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NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is most well known for the National Weather Service, providing forecasting that underpins local meteorological reports and major sites like AccuWeather. But the data that NOAA collects is also crucial for private-sector industries, from airlines to insurance. The Trump administration is threatening this agency, and began slashing jobs there on Thursday. That means those other industries are also at risk. When it comes to insurance, climate change already causes billions of dollars in losses globally. Here in the U.S. people who live in areas especially prone to climate risks are seeing their rates skyrocket, or theyre seeing insurance carriers withdraw coverage in high-risk states. Without NOAA data, these trends could worsen, and leave even more Americans with higher insurance premiumsor without coverage at all. Financial services, including home insurance providers, consistently rely on [NOAA] to comprehend the influence of climate and weather on the economy and to facilitate transactions, says Manogna Vangari, an insurance analyst at GlobalData. Specifically, insurance providers get data from NOAAs National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), which recently revealed that in 2024, the U.S. experienced 27 individual weather and climate disasters causing at least $1 billion in damages each. In total, 2024 saw more than $192 billion in disaster costs, and more than 560 direct or indirect fatalities. NCEI data helps insurers assess risks, and determine premiums. Insurers use this data to develop their catastrophe models, which estimate the economic losses from extreme weather events like hurricanes and floods; that then underpins premiums, underwriting, claims, and more. Insurers also look at data sets on storm report categories by state, as well as databases on specific disaster types such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis. Losing that data, Vangari says, would complicate the way home insurance companies price climate-related risks. It also would hinder their ability to accurately model out the risk of extreme weather events, like wildfires and hurricanes, “and to price climate risk with greater precision. Without knowing those climate risks, insurance companies themselves risk more financial losses. To make up for that uncertainty, they’ll need to raise premiums even more, or they might just choose to pull out of particularly risky areas. The cost of losing that accurate, reliable data would then fall on consumers. Insurance companies also use NOAA retrospective analysis of weather effects to verify claimslike how bad a hailstorm really was, says Rick Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator from 2021 until January of this year. The insurance industry, as well as the reinsurance industry (which provides insurance for other insurance companies) has had an informal partnership with NOAA for 20 years. Spinrad formalized that partnership with a 2024 memorandum of understanding with the Reinsurance Association of America, an agreement meant to improve risk communication. NOAA has also worked with the insurance industry through its Industry Proving Ground, an initiative to test tailored services for the private sector, and to make sure the agency provides the best data for businesses to be most effective. Because NOAA is a government service funded by taxpayers, its data is free. That means everyone has access to crucial weather forecasts. Project 2025, the conservative playbook that the Trump administration is following, advocates privatizing this service. But experts have said that even private weather companies wouldnt want that, because then theyd have to bear the cost of collecting the data that the government currently provides. If, instead, this data were accessible only to those who could afford it, that would particularly impact homeowners in vulnerable communities, Vangari says. Insurers might be hesitant to pay a fee and rely on some other alternative source without access to reliable data, she adds. This would lead to a disproportionate increase in insurance premiums. Additionally, insurers may refuse to provide coverage in high-risk areas. That doesn’t just impact people who may lose their homes and need to rebuild. Broadly, the stakes of losing this data are serious: In places that are susceptible to climate impacts like tornadoes or floods or tsunamis along the coast, timely access to weather data can be a matter of life and death. Not having the data doesn’t stop climate impacts from happening, multiple experts have notedit just makes us less prepared. Some private companies are starting to invest in their own weather satellites. But completely replicating NOAAs instrumental fleet and weather coveragewhich includes operating 18 satellites, launching weather balloons from nearly 100 locations twice every day, and deploying more than 1,300 buoyswould require an enormous amount of money. What NOAA is able to provide for free, Vangari says, is a public good. . . . Its services offer safety and security universally, not merely to those who can afford them.
