As dogs age, they tend to sleep more and lose muscle mass, leaving less natural cushioning around their pressure points. As a result, they're more likely to experience joint pain. Many senior dogs also develop arthritis or sustain injuries that cause discomfort.

The best orthopedic dog beds help relieve the pain associated with these issues. These beds are made of resilient memory foam that offers even, medium-firm support to reduce stress on pressure points and joints. But it's not just senior dogs that can benefit from a supportive bed. Veterinarians say orthopedic beds are a smart choice for dogs of all ages.

To select the best orthopedic beds, we tested 22 popular options with a group of mostly senior pups who napped and lounged on each one for several weeks. We also asked veterinarians what features to look for in an orthopedic dog bed.

Our top picks for the best orthopedic dog beds

Best overall: Petfusion Ultimate Dog Lounge - $73-$230 at Amazon

Best budget with bolsters: Bedsure Pet Orthopedic Dog Sofa - $47-$80 at Chewy

Best budget mat: Bedsure Pet Orthopedic Mat - $35-$55 at Chewy

Best stylish: Lay Lo Dog Bed - $139-$229 at Etsy

Best for small dogs: Big Barker Barker Junior - $150-$180 at Big Barker

Best for crates: Big Barker Ortho Lift Crate Bed - $110-$230 at Big Barker

Best overall

Why this is our top pick: The Petfusion Ultimate Dog Lounge offered the best orthopedic support of all the beds we tested. Plus, it has an ideal bolster-style design and a super durable twill cover.

What our testers said: We tested the large size with a 45-pound Labradoodle and a 45-pound beagle. Both dogs rested comfortably on this bed and were evenly supported by the dense memory foam. Our experts say many dogs, like our Labradoodle and hound testers, prefer to have something solid to rest their backs against while they sleep. This bed's soft yet sturdy bolsters wrap around the sides and back of the bed and extend partially across the front, giving dogs plenty of spots to snuggle up or prop their heads.

The memory foam thickness varies by bed size. The jumbo bed features 6 inches of foam for added support, while the extra-large and large beds are 4 inches thick, and the small bed is 2 inches. The brand does not offer a bed in a size medium.

Aside from a small amount of pilling after washing and drying, the cover is extremely durable. It's also easy to spot-clean, and the waterproof liner does a good job of protecting the mattress from liquids and moisture.

Drawbacks to consider: Be warned that if your dog is a heavy shedder, loose fur can be stubborn to remove from the cover. A sticky roller left behind lots of fur, but the best pet hair remover, the Chom Chom Roller, got the job done. You can easily run the cover and liner through the washer and dryer, but it's somewhat difficult to weave the bolsters back into the cover.

Best budget with bolsters

Why this is our top pick: For an affordable bed with plenty of sizes and colors to choose from, it's hard to beat the Bedsure Orthopedic Dog Bed. It's rare for an egg crate mattress to offer sufficient support, but we found the 4-inch egg-crate foam mattress provided medium-firm support. In fact, it impressed us so much that we named it the top budget pick in our guides to the best dog beds and best large dog beds.

What our testers said: Even the extra-large size held up without sinking or sagging under the weight of a 70-pound English cream retriever. Her guardian moved it wherever she went, even outdoors, and she comfortably slept on it for hours at a time. While the bed is somewhat heavy, it's still fairly easy to carry because its dimensions aren't overly wide or awkward.

The cover held up well, and the waterproof liner protected the foam during our soaking test. Spot-cleaning the cover after we smeared it with dirt and peanut butter had mixed results.

Drawbacks to consider: We tested the bed in two different colors, and the cream top on the caramel version held onto some dirt. While the stain came out in the washer, machine washing wasn't as convenient as washing other beds. Because the bolsters can't be removed, you're left with a wet, bulky bed that takes longer to dry.

The liner's zipper also proved unreliable. On one cover, it got stuck after repeated use, and on the other, it fell off after two rounds in the washing machine. Still, given the bed's overall durability and affordability, we recommend it with the caveat to handwash the liner and handle the zipper gently.

Best budget mat

Why this is our top pick: If your dog tends to sprawl out rather than cuddle up against bolsters, the affordable Bedsure Orthopedic Mat will keep them comfortable. This bed offers more density and support than other mattress-style beds under $100. It's also available in several colors, textures, and sizes.

What our tester said: The eggcrate foam is only 3 inches high, except for the largest size bed, which is 4 inches high. While the thinner foam is less supportive than the other beds recommended in this guide, our dogs still took long snoozes on the mat, including two Leonbergers and a beagle. Typically, the Leonbergers took turns, but even when both lay on the bed together, they were quite cozy and evenly supported.

This mat outperforms the competition with a wide range of sizes and durable cover options. The top of the cover also has a waterproof backing to protect the foam from accidents. You can choose from a sherpa-like material or a quilted cooling cover. The cooling cover features polyfill between the top material and the waterproof backing, adding a bit more loft and comfort. Some options also come with a nonslip bottom, but not all, so read the description carefully before purchasing.

Drawbacks to consider: The sherpa material is difficult to spot-clean since debris can become embedded in the fibers. However, both the sherpa and cooling covers came completely clean in the washing machine. The zipper runs along two sides of the bed, so it's easy to remove the cover for washing.

Best stylish

Why it's our top pick: While the Lay Lo Dog Bed is one of the priciest orthopedic options, it's worth it if both quality and aesthetics are important to you. It features a two-layer foam mattress: an inch of cushiony memory foam and a denser bottom layer. You can choose from more than 20 attractive cover colors and prints, which are also sold separately.

What our tester said: It was easy for a short-legged 45-pound hound mix to step onto the 4-inch-thick size medium bed and circle around before settling in. While he gravitates toward bolster beds, we were surprised to see him choose this bed over other options on several occasions. It also has a nonslip bottom for stability on hardwood and tile floors.

The cover comes in neutral gray and ecru colors, bolder greens and reds, and prints like classic checker and houndstooth. The green grid cover we tested is made of a thick but flexible woven polyester that fits the mattress like a glove. Some of the other covers are made of recycled polyester and are textured rather than smooth. All covers have a fabric handle with a removable vegan leather wrap for easy carrying.

