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When Brands Go Social

Facebook and Twitter offer businesses both opportunities and challenges around the world: About 60% of users are outside the United States. By Dan Macsai and Zachary Wilson

The Miracle Worker

John Mackey, the Libertarian CEO of Whole Foods, says not to worry: Capitalism and the invisible hand will cure the world's ills. But isn't it a little late to start believing in magic?
By Danielle Sacks

Words vs. Deeds

Mackey says a Conscious Capitalist focuses on one or more of four ideals -- the good, the true, the beautiful, and the heroic -- and on aligning the interests of all "stakeholders." But just what business should emulate is unclear. By Fast Company Staff

A Modern Mess

Retailer Design Within Reach helped create a new appreciation for the modernist aesthetic. With design more mainstream than ever, why is the company in such dire straits? By Jeff Chu

Seeing Double

Design Within Reach has made its own versions of at least a dozen works by other designers, but it says they are not copies. By Fast Company Staff

Solve for Why

A global league of economists called J-PAL is deploying its experimental methods and one all-powerful asset -- data -- to explain human behavior, change how we help the poor, and try to save the world. By Ryan Blitstein

Question Time

J-PAL members hope their findings will inspire smarter anti-poverty policy. Here, a look at some of their most provocative inquiries. By Fast Company Staff

The Redemption of an Ogre

As a young prince, Jeffrey Katzenberg made billions for the magic kingdom, but his ambition got him banished. Now the ceo of dreamworks animation has a (smaller) kingdom of his own -- and every intention of living happily ever after. By Mark Borden

Dream Machine

DreamWorks Animation has become a tech incubator, spinning out ideas to Silicon Valley.
By Fast Company Staff

Special Report: Bloody Shame

Zimbabwe's newfound diamond fields could have helped lift the country from its misery. Instead, they've fueled a cycle of government-sanctioned rape, murder, and thievery -- and pushed the place still closer to collapse. By Joshua Hammer

Now December/January 2010

By Fast Company Staff

Numerology: The Simpsons

¡Ay, caramba! With new episodes airing at least through 2011, The Simpsons, which turns 20 on December 17, has been on the small screen longer than any other comedy or drama in prime-time television history. Below, a look at the dough -- or is it d'oh? -- behind Matt Groening's brainchild. By Dan Macsai

Freeze: The Antarctic Treaty Turns 50

On the first of December 1959, 12 nations signed a pact freezing territorial claims and banning military activity in Antarctica. It isn't human-free (29 nations have research stations there, and 11 people have been born on the continent), but it remains remarkably untouched. Here's a tour. By Anne C. Lee

Infographic: The Antarctic Treaty Turns 50

To Sell or Not to Sell?

That is the question in Silicon Valley as the acquisitions market heats up. And with it, another head scratcher: Are acquisitions good for anyone?
By Farhad Manjoo

Universities Inc.

For-profit higher-education programs are booming -- even Jack Welch has signed on. Can market-driven schools award online diplomas that graduates are proud of? By Anya Kamenetz

Not Quite Ready for the Honor Roll

The Student-Loan-Default Gap By Anya Kamenetz

Young Turks, Indeed

Cenk Uygur and his rebel band are out to take down traditional television, with a hand from YouTube, satellite radio, and 500,000 fans. By Tina Dupuy

Sidestepping the FDA

According to one small biotech, the best way to launch a stem-cell revolution is to do it overseas. By Elizabeth Svoboda

The Price of Approval

Winning FDA approval for a new drug or medical treatment requires extensive -- and expensive -- human trials for safety and effectiveness. Costs vary widely, depending largely on the condition being treated and the number of subjects required. Roughly 50 stem-cell cardiac therapies are currently in trials in the United States. Among them are these two, both designed for "no hope" populations, meaning that relatively few participants are required -- perhaps 100 to 300. By Erica Westly

The Futurist: Blowing Hot and Cold

Ideo reimagines the lowly thermostat. By Tim McKeough

The Futurist: A Smart Sensor

It may look like a Band-Aid, but Corventis's PiiX monitor promises to predict heart failure.
By Tim McKeough