Category:
E-Commerce
TikTok just updated its desktop viewing experience to offer a smoother UX, expanded features, and more ways to watch. I wish it would go back to how it was before. Its no secret that TikTok has a mobile-first design. Its beloved hyper-specific algorithm and For You page, as well as its wholehearted embrace of short-form video, has inspired copycats the likes of which include everyone from Instagram to LinkedIn and Substack. TikTok has even changed the fabric of culture itself, shortening attention spans and shaping the music industry as we know it. While TikTok shines on mobile, its desktop experience has historically been significantly less intuitive. The new desktop browser is, by all counts, a marked improvement. But, for those of us who turn to the clunky desktop TikTok to cut down on screen time, its not necessarily a good thing. [Photo: TikTok] Ugh, TikToks new desktop browser is better The biggest change to TikToks desktop browser is the noticeably smoother UX. Previously, scrolling through videos on the homepage could feel delayed and glitchy, which quickly becomes frustrating given that its the platforms main function. Now, each clip transitions smoothly into the nextan element of TikToks new optimized modular layout that offers a more immersive viewing experience and seamless feed exploration, according to a press release. The look of the platform has also been cleaned up and simplified, including via a minimized navigation bar, to reduce distractions during doomscrolling. Beyond the improved UX, updated desktop TikTok also comes with a few new features. Its poached the Explore tab straight from the app, giving users another, less tailored feed to explore. Theres now also full-screen live streaming modes for gamers, a web-exclusive floating player on Google Chrome so users can watch brainrot Subway Surfers TikToks while they shop online, and a collections tool that can organize saved videos into subcategories. And, yeah, on the surface, all of these changes are reasonable responses to TikToks lackluster web browser experience. They make it more frictionless, intuitive, and enjoyable. But did the developers ever consider that maybe some of us liked it when it was bad? Can we just not? When TikTok entered the mainstream around the early pandemic, I downloaded it on my phone for a total of about two days. The reason it didnt make the cut in my app library was not because it was bad, but because it was actually too funso much so that reading my AP Lit homework started to feel like an insurmountable task when those little videos were, like, right there. For me, the ideal screen time solution has been to delete social media apps from my phone and only check them when Im on my computer, where their desktop counterparts tend to be more outdated and, sometimes, downright annoying. My one exception to this rule is YouTube Shorts, but only because its algorithm is leagues behind TikToks and therefore tends to drive me away by recommending one too many English hobby horsing videos. Am I still addicted to these apps? Most definitely. But do I feel like I have to check them every 30 seconds? Thankfully, no. TikToks desktop experience used to similarly serve as a refuge from the mobile app itself. It was a safe place to get a quick taste of whats happening online without getting sucked into a three-hour rabbit hole about giving butter to babies. Its irritating quirks were precisely the pointand, I would argue, plenty of other desktop users likely turned to this version for the same reason. Now, though, as the desktop experience creeps ever-closer to the actual mobile app, were all going to have to figure out where to relegate TikTok so that we can hack our brains out of craving it.
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E-Commerce
A recent Society for Human Resources Management study found that 47% of employees with invisible chronic conditionsillnesses or disabilities that limit activities and functions but lack visible symptomshave not disclosed their conditions to their employers. When I first read this statistic, I wasnt surprised. In a world where the majority of people with invisible disabilities fear discrimination and stigma should they disclose, where is the incentive to do so? I am part of the 53% who has disclosed her invisible illness to her employer, and fortunately received support, empathy, and understanding as a result. Without a doubt, privilege is at play here. Im a white, college-educated woman with five years in my career under my belt. This affords me access to opportunities and healthcare as well as social and cultural latitudes that, unfortunately, many do not share. I wish my experience could be the norm. As I reflect on the experiences that led me to this point, Im considering how organizations and their leaders can rethink these disclosures to better support employees. Who can afford the risk of disclosing For the majority of my career, Ive grappled with an acceleration in symptoms from my chronic illness, later found to be a likely result of the Lyme disease I contracted while in utero (something that impacts only a very small population of fetuses globally). My body could not sustain the consistent schedule and output needed to succeed in a traditional workplace, so I turned to self-employment, which allowed me to earn a living while managing decades of health challenges. With my health stabilized, I began seeking traditional employment in 2023. Inevitably, the question of why I was interested in working for someone else after so long working for myself would come up. I decided to be honest and candid, letting employers form their own opinions. While my health challenges were far less acute than they once had been, I knew that my chronic illness