Drawbacks to consider: The cover readily absorbed the warm water we poured over it, and some moisture made it through the removable water-resistant liner. If additional protection is a high priority, you can purchase a waterproof liner from Lay Lo.

The bed passed our other tests with flying colors, from durability to ease of cleaning. However, when we reassembled it after washing, we had to take extra care not to catch the mattress liner in the cover's zipper. Be sure to compress the surrounding foam as you close the zipper.

Best for small dogs

Why it's our top pick: Among the best orthopedic dog beds, the Big Barker Junior has the most versatile design. The bed resembles a chaise lounge, with a curved bolster at one end that's just the right height for a smaller dog to rest their head.

What our testers said: We tested the size medium bed with a 10-pound chihuahua mix and a 12-pound terrier mix, and its firm core uniformly supported their bodies. The foam was resilient, too, bouncing back immediately after our tester removed heavy weights to test for flattening. So long as your small dog can climb onto a surface 4 inches off the floor, it's a great choice.

The microsuede cover was unscathed in our scratching, digging, and seam-strength tests. "This thing is durable with a capital D,'' freelance reporter Alex Rennie says. Big Barker even offers a 10-year guarantee because it's confident that the foam will retain 90% of its original shape and thickness for that long.

Peanut butter, dirt, and black tea were easy to remove with spot-cleaning with dish soap and water. However, with only machine washing, peanut butter left oil stains on the cover.

Drawbacks to consider: This bed is expensive and not waterproof. At the time we tested it, a waterproof liner was available but that's no longer the case.

Best for crates

Why it's our top pick: The Big Barker Ortho Lift Crate Bed is far more durable and supportive than a typical crate pad, making it a great choice for any dog who rests a long while in their crate.

What our testers said: A 45-pound beagle was well supported, and their guardian also lay on the pad and couldn't feel the floor underneath. The bed has a tough microsuede cover with well-constructed seams and zippers that aced all durability tests.

In testing, the two-layer foam core never flattened and filled back out less than a minute after we removed dumbbell weights that had been laid on it for four hours. Like the brand's Barker Junior bed, which we recommend for small dogs, this crate pad carries an unbeatable 10-year guarantee.

Drawbacks to consider: The cover acquired a "dusty" look after washing, drying, and regular use, which is common with microfiber. We discovered the cover had shrunk slightly after washing and drying, but we were able to reassemble it with a little extra effort.

The bed's price and height may be deal-breakers for some. The waterproof liner that was sold separately has also been discontinued. The 4-inch-thick foam could take away too much headroom from taller dogs unless their crate is very tall, while shorter dogs with limited mobility may find it difficult to step in and out of their crate.

The best orthopedic dog beds compared

What to look for in an orthopedic dog bed

The veterinarians we spoke with say there are several key features to consider. Here's what to look for when choosing a supportive orthopedic dog bed.

Materials and support: The reality is that brands can market their beds any way they want, and not all orthopedic foam is equal. However, what works for humans has been shown anecdotally to work for dogs, too. "The memory foam approach, which is used in a lot of human beds, has made it to the dog arena, whereby they show that the pressure is more evenly distributed over a larger area, so there's less risk of sores and it's more comfortable for the dog in general," says Dr. Joseph J. Wakshlag, a veterinarian and professor of clinical nutrition and sports medicine and rehabilitation at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.

The best orthopedic dog beds we recommend contain either polyurethane memory foam or what a brand may describe as orthopedic foam. If a bed contains lower-quality foam, it will break down faster and may feel flimsy or springy. You'll also want to look for a bed made with foam that's at least 2 inches thick. We've found that anything thinner lacks orthopedic support, no matter how small a dog may be.

Comfort: Both bolstered or flat beds are suitable options, but it's important to choose the design that complements your dog's sleeping style. Meredith O'Connor, a dog behaviorist and trainer, says dogs sort out to be side sleepers or flat-out stretchers on a dog-by-dog basis. If your dog is a side sleeper who likes to lean against something while they sleep or prop their head up while lying down, a bolster bed is your best bet. Flat beds are excellent options for dogs who sleep sprawled out with their head even with the rest of their body.

Ease of entry: Conditions such as arthritis and mobility challenges can make it difficult for dogs to get in and out of bed, but certain features can help ease your dog down to rest safely. Look for nonskid bottoms, reasonably thick pads that aren't too high to step onto, and wide spaces between bolsters so your dog won't encounter any obstacles climbing in and out of bed.

Durability: The best orthopedic dog beds can set you back some change, so a bed that flattens, gets worn looking from rounds in the washing machine, or is easily ripped or scratched open will not pass muster. Consider beds with a dense memory foam core protected by either a waterproof cover or liner. Covers made of polyester and cotton both held up well in our testing.

Water resistance and ease of cleaning: Since some senior dogs and those recovering from surgery are more likely to have accidents and other hygiene issues, we recommend purchasing a waterproof bed with a cover that is easy to spot clean and comes completely clean after a stint in the washer and dryer.

Sizing: To ensure your dog has room to stretch out, choose a sleeping surface slightly larger than their length measured from the nose to the base of the tail. Dogs with longer legs will also need a deep enough bed to accommodate them.

Return policies and warranties: We recommend beds with at least a 30-day return policy, but keep in mind that some refunds only apply to unused beds. The pricier the bed, the more likely you'll see a manufacturer warranty for defects. Before you buy, make sure to read the company's return, exchange, and warranty policies closely.

Certifications: Materials safety certifications ensure that some or all of the materials in a product are free of materials known to be harmful to people. Products with the CertiPUR-US certification contain polyurethane foam that is made without formaldehyde, ozone depleters, prohibited phthalates, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals. In addition, the foam has low volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions and is not treated with flame retardants, which contain carcinogens and other toxins. A polyurethane foam producer needs to meet the criteria set by the Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam to receive certification. The certification process includes submitting test results and samples along with a fee of several thousand dollars. The OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 certification is given after a manufacturer submits to an application process that includes a fee. OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 signifies that every part of a product is free of various substances that may harm human health. To receive a Greenguard Gold certification, a manufacturer submits samples for laboratory testing to verify that they meet low chemical emissions standards set by UL Solutions, an international materials safety organization.

