Author: wildgreenquest@gmail.com
Published June 17, 2026 02:06PMWhen it comes to trails with big payoffs, it’s hard to do much better than a waterfall hike. After all, on a hot summer day, there’s little more rewarding than cool mist on your face, icy water on your toes, or a refreshing plunge after a long trek. And, of course, there are the photo ops.The other good news: You don’t need to live in a temperate rainforest to find a stunning cascade within at least a few hours’ drive. Desert canyons, stepped bayous, and rocky tumbles exist all across the U.S.—which means you can find…
Get ready to break some bread in Texas this summer. Several Panera Bread locations that abruptly shuttered last year in the wake of a high-profile franchise dispute will soon reopen their doors, the new owner has confirmed with Fast Company. The Houston-area restaurants have been dark since August 2025, when their previous owner—ordered by a judge to stop using the Panera name—closed them down and sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Hamra Enterprises, a family-owned franchise that already owns dozens of Panera Bread locations across the Southeast, purchased the seven restaurants in a November 2025 bankruptcy sale, as Fast Company previously…
Published June 17, 2026 02:07PMKelsey Pfendler has been at sea for 28 days, in a 24-foot fiberglass boat, totally alone. On May 21, she departed from Monterey, California, with the goal of rowing to Oahu, Hawaii, 2,400 miles away. If she succeeds, she’ll make history as the first American woman to row solo from California to Hawaii, and if she does it as fast as she’s shooting for, she’ll become the fastest woman and youngest person to achieve the feat.Right now, Pfendler is set to break all of those records. And—while nothing is guaranteed, she emphasizes to me on a…
Samsung and Google are working towards bringing Android 17 to millions of phones in the next month. For Pixel owners the update started yesterday, Google announced. Samsung Galaxy users won’t have to wait too long though, with One UI 9 now in its third beta and the full release expected within the next month as the Korean company races toward stable release. Both One UI 9 and Android 17 bring a fresh look and new features, but the real upgrade—Gemini Intelligence—won’t land until Samsung Unpacked in July. With it comes some next generation agentic abilities, but also some serious questions…
Claude Design, Anthropic Lab’s AI design tool, launched in April to a crowded market of vibe-coding design programs. Now, after a few months in the hands of designers, Anthropic is launching a big update to Claude Design that addresses their biggest pain points. The company says Claude Design is now better at adhering to design systems, has more finely-tuned editing controls, and users can also do more with fewer tokens. Anthropic designer Nate Parrott tells Fast Company that the previous version of Claude Design lacked some consistency when it came to applying design systems across generated prototypes. The new version…
Former leaders of Big Bend National Park and more than a dozen lawmakers are urging the Trump administration to reconsider a border wall through one of America’s most remote national parks. Opponents of the wall argue that Big Bend’s rugged terrain serves as a natural border (Photo: Stacey Campbell/Getty Images)Published June 17, 2026 12:21PMLawmakers and former leaders of Big Bend National Park are sounding the alarm after the Trump administration recently waived dozens of environmental and historic protections. The groups believe the policy changes pave the way for a border wall to be built through the national park, which sits…
Abarca and LucyRx – two privately-held independent pharmacy benefit management companies — have agreed to merge as lawmakers, regulators and the public at large seek better prices on their prescription drugs. The combination announced Wednesday, June 17, 2026 of Abarca and LucyRx will create a pharmacy benefit management business that will serve more than 9 million customers across the U.S. In this photo, Abarca chief executive Jason Borschow speaks on the “future of pharmacy panel” Wednesday, December 4, 2024 at the annual Forbes Healthcare Summit at NYU Langone Health in New York.Jamel ToppinAbarca Health and LucyRx – two privately held…
The sustained attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have left corporate America hesitant to speak out forcefully on LGBTQ+ issues—and that silence has not gone unnoticed. Companies that once boasted about being recognized by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index have now stopped participating in the annual ranking, which measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees. While some companies have resumed sponsoring Pride celebrations this year, a number of employers had paused those commitments or were hesitant to very publicly support Pride events; even as companies have increased that spending, corporate sponsorships for Pride have remained below pre-pandemic levels. …
The new Jackery HomePower Series modelsJackeryPortable power specialist Jackery has unveiled a refreshed HomePower Series alongside a slim refrigerator backup system, plus a co-branded emergency initiative with the American Red Cross aimed at frontline response teams.At the center of the bumper launch announcement is the new HomePower Series, a three-tier lineup built around LiFePO4 battery architecture rated for around 6,000 cycles, or roughly 16 years of daily use under typical conditions.The top-end HomePower 3600 Pro Max is the brand’s most aggressive step into whole-home backup. It starts at 3,584Wh of capacity and scales all the way up to 43kWh with…
After watching the soccer icon tear up following a historic goal, we try to understand the science of why human beings wait until the moment of triumph to let it all out. (Photo: Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Published June 17, 2026 09:04AMLionel Messi scored, and then he cried, and then he tried to make it look like he hadn’t. He bunched the bottom of his jersey up to his eyes the way you do with stinging sweat. It was not sweat.It was the first goal of his fifth World Cup, in a stadium in Kansas, 20 years to the day…