would always be a part of my professional storyso sharing that early on in the process would help me gauge reactions and understand whether an organization would be the right fit for me. Plus, I was largely targeting healthcare companies in my search, and I knew that my experiences on the patient-facing side could be an immense asset to leverage during the interview process. Still, each time I shared the reasons behind my unconventional résumé history with a recruiter, I felt a twist of nerves in my stomach, born of the instinctive thought that such an admission would be an overall detriment to the way I am perceived in the workplace. Im sure you can imagine how delighted I was at the number of recruiters and hiring managers who responded with empathy, kindness, and appreciation for my honesty. One recruiter thanked me for my bravery and shared that she also lives with an autoimmune disorder. Another commiserated with me about how challenging it is to live with Lyme disease, as his mother-in-law had just been diagnosed. These conversations typically segued neatly into discussions about my ability to adapt to and around my chronic illness, underscoring that I am the kind of employee (and person) who looks to leverage her lived experience toward positive outcomes for othersand am committed to using all the effort possible to do so. Ultimately, my approach paid off. Since the start of 2024, Ive been able to leverage my experience as a professional patient (a phrase I coined as a half-joking nod to my lifetime spent in and out of doctors offices) to better serve patients and providers through my work as a content marketing specialist for a healthcare startup. Advocating for truly accessible approaches When I joined the organization for which I now work, I once again chose to share my experience living with lifelong chronic illnessthis time, with colleagues and my manager. Thats because the internal culture is one that I knew would be accepting and accommodating. During an initial call with a new coworker welcoming me to the team, I learned that they also live with a chronic illness. The ease with which they disclosed, and the way they spoke about the organizations responsethat their disclosure had been met with reminders that their health is the most important thing, and encouragements to arrange elements of their work to be as accommodating as possibletold me that my disclosure would likely be met similarly. As it turns out, I was right. My disclosures sounded different depending on who I was talking to; I often deployed the professional patient joke when in conversation with clinicians or researchers, while I got a bit more granular with the people I collaborate with often, such as my team and my manager. Regardless of how the conversation started, it always ended the same way: They were gracious and thankful for my candor, and I was likewise thankful for their understanding and willingness to hear me. Unfortunately, researchers have consistently found that my experience is a rare one. A 2021 academic analysis found that most chronically ill and disabled office workers spend a disproportionate amount of energy concealing all visible symptoms of their condition for fear of discrimination or retaliation. That means their time spent away from work isnt spent preparing to return refreshed and renewed but rather managing their symptoms so they can continue to conceal them at work. This could include, but certainly isnt limited to, sleeping 10 to 12 or more hours on the weekends, fitting in all-day IV infusions between errand-running on Saturdays, or staying in their home and not speaking to any friends or family members to manage emotional and cognitive burnout. Is it any wonder that people with disabilities are part of the subgroup found to experience 26% higher work-related burnout? Like millions of other workers across the United States, the choices I make about my career and ways of working are driven primarily by the chronic condition with which I live. Employers, founders, and managers can help alleviate this mental burden for their employees with invisible disabilities by doing these three things: Rethink ending remote work. For many disabled or chronically ill employees, remote, hybrid, and/or flexible work isnt a nice-to-haveits an accommodation and an equalizer. In a remote-first workplace, chronically ill or disabled employees can have equal visibility on their work as their able-bodied and healthy counterparts without having to worry about being judged for their invisible condition. Prioritize curiosity and empathy. Two people ith the same invisible condition may have very different symptoms. Encourage managers and leaders to respond to disclosures with empathy and gratituderesponses that lead to massive increases in both employee engagement and well-being. Open the floor. While no one owes anyone a candid disclosure of their health status, consider offering opportunities to impact and shape diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives, such as employee resource groups (ERGs), to employees like me who have elected to do so. Their expertise in their own experience is uniquely valuable, and should be seen as such. To that end, ensure these opportunities are genuinely and thoughtfully offered, not just put together as a way to tick a box on a list of inclusive options. As some organizations choose to downsize DEI initiatives, and even stop using words like equity altogether, its never been more vital to ensure employeesregardless of health, ability, gender, race, and moreare supported so they can do their best work. Im living proof that these approaches work, and I hope that more organizations choose to follow suit.
Category:
E-Commerce
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