How we tested orthopedic dog beds

We've completed testing on 22 orthopedic beds for dogs of various breeds and weights, ranging from 6 to 15 years old and 12 to 180 pounds. Our tests follow the same strict standards we apply to all pet product testing at Insider Reviews and cover comfort, support, durability, and ease of care.

Comfort and support: Looking for the best options in each design, we looked for signs that our tester dogs were resting comfortably over the course of several weeks. We observed how much time they spent on the beds and whether they appeared fully relaxed while resting or sleeping. We got on the beds ourselves to assess how much support and stability the foam gave us, especially for our lower backs. Lastly, we used barbells and loaded duffel bags to see if any beds failed to support or spring back into their original shape after taking on the load.

Regardless of the foam type, we evaluated each bed to ensure it conformed to our tester dogs' bodies to distribute pressure evenly.

Ease of entry: We assessed how easily dogs could enter and settle into the beds. While extra-high beds can work for taller dogs and may provide better support, the best orthopedic dog beds tended to be somewhat lower-profile beds that were still firm and supportive. If a bed had a bolster, we made sure the entry points were wide enough for dogs to get in and out with ease. We also gave higher ratings to beds with nonskid bottoms and cover materials that weren't slippery to help pets avoid any sliding or scooting.

Durability and ease of cleaning: By yanking on zippers, digging on covers with metal dinner forks, puncturing seams with scissors, and scraping bottoms with sandpaper, we looked for hard-nosed durability in these beds. We smeared the covers with dirt and peanut butter and poured black tea on them, to see which beds were easy to spot clean. Then, after machine-washing and drying the covers and liners, we reassembled everything and looked for any lingering spots, stains, or fabric changes. We gave the highest marks to beds that stayed both firm and plush over the course of many weeks.

Waterproofing: The beds we selected claimed to have waterproof or water-resistant liners, and we made sure to test this ourselves. After pouring a cup of warm water onto the sleep surface of each bed, we waited 30 minutes before checking to see if any moisture made it through the liners to the foam mattress.

Meet the expert behind this guide

Lisa Sabatini, pets editor: I kicked off Reviews' dog beds coverage in 2022, beginning with our guide to the best dog beds. Along with my senior hound, Homer, I tested three of the picks in this guide, including the Petfusion and Lay Lo beds and the Big Barker Ortho Lift Crate Bed. Cumulatively, Reviews reporters and I have tested 22 orthopedic dog beds. Over the past four years, I've also pored over the specs of dozens more options in search of memory foam beds worth considering.

Orthopedic dog beds FAQs

Are orthopedic beds worth it for dogs?

Yes. Orthopedic dog beds can benefit pups at any age — not just older dogs or those with joint problems. These beds are made with memory foam, which helps distribute a dog's weight more evenly when they're lying down, minimizing pressure on joints and sensitive areas. "It is a rather simple concept regarding pressure points,'' Wakshlag says. "Depending on how the dog is lying, it creates pressure over areas like hips and elbows."

In addition to providing comfort, a supportive bed can also promote mobility, which is likely to extend longevity and can also help with behavior issues, says Dr. Katherine Houpt, a veterinary behaviorist and professor at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine who specializes in domestic animal welfare and has studied the sleeping patterns of shelter dogs. "Resilience is very important,'' she says. "Dogs do not need or want to sleep on the linoleum. They need a cushioned but supportive surface."

What is the best type of bed for a dog to sleep on?

The ideal dog bed is made with memory foam or orthopedic foam that provides uniform, even support. Wakshlag says stuffed beds made with polyfill lack uniform support, which can lead to soreness at pressure points.

Houpt also recommends beds with bolsters. "If you look carefully, you will see they prefer to sleep with their backs against their owner, or against the back of the sofa, or even against the wall,'' she says. "Thermoregulation is another big factor, and the dog does want to be in a warm place. That may be another reason they sleep with the back against something, to protect against drafts."

What's the best type of bed for a dog with arthritis?

Orthopedic veterinarians at Colorado State University say that managing canine osteoarthritis involves a combination of strategies, including therapeutic exercises, pain medications, and weight management. Wakshlag says a supportive orthopedic bed made with memory foam can enhance recovery from therapeutic exercises.

What is the best bed for a dog recovering from ACL surgery?

A well-designed bed can support ACL surgery recovery, says Dr. Brian Collins, a senior lecturer in community practice service at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. He recommends beds made with memory foam or similar materials to provide stability, comfort, and support. These materials help a dog rest comfortably and provide stability when they climb in and out or turn around. Beds with bolsters can provide extra physical support, a feeling of security, and a comfortable spot for a dog to rest their head.

For added stability, choose a bed with a nonslip bottom, or at least place it on a nonslip surface. "It should be easy to get in and out of with a low border or an open side that the dog won't struggle to step over," Collins says. "The bed should be big enough for the dog to comfortably turn around, change position, and stretch out on." In addition, he says an easy-to-clean, water-resistant bed is especially important for providing a clean environment while the incision heals.

Two SEC titans will face off in this weekend's most anticipated college football game. Below, we've rounded up everything you need to know about how to watch LSU vs. Ole Miss, including global streaming options.

If you don't want to read any further, you can live stream the game on ESPN Unlimited in the US, and on DAZN in the UK and other regions. You can access your usual streaming options from anywhere with a VPN, such as NordVPN.

What channel is LSU vs. Ole Miss on?

LSU vs. Ole Miss will air on ABC in the US. The game is scheduled to kick off on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, but college football coverage will be available on the network all day, starting at noon.

How to watch LSU vs. Ole Miss in the US

Cord-cutters can catch ABC through a live TV service, like YouTube TV or Fubo, or the network's direct sports streaming counterpart, ESPN Unlimited.

ESPN Unlimited costs $32 a month and unlocks full live streams for all ESPN networks, along with ESPN on ABC games and streaming-exclusive programming. You can learn more in our ESPN streaming service guide.

ABC is also available in several live TV streaming services, including YouTube TV and Fubo, two of our top recommendations. YouTube TV carries ABC and 100+ other channels in its Main plan, which typically costs $83 a month. However, a limited-time deal will discount the first five months of service down to $68 a month for new customers. ABC and 30+ other channels are also available in the cheaper Sports plan, which typically costs $65 a month. A limited-time deal will knock the Sports plan down to $45 a month for six months for new users. Both plans unlock ESPN Unlimited live streaming and offer a free trial for first-time customers.

