RMIT University]1. A superstrong material inspired by the deep-sea spongeEarlier this year, researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology invented a bio-inspired building material that is both lightweight and resilient under pressure, which could help reduce the use of steel and concrete. The key to their innovation? A little creature that lives thousands of meters deep in the ocean.The deep-sea sponges lattice-like skeleton, which has been optimized over millions of years, can absorb force while maintaining its strength. According to the researchers, a similarly designed material could enable thinner load-bearing walls and slimmer columns, which in turn, would reduce the amount of steel and concrete required to achieve structural integrity.The material is still in the testing phase.[Photos: InventWood]2. A Superwood that is stronger than steelSeven years ago, scientists at the University of Maryland said they discovered a way to make wood so strong that it could compete with steel. This year, their research culminated in the launch of Superwood, a material that has 50% greater tensile strength than steel and a strength-to-weight ratio thats 10 times better.Superwood was developed by a spin-off startup called InventWood, which began mass-producing the material this summer. The companys first facility in Frederick, Maryland, can produce one million square feet of Superwood per year, with applications varying from interior finishes to exterior-grade panels for siding and roofing.The plan, according to InventWood cofounder Alex Lau, is to build a larger facility that will scale to over 30 million square feet, enabling use in infrastructure and large developments.[Image: Carbon Smart Wood]3. A cross-laminated timber made of fallen treesBy some estimates, cities lose a staggering 36 million trees a year to storms, insects, and disease. Over the past six years, the Washington, D.C.-based startup Carbon Cambium has salvaged six million board feet of wood from these fallen trees, diverting it from the landfill, and turning it into usable timber for furniture with companies like Room & Board and Sabai.This year, the startup developed its first product for the construction industry. Carbon Smart Wood is the first cross-laminated timber (CLT) made from salvaged trees, which promises to make mass timber construction even more sustainable.The company offers millwork like decking and flooring, and full CLT structural panels for buildings. Forty thousand linear feet of the material will appear on the facade of the new JFK Airport expansion in 2026.a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/91453541/architects-embracing-rammed-earth-designs">Horizon House [Photo: Casey Dunn/courtesy Lake Flato]4. A new take on rammed earthRammed earth, a building technique where damp soil is compacted in layers within temporary forms, has propped up buildings for millennia. This year, the humble material got an upgrade when researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology encased it in a cardboard tube.The resulting material, dubbed cardboard-confined rammed earth (CCRE), consists of rammed earth thats been compacted inside cylindrical tubes. Typically, rammed earth walls also include a dose of cement to improve strength and durability, but the cardboard formwork in CCRE acts as a shell, negating the need for cement. The researchers say the cardboard helps protect the rammed earth from surrounding environments, while additional treatment on the cardboard can extend its life as well. They have also developed a similar version using carbon-fiber tubes.To date, the team has built a small-scale prototype, but if scaled, the material could be used to build low-rise and modular buildings with no cement.[Image: courtesy Joe Doucet and Partners]5. A paint that changes colors with the seasonsWeve known for a while now that painting surfaces like streets and roofs in white can make them cooler because white reflects heatand painting them black can make them warmer because black absorbs heat.This year, industrial designer Joe Doucet took this time-tested innovation to a new level by developing a climate-adaptive paint that can change colors based on the outside temperature. The paint, which can be mixed with other tints (so you can still have your yellow house) could save an estimated 2030% in energy costs every year. Doucets team is currently testing the final formula, with the goal of licensing it to paint manufacturers when ready.
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E-Commerce
Throughout 2025, weve watched companies treat employees with a stunning disregard: rolling layoffs (with thousands let go at a time), unchecked workloads, turning a blind eye to burnoutwith 76% of U.S. workers reporting at least one health condition todayand a near-gleeful rush to replace people with AI. Over 200,000 American women quit their jobs this year, many citing inflexible policies and lack of support for balancing work and life. Relentless rounds of cuts have destabilized employee trust and left employees uncertain and questioning leadership at every level. Across industries, leaders have routinely prioritized short-term efficiency over human impacts, sending a clear signal that employee well-being is treated as irrelevant to how most CEOs define organizational success. Despite a year in which many companies acted as if they were actively anti employee well-being, theres clear evidence that 2026 will be the year everything changes. This isnt wishful thinking or naivete. Its grounded in hard business realities that CEOs can no longer afford to ignore. First, investorsthe same ones who have historically applauded employee layoffsare beginning to reward companies that prioritize employee flourishing because multiple years of research show that firms with high well-being scores consistently outperform peers in stock performance, profitability, and innovation. Second, the talent market is unforgivingtop performers now demand workplaces that offer trust, growth, and the conditions to thrive; ignoring this risks losing the very people who drive competitive advantage. Additionally, weve reached a point of destabilizationa crisiswhere people are hitting a no more moment and simply wont continue in the old way any longer. This will be a major catalyst for change. Third, the AI-driven transformation of work depends on human adaptability; organizations that fail to foster well-being, learning, and resilience will sabotage their own investments in technology. Finally, the reputational and financial costs of ignoring well-being are increasingly visible, from mass departures of key employees to heightened public scrutiny. Taken together, these forces create a