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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Fast Talk: Game On
The iPhone and iPod Touch are creating new superheroes in the $57 billion video-game business -- to the peril of traditional powers Sony, Microsoft, and EA.
¡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
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
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
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
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