Fubo is another popular live TV service. ABC and around 30 other channels are available in the Sports + News plan, which costs $65 a month when available. ABC is also available in the pricier Pro and Elite tiers, which unlock 200+ channels. All of these plans come with a free trial and introductory month offers for new customers. Subscriptions also unlock access to ESPN Unlimited at no extra cost.

How to watch LSU vs. Ole Miss in the UK and other regions

In the UK and other international markets, DAZN live streams loads of college football games every week. Not every game is guaranteed coverage, so it's always a good idea to double-check that the game you want to watch is available. LSU vs. Ole Miss will definitely be shown in the UK this weekend, so fans are in luck. DAZN NCAA College Sports subscription prices vary from region to region.

How to watch LSU vs. Ole Miss from anywhere

If you're a football fan traveling abroad right now, you can still access your usual streaming options by utilizing a VPN. Short for virtual private networks, VPNs are handy cybersecurity apps that let people temporarily change their virtual location. This way, their favorite websites and apps work overseas the same way they would back home. Since the platforms we've recommended today require country-specific payment methods, this option will work best for those who are just traveling away from home right now.

NordVPN is one of the best VPNs around. It's fast, easy to use (even for beginners), and has a hassle-free 30-day money-back guarantee. You can learn more in our NordVPN review.

How are the teams doing?

LSU and Ole Miss are ranked pretty evenly right now. The No. 7 LSU Tigers won their first two games, walloping LA Tech and Clemson. The No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels also won their first two games, resulting in a massive victory over Charlotte and a close call against Louisville.

Where does the game take place?

Ole Miss will host tonight's game. The match-up will take place at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Mississippi.

Who won the last LSU vs. Ole Miss game?

LSU and Ole Miss are both in the Southeastern Conference, so the teams have met multiple times. Their last game against each other was in September 2025, when Ole Miss beat LSU 24-19.

Who is favored to win LSU vs. Ole Miss?

LSU is the favorite to win tonight's game. According to DraftKings (at the time of writing), LSU is -148 on the moneyline, while Ole Miss is +124.

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• I always felt special when my friends told me about big news before they posted it on social media.
• When it came time for me to share some milestones, I chose to do it in person or over the phone.
• For me, getting a hug is way better than getting likes on a post.

Years ago, I got a call from a friend. "The most amazing thing happened," she gushed, "we got engaged!" She proceeded to tell me about how her boyfriend proposed. They're such a loving and compatible couple, I couldn't have been happier for them. Days later, I saw the picture online, her finger encrusted with an antique diamond ring, an heirloom from her fiancé's grandmother, just like she had told me about over the phone.

Over the years, I would get a message, sometimes out of the blue, from a friend saying something along the lines of, "Let's catch up." Then we'd set up a time to meet, or, if we lived too far apart, have a phone call. At times, the news was joyful, like a pregnancy or a major step in a relationship. Other times, it was somber, a divorce, a job loss, a tragic health condition.

Sometimes I would see my friends post on social media later, after they had already told me. Each time, I felt honored that they had reached out to me directly. I felt special that they wanted to make sure I knew what was going on in their life, and not just that I was within the blast radius of a social media post.

When it was my turn, I prioritized personal connections

The year 2023 was big for me. At the beginning of the year, my boyfriend and I bought a weekend house in the mountains. That spring, he proposed to me at that weekend house, under a starry sky. We were both in our mid-30s and eager to start a family. That summer, we eloped with an intimate ceremony at the same place we had our first date three years earlier. In the fall, we shared the good news with family and friends that we were expecting our first child.

I felt the temptation to share all my good fortunes with pictures broadcasted across the World Wide Web. But instead of a picture, I sent my friends a message. "Let's get together," or "let's have a call," it said.

Instead of posting the quintessential picture of us holding up a set of keys in front of a house, we told our friends about buying a vacation house over drinks. "We can't wait to see it!" they exclaimed, and we clinked our glasses together in celebration.

When I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, she grabbed my hand mid-hug when the sparkle of the diamond caught her eye. Another friend brought over a housewarming gift. She caught a glimpse of the grainy sonogram picture on the fridge. "I'm so happy for you guys," she said, holding back tears of joy.

Hugs beat out "likes" or heart emojis any day

So much happened in such a short period of time that year. When we caught up with friends we hadn't seen in a couple of months, the answer to "so, what's new with you?" sometimes ended up being "we bought a house, and we got engaged, and now we're married, and we're having a baby!"

Each time I shared the special things going on in my life, I got to experience the joy again, through the other person. Those moments created memories that I would never have had from just posting online. Waiting to share news in person with the people I love, and seeing their reaction, released more endorphins than any number of "likes" to a post.

Technology has helped me stay in touch with my family and friends around the country and the world. I've come to find that sharing life's ups and downs with the people I love, in person when possible, or by call if not, is the best way to stay connected.

• President Donald Trump said he will not "in any way hinder or stifle" AI development.
• Trump also said he was making a new "AI force" and appointing an AI "Czar."
• Leaders of US frontier AI labs last week called for the US government to regulate the industry.

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he was creating a new "AI force" to "watch over" AI development, one week after a chorus of AI leaders called for government regulation of the ever-advancing tech.

At the same time, he said he would not heed those leaders' call to slow down AI development.

"We will not in any way hinder or stifle the Growth of this incredible Industry," the president said on Truth Social, his social media platform. "Rather, we will cherish it, help it, and watch over it, as it grows!"

Trump said he would also soon be announcing a new AI "Czar."

Trump's comments on Saturday amount to his most concrete response yet toward calls from leaders of frontier AI labs to slow down and regulate AI development to ensure its safety for humanity.

Trump did not offer further details about the new AI Force in his social media post.

Trump likened calls to slowing AI development to "Hoaxes, all generated by the Radical Left Dumocrats, for purposes of destroying our Country."

He said existing criminal statutes were sufficient to protect against incidents of misalignment — a techie term for when agents do things their human minders didn't intend. Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI have all said in recent weeks that some of their AI agents have gone rogue and escaped testing environments, in some cases hacking into other companies.

Last week, a chorus of leading AI CEOs said AI development should be slowed down until adequate risk-prevention measures could be put in place.