perfect storm: 2026 is the year CEOs will have both the incentive and the imperative to finally make employee well-being a central strategic priority. The Reckoning Arrives If 2025 will be remembered for the callousness and disregard organizations showed their people, 2026 will be remembered as the year CEOs felt the consequences of those decisions and were forced to pivot. And this shift wont happen because leaders suddenly became more empathetic. It will happen because the data is now unequivocal: employee well-being isnt a soft ideaits a hard, proven driver of performance, retention, customer experience, innovation, and long-term value creation. When people feel genuinely valued, respected, supported, treated humanely, and that they truly belong, they dont just perform more optimallythey think more clearly, solve problems more creatively, and bring far greater energy and commitment to their work. Research from leading business schools and global workplace studies demonstrates this; 2026 is simply the year the evidence becomes impossible for CEOs to dismiss. The Well-BeingPerformance Link Is No Longer Debatable For years, employee well-being was treated as a feel-good afterthoughtsomething leaders knew mattered but never put on the same level as profits and shareholder returns. That era is over. Rigorous, multiyear research from investment firm Irrational Capitalanalyzing thousands of public companies, including the entire S&P 500 and Russell 1000shows that organizations in the top 20% for employee well-being have outperformed the market by hundreds of basis points. Oxford research finds that a single-point increase in employee happiness correlates with billions in additional annual profit for large enterprises. McKinsey on burnout, Deloitte on retention, Gallups global workplace dataall of it points to the same conclusion: when people feel genuinely supported, productivity, profitability, innovation, and customer loyalty surge. Harvard leadership professor Arthur C. Brooks puts it bluntly: Happier employees are more profitable, more productive employees. Thats just the way it is. Investors are now baking these realities into their models. The gap between human flourishing and financial flourishing isnt philosophical anymoreits mathematical. Where Companies Have Gone Wrong Most organizations spent the past decade conflating well-being with wellness programs. They handed out meditation apps, gym stipends, and yoga classes while ignoring the root causes of poor well-being: uncaring and untrustworthy managers, a lack of connection and belonging, expectations of always being onand feeling unappreciated for ones hard work. The result was predictableburnout soared, engagement flat-lined, and the best people walked away. The damage is undeniable in 2025s data. Trust in senior leadership has fallen to its lowest point in years. Employees are using words like disconnect, misalignment, distrust, and hypocrisy in record numbers. The power shift back to employers has been used to push return-to-office mandates, endless restructurings, and the forever layoffsmall, rolling terminations that keep everyone fearing theyll be next, exhausted, and diminished in what they can contribute. Why 2026 Changes Everything 2025 exposed the cost of treating people as expendble. 2026 will reveal the cost of continuing to do so. The forces now converging leave CEOs no room to hide: Investors have begun rewarding cultures of genuine care. The same financial logic that once justified layoffs now proves that sustained well-being creates superior performance. Boards are asking hard questions about turnover, culture risk, and the long-term sustainability of workforce models built on burnout. The cost of neglect is now impossible to hide. The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that workplaces are a major driver of the nations mental health crisis. The result is spiking turnover, steep drops in productivity, skyrocketing medical claims, and a workforce whose resilience has been systematically erodedlosses that dwarf the cost of actually supporting people. Young talent is reshaping the expectations of work. Gen Z and millennials, who will soon be the majority of the workforce, refuse to accept fear, overwork, or indifference as normal. They demand growth, stability, and humane leadershipand they walk quickly when they dont get it. The mistake leaders continue to make is by framing this attitude as entitlement. Its not. Its clarity. Younger generations simply refuse to tolerate what older generations accepted as normal. The battle for talent has become a battle for well-being. AI is acceleratingnot reducingthe need for well-being. The belief that technology could replace people and eliminate the need for authentically supportive leadership has been proven wrong. AI demands adaptability, creativity, emotional intelligence, and resiliencecapacities that collapse under chronic stress. Organizations that want their people to master the tools of the future must first keep them energized and trusted today. A new leadership mandate is forming. This is the shift Deloitte calls human sustainability: the deliberate choice to build organizations where people can thrive for the long haul, not just survive to the next quarter. It means embedding respect, growth, and genuine care into every systemhiring, development, compensation, communication, and even the way difficult decisions are handled. Most importantly, well-being must become a leadership competency. Leaders must learn the importance of trust, how team cohesion gets built, how psychological safety is created, how meaningful work is designed, and how human energy is sustained. Leaders must embrace new practices known to support human thriving. The companies that make this pivot in 2026 wont just repair the damage of 2025. Theyll dominate the decade. Theyll keep their best people and attract everyone elses. Theyll turn AI from a source of fear into the greatest amplifier of human potential weve ever seen. Theyll build resilience that no disruption can break. In my new book, The Power of Employee Well-Being, I lay out exactly how this transformation happens and why its the single greatest untapped performance lever left in most organizations. The evidence is settled. The investors are watching. The talent is voting with their feet. And 2026 is the year the old excuses finally die. Leaders who still treat people as costs to be managed will be left behind. The rest of us will be building the futureand its one where people are flourishing, trusted, and bringing everything they have to work every single day. Happy New Year!
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E-Commerce
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