In an essay titled "We Must Pace the Frontier," Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei proposed a three-pronged plan that would, in his view, strengthen safeguards to ensure AI remains under the control of human engineers.

One of those prongs included calls for the US government, "for antitrust reasons," to regulate frontier AI labs. Amodei's essay was signal-boosted by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Not all AI CEOs and influential people are so gung-ho about regulation, however.

Some, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and David Sacks, a presidential advisor on science and tech, said government regulation would put the US at a disadvantage with China and choke the growth of smaller AI companies.

Sacks also said AI labs don't need the government and can coordinate a slowdown among themselves.

Business Insider reported earlier this month that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg opposed plans for a national AI regulator on a phone call with the president in August.

Trump, for his part, appears to agree.

"AI is the next Industrial Revolution, or Internet, but will be even larger and more impactful, possibly as much as 25% of our Country's GDP," he said. "We are leading China, and the rest of the World, and I intend to keep it that way!"

• Director Aaron Sorkin's coming film about Mark Zuckerberg hits theaters on October 9.
• Sorkin said Sony hired an outside law firm to fact-check the film ahead of its release.
• He called Meta a "phenomenally powerful company" that can sue "at the drop of a hat."

Sony left no legal stone unturned for its new film about Mark Zuckerberg, lest it face the wrath of Meta's legal team.

During an appearance on The New York Times podcast, "The Interview," director Aaron Sorkin said getting the green light to pursue "The Social Reckoning" wasn't a "no-brainer."

"You also have this phenomenally powerful company with limitless resources who can sue you at the drop of a hat," Sorkin said. "It's my understanding that Sony did get letters from Meta, and I do not think those letters said, 'We're wishing you all the luck in the world.'"

Sorkin said that Sony's legal department typically vets non-fiction films thoroughly, but for "The Social Reckoning," the studio hired an "outside law firm" to ensure "every single thing that is presented as a fact is a fact."

"The things that I wasn't able to say or do are agonizing," Sorkin said. "I will say, the irony wasn't lost on anybody that we were doing a thorough fact-check of a movie about a company unwilling to do the same thing."

During the interview, Sorkin said he makes a distinction between the real Zuckerberg and the character in his films.

"I'll do my research. I'll learn everything that I can about the reality. I'll talk to as many people as I can, read as much as I can, but in the process of thinking about it and then in the process of writing it, it becomes the same as a fictional character for me," Sorkin said. "It becomes a character that I'm creating."

"The Social Reckoning" is a legal drama based on the real-life fallout from the 2021 Facebook leak.

Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen copied a trove of internal documents before leaving the company that spring. The documents showed that Facebook, now Meta, was aware that aspects of its platforms had adverse effects on its users. Haugen shared the documents with The Wall Street Journal, which published a series of high-profile articles. She later testified before a Senate subcommittee and said the company prioritized profits over user safety.

Actor Mikey Madison plays Haugen, while Jeremy Allen White plays former Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz. Jeremy Strong will portray Zuckerberg on the big screen.

"The Social Reckoning" is Sorkin's second film about Facebook, following the 2010 box-office hit "The Social Network." The film won many awards, including three Academy Awards.

• I spent 22 years raising my children to become confident, independent adults.
• My son moved to New York City, while my daughter built a life in Chicago.
• I'm proud they're thriving, but I still grieve the years when they needed me.

When my son moved to New York City after college graduation, I couldn't have been prouder. He had landed a great job, found an apartment, made friends, and embraced everything the city had to offer. Two years after my daughter finished college, we packed up a U-Haul and drove her more than 700 miles to Chicago to start her new chapter.

Watching both of my children confidently step into adulthood was everything I'd hoped for when they were little. Watching them leave was also one of the hardest things I've ever done.

I raised my kids to be independent

As parents, we spend years preparing our children to become independent. We celebrate every milestone that gets them closer to adulthood. The first day of school. Learning to ride a bike. Driving a car. Going away to college. Landing that first job. Every accomplishment feels like proof we're doing something right.

No one tells you that one day those same accomplishments will leave your house quiet.

These days, my son has favorite restaurants in New York I've never been to. He has his own routines, friends, and a new life with his fiancé. My daughter has created a life in Chicago that fits her perfectly. She knows the neighborhoods, has favorite places to shop and eat, and has built her own community. They don't call to ask how to do laundry anymore or need me to remind them about doctor's appointments. They're living exactly the lives I raised them to have.

And somehow, that's where the grief begins.

It hurts every time I say goodbye to them

It's a strange kind of grief because nothing bad has happened. They're healthy. They're happy. They're successful. They call, they visit, and we have wonderful relationships. In many ways, this is the dream every parent hopes for. Yet every time I hug them goodbye after visiting with them, I ache to the core and cry the entire way home.

I realized what I was mourning wasn't my children. It was that version of motherhood that had come to an end.

For twenty-two years, my life revolved around school schedules, sports, family dinners, and helping them become capable adults. Then, almost without noticing, my role changed. They still wanted me in their lives, but they no longer needed me every day. That's exactly what I had worked so hard to accomplish.

The irony wasn't lost on me. My greatest success as a parent also felt like one of my greatest losses.

I wondered if something was wrong with me. Shouldn't I simply be happy? Why did I feel so emotional when this was exactly what I'd wanted for them? It wasn't until I shared my feelings in TikTok videos that I realized I wasn't alone.

In one video, I wrote, "One day your daughter has her own city, her own routines, her own life... and you realize she's become the woman you hoped she'd be."

More than 65,000 people watched it, and more than 2,200 shared it. The comments said everything.

Again and again, parents described the same impossible contradiction: How can I be so incredibly proud and miss them this much at the same time?

It's pride and loss existing side by side.

When I visit my son in New York City or my daughter in Chicago, I love seeing them in their own worlds. I love that they have careers they're passionate about, apartments they've made their own, and lives full of people they love. Seeing them so confident and living fully fills me with pride.

Then I go home.

I miss the ordinary moments

That's when I miss the little things. Shoes in the mudroom. Messy bedrooms. Knowing everyone would be home for dinner. The ordinary moments you never realize you're living for the last time.

I don't think we talk enough about this stage of parenthood. We prepare parents for diapers, teenage years, and college drop-offs. We don't prepare them for the emotional whiplash of watching your children become exactly who you hoped they'd be while quietly grieving the life you shared before they flew.

The goal was never to keep them forever. It was to give them the confidence to build lives they loved, even if those lives took them hundreds of miles away. I spent 22 years raising my children to leave me.

Seeing them thrive tells me I succeeded. Missing them every day reminds me how much I loved the years when they needed me.

• Celebrities have had their fair share of fashion mishaps on red carpets this year.
• Some have worn confusing designs at events like the Met Gala, while others were underdressed.
• Heidi Klum, for example, should have picked a different dress for the Vanity Fair Oscars party.

Not every red-carpet look can be a winner.

Throughout 2026, we've seen celebrities wear showstopping ensembles at the Met Gala, Oscars, Grammy Awards, and more. Fashion is part of the job.

Unfortunately, some A-listers opted for ill-fitting suits, confusing sets, and overwhelming gowns at such red-carpet events.

Here's what's missed the mark so far this year.

Kate Hudson wore a two-piece set that needed tailoring in January.

She wore the Nina Ricci ensemble for a BAFTA Tea Party hosted in Beverly Hills. It comprised extra-long black trousers, a sheer, long-sleeve turtleneck tucked in, and a tan bralette underneath.

The outfit's color palette suited Hudson, and her see-through shirt was a fun choice. Still, her pants were so oversized that they distracted from the overall look.

Jenna Ortega attended the Golden Globes in a dress that overwhelmed her.

Dilara Findikoglu designed her black Golden Globes gown, which had a high neckline, a floor-length skirt, torso cutouts, and fringe at the shoulders.

While the lower half of the outfit looked chic on Ortega, the top half was too overpowering for her petite frame. A different neckline could have improved the look.

Sombr's outfit at the Grammys had potential, but it ultimately fell flat.

The musician hit the Grammys red carpet in a custom Valentino set. It included skinny, silver trousers covered in sequins and a matching blazer, which he wore open over a lace top.

The latter piece was unique and stood out on the red carpet. Unfortunately, his suit did the same, but for the wrong reasons. It looked more like a costume than a high-fashion ensemble.

Miley Cyrus wore one too many layers at the same event.

The musician, who is known for her daring style, wore Celine in the form of black barrel trousers and a white button-up blouse.

The classic outfit could have worked for Cyrus if she'd gone without her puffy leather jacket. It restricted the neckline of her top and was decorated with too many large gold brooches.

Lauren Sánchez Bezos probably should have picked a different dress for a pre-Oscar dinner.

As Chanel hosted the dinner, Sánchez Bezos wore a Karl Lagerfeld design from the fashion house's spring 1986 collection.

The gown's ruched bodice with a single sleeve and leather belt looked fine, but its matching skirt was too long. Some simple tailoring to make it shorter and give it shape would have improved the look.

It made for one of Sánchez Bezos' worst looks this year.

Kevin O'Leary attended the Oscars in March, and his outfit was odd.

The businessman wore a dramatic Dolce & Gabbana set that featured skinny trousers, a satin shirt, and a robe-style jacket printed with scenes in silver.

The top of his Oscars outfit looked too much like sleepwear, and his main accessory — a graded NBA trading card worn as a necklace — didn't make sense.

Heidi Klum's yellow gown at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party missed the mark.

Chrome Hearts designed the supermodel's gown, which had a halter neckline, a form-fitted bodice, and sheer panels across the chest, hips, and legs.

The latter detailing made the dress look incomplete, and its pale-yellow color washed out Klum.

Chrissy Teigen should have worn a different top when she attended the Fashion Trust US event in April.

She posed on the pink carpet wearing a yellow feathered skirt, neon-orange pumps, and a white structural tank top that sat above her torso rather than against it.

The white piece and her black clutch didn't match the outfit's vibrancy. The same top in a brighter color, maybe the same orange as her shoes, would have made it more cohesive.

Ben Stiller's Met Gala ensemble was lackluster.

For the "Costume Art" gala, where the dress code was "Fashion is Art," Stiller wore a standard suit with a white shirt and an orange tie, a nod to the New York Knicks.

The outfit might have worked at a standard red-carpet event, but it wasn't the right choice for the Met Gala. He missed the theme entirely.

Cardi B might be a Met Gala icon, but her 2026 look didn't work.

She wore a Marc Jacobs gown that was crafted from black lace over tan, pink, purple, and orange fabric.

It hugged most of her body except at the feet and shoulders, where the fabric was gathered into puffy bunches. The outfit had no clear meaning, and it looked strange on the red carpet.

Hudson Williams made his Met Gala debut, but it disappointed.

The "Heated Rivalry" star wore Balenciaga in the form of a baby-blue suit with black velvet detailing and a train attached at the waist.

It seemed like Williams was going for a daring look, especially since he chose to forgo a shirt. Unfortunately, the outfit looked unfinished, and his makeup was too strong.

Drew Barrymore's outfit at the Tony Awards in June didn't suit her.

Balenciaga designed her three-piece ensemble for the Tonys. It featured a baggy white top with a train, high-waisted trousers, and elbow-length white gloves.

Each piece looked a little too big on Barrymore, and the pants made her outfit look too casual. Swapping the latter for a skirt might have made it better.

Shaun Ross should have worn a different coat for the BET Awards.

The model and musician aimed to honor Missy Elliot with his pleather, full-length coat from the Chinese fashion brand Annakiki.

The coat, however, didn't look much like the one she wore in "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" music video, so the meaning was lost on the red carpet.

Its uniquely shaped hood also distracted from the rest of the piece.

Dwight Howard should have made one simple swap for his ESPYS outfit.

The basketball player chose a black satin suit for the awards ceremony, which looked sleek on the red carpet and paired well with his gold jewelry.

Still, the pleated pants he chose, which flared at the ankles, looked a bit too short for his tall frame. Looser-fitting trousers would have suited the outfit better.

Shailene Woodley's outfit for the Emmys was the wrong choice.

She wore a Balenciaga set that comprised embellished gold trousers and a loose-fitting blue halter top with a plunging neckline. The actor also wore a colorful gemstone necklace, an updo hairstyle, and burgundy leather gloves.

While Woodley became an Emmy winner, taking home the outstanding guest actress in a drama series award, her outfit wasn't as successful.

She should have ditched the accessories and worn a more form-fitting top.

• CNN and MS NOW said their reporters were denied entry to White House grounds Saturday morning.
• Donald Trump said on Friday that he was banning the networks and Politico from the White House.
• The ban follows earlier restrictions on reporters covering the Pentagon.

Reporters for CNN, MS NOW, and Politico were denied entry to White House grounds on Saturday morning, the outlets said, one day after President Donald Trump said he was banning them for their coverage of him.

"Early today, CNN journalists were denied access to the White House grounds," a CNN spokesperson said in a statement. "We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do our reporting without hindrance or interference from the government."

"This ban is an illegal assault on this fundamental right," the spokesperson added.

A spokesperson for MS NOW said its journalists were also denied access.

In a note to Politico's newsroom shared with Business Insider, Politico's Global editor in chief, Jonathan Greenberger, said a Politico reporter had her press pass taken by the Secret Service.

"We stand by her and all reporters here covering the White House," Greenberger said. "As we said yesterday, we will vigorously defend our First Amendment rights."

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House for what he described as their "fiction and lies."

"Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States," Trump said on Truth Social, his social media platform.

In its statement on Saturday, MS NOW said it "intends to take any and all steps necessary to defend our First Amendment rights and the essential role of independent journalism in our democracy."

CNN said it "will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor."

Akayla Gardner, a White House correspondent for MS NOW, said on air that an officer took her press badge after it didn't scan.

"There was a red beeping light, and so the officer asked me to hand over my badge," she said. "He said that it was disabled."

Trump arrived at Camp David late Friday night, according to a White House pool report.

Politico and Business Insider are both owned by Axel Springer SE.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

• A slow cooker or Crock-Pot can come in handy when prepping food for game day.
• They can help whip up game-day appetizers from dips to ribs and spicy wings.
• Chili is another easy, hearty slow-cooker recipe to make before watching the game.

Football season is finally here — which means Sundays are once again all about touchdowns, trash talk, and a very serious spread of game-day snacks.

Whether you're locked in on the game or mainly showing up for Buffalo Chicken dip, ribs, and hot wings, you don't have to spend the entire day hovering over a hot stove to feed a crowd.

Business Insider spoke with cookbook authors Sarah Olson, who wrote "The Magical Slow Cooker," and Kim Laidlaw, author of "Everyday Slow Cooking: Modern Recipes for Delicious Meals," for ideas for easy game-day recipes.

These recipes can all be made in a slow cooker, allowing you to throw everything into your Crock-Pot and get back to the game.

Meatballs are a filling game-day appetizer you can make in a slow cooker.

Olson recommends her slow-cooker meatballs recipe for game day.

"I love grape-jelly meatballs, which only have three ingredients," she said. "They're so good, everyone will ask you for the recipe."

Another recipe from Spend With Pennies suggests placing your seasoned, raw meatballs in the slow cooker, topping them with sauce, and letting it finish them off.

Beer brats can also be made in a slow cooker.

Brats with onions, peppers, and garlic, simmered in the slow cooker with beer, are another of Olson's favorite game-day recipes.

"When the guests arrive, they get to choose when they want to eat since the slow cooker keeps these brats nice and warm during the game," she wrote on her website, The Magical Slow Cooker.

Plus, you can even choose peppers to reflect the colors of your favorite team.

Brisket is perfect for feeding a larger family.

"Brisket is a natural partner for the slow cooker, as a gentle braise renders it meltingly tender," Kim Laidlaw wrote in "Everyday Slow Cooking: Modern Recipes for Delicious Meals."

Laidlaw's recipe for slow-cooked braised brisket features garlic, onion, dry red wine, carrots, and either chicken or beef stock, accompanied by a chimichurri sauce.

Pork shoulder is a slow-cooker staple you can use to make game-day sliders.

"One dish I think is so versatile is pork shoulder in a slow cooker with broth and a little salt and pepper," Laidlaw said. "I just braise that, and then you can turn it into so many different things."

One of the best ways to use slow-cooked pork shoulder is to make pulled-pork sliders with all that tender meat. Then, top with barbecue sauce and slaw.

You can even make Buffalo chicken wings using a slow cooker.

Olson's recipe for slow-cooked Buffalo chicken wings calls for thawed chicken wings, hot sauce, and unsalted butter. To get the wings super crispy, remove them from the sauce after 2.5 hours of cooking, then broil them in the oven before adding them back to the slow cooker.

Pulled chicken with barbecue or Buffalo sauce is another great way to use your Crock-Pot.

One of the benefits of using a slow cooker is that you can start with a basic protein and jazz it up.

From Mexican-food-inspired spices to Indian simmer sauces, there are many ways to transform shredded chicken into something show-stopping by adding it to tacos, sandwiches, or salads.

Mac and cheese can also easily be made in a slow cooker.

If you want to add some carbs to your game-day menu, look no further than a piping hot pot of mac and cheese. Olson's recipe uses cream cheese, milk, sharp cheddar, and white sharp cheddar.

Martha Stewart's recipe for slow-cooker mac and cheese is also easy to make.

"It is important to use pungent cheeses, such as sharp cheddar, mixed with a little Gruyere or pecorino Romano for extra bite, since the white sauce and pasta will absorb a lot of flavor," Stewart writes.

Buffalo-chicken dip is another quick and easy favorite.

One of the benefits of making a slow-cooker Buffalo chicken dip — or any other slow-cooker side dish — is that the recipe can be prepared well in advance and reheated when you're ready to eat.

"There are so many different dips that can be made in the slow cooker, you can make Buffalo-chicken dip, bacon-cheeseburger dip, cheesy bean dip, Rotel and Velveeta Dip, and even artichoke dip," Olson said. "I like to serve all these dips with tortilla chips. Can't choose one dip? Make two or more for a variety for your guests."

Spinach-and-artichoke dip is another game-day favorite you can make in a slow cooker.

Spinach-artichoke dip is a game-day classic, and making it in a slow cooker keeps it extra warm, creamy, and scoopable from kickoff to the final whistle.

This recipe from Delish is made with full-fat cream cheese, shredded cheese, and mayonnaise,

Queso is a go-to game-day food that can be easily prepared in a Crock-Pot.

"I often make a queso verde dip in my slow cooker for game days," Olson told Business Insider.

Her recipe for queso verde uses white Velveeta cheese, salsa verde, milk, and sour cream.

Chili is another popular recipe to make on game days.

Spicy chili and chipotle turkey chili are ideal game-day recipes because they can simmer in a slow cooker for hours, letting the flavors deepen while you watch the game.

Serve with warm cornbread for a cozy, filling meal.

Slow cookers work perfectly to create an impressive — and tasty – nacho bar.

A DIY nacho bar is an easy way to feed a crowd while letting everyone build their perfect plate. It also puts those smaller slow cookers to work, keeping every topping warm and ready to scoop.

"I use three slow cookers for a nacho bar, which is a great way to use those smaller slow cookers," Olson said. "I use one slow cooker for nacho cheese (store-bought), one for seasoned ground beef, and one for refried beans. I also make a toppings bar that has salsa, sour cream, guac, olives, onions, and tomatoes."

• After years of growing my career in New York City, I moved to a small mountain town in Colorado.
• I loved being surrounded by nature, but I struggled to put down roots and missed parts of city life.
• Spending time away from this town helped me realize I needed to leave. A few years later, I did.

At 34, after years of climbing the ranks of a Wall Street law firm, I was burned out and deeply disconnected from the natural world.

Unsure of where I wanted to live, after leaving my job, I spent a year camping in the American West. During that trip, I visited Telluride, Colorado, and was immediately awed by the rose-emerald hues, toothy ridgelines, and elk herds roaming the valley.

It was the sort of place I often fantasized about escaping to, and it was easy to see why it's routinely voted one of the best mountain towns in the US.

In early 2017, ready to settle in one spot, I moved to a valley just south of Telluride, certain I'd find a simpler, more connected way of life.

I enjoyed reconnecting to nature, but felt like something was missing

At first, I was awash in the alpine paradise. Outside my front door, there were countless trails and 13,000-foot peaks to explore.

During winter, I admired magpies swooping in the snow, and savored the effort of chopping kindling and tending a fire. In spring, I was mesmerized by the aspen blooming green across the mountains and thrilled by the return of hibernating marmots.

The long days of summer burst with wildflowers and adventures along lichen-splotched ridgelines. And by fall, the aspens enthralled again, goldening against the sun's low-hanging light. Living there, I couldn't help but feel connected to the Earth's natural cycles.

But by the end of my first year, I also found myself longing for New York City. For me, this area's tight-knit community felt insular and hard to break into. Instead of being welcomed, I was often questioned about why I was there or how I'd found the place.

I also craved other aspects of my city life, like interacting with a broad range of people from different backgrounds on a regular basis — in a town with fewer than 200 residents with an economy driven by real estate and tourism, it felt like there was little diversity in the area's population.

For years, I tried to put down roots without much luck

On the cusp of looking elsewhere for a new home, I began dating my now-husband, who'd lived there for almost 20 years. The relationship was a Band-Aid.

It not only gave me companionship, but once I was partnered with a "local," I was more often welcomed by others. For the next five years, I tried hard to put down roots and cultivate connections.

Because most of my work was remote, I looked for other ways to engage through volunteering with the nearby Nordic ski team and a local mentorship program. I also worked part-time at a backcountry ski lodge. Although I met people with similar interests like trail running and mountain climbing, I didn't find the lasting personal connections I'd hoped for.

An experience that encapsulated my struggle was my yearlong tenure in local government, where I was able to use my legal background.

Residents brought issues to my attention that I researched and worked to address — but what initially felt like appreciated work soon became frustrating.

I felt I was running into resistance to change and gendered dismissals, some unlike anything I'd ever experienced during my legal career in the male-dominated world of Wall Street. I ultimately resigned.

That effort, like every other effort to root myself, left me feeling more isolated.

But any time I considered leaving, I looked out the window or ventured to one of my favorite trails. Where else is this awe-inspiring? Where else can I run a loop through canyons this stunning? The answer was always, nowhere.

And during the pandemic, there was an influx of people fleeing more densely populated areas for small mountain towns like this one, making it even harder to consider leaving a place that was now so sought after.

Eventually, time away enabled me to let go

By 2023, I found myself regularly escaping town under the guise of work travel. After finding conferences in various cities, I'd extend the trip to explore, visit museums, and engage with new people.

During this travel, I found the sort of fulfillment I'd been missing, enabling me to recognize how much I'd swung from one extreme to another.

In New York City, the part of me who loved the solace of birdsong and long days in the mountains felt stifled, and in the Telluride area, the more culturally curious part of me felt stifled. I needed to find a place where all aspects of myself were nourished.

Once again, I wasn't sure where to go, but finding fulfillment in other towns empowered me to let go of a mountain paradise that wasn't actually paradise for me and trust I'd find a better fit elsewhere.

My husband and I have since sold our house in the mountains. We're still trying to find balance and our perfect home — for now, that looks like splitting our time between Northern Italy and Northern New Mexico.

• I first bonded with my daughters-in-law over Facebook Marketplace.
• They helped me feel comfortable wanting beautiful things without spending much money.
• Our secondhand shopping trips have become a treasured family tradition.

I did not go to thrift stores when I was raising four sons on my own.

I like to pretend I simply wasn't aware of the local thrift stores but this is a lie. The truth was, I was too ashamed of my poverty to shop at thrift stores. Too desperate to keep up pretenses, to show the rest of the world and especially my sons that we were doing fine.

We went without a lot of the time. We were careful with hand-me-downs and Christmas gift cards from family members. We shopped in January in the discount bin. Every once in a while I'd splurge on new shoes or winter coats we couldn't afford and we suffered for it. The rent money gone, my tiny savings account depleted. Wasted on my need, my longing for stuff.

Not just for my sons. For me. Good boots. Nice jeans. A statement coat. Costume jewelry. I would feel that low pull of craving and wish I had more of everything. For them, for me, for whatever rental home we could afford at the time. I wanted tablecloths. Candles. Big throw pillows that always seemed to cost a fortune. A sturdy cookie jar. Things that felt so silly and so far out of reach that I pushed the want for them down as far as I could.

And then my sons grew up. And then they met my daughters-in-law. And then these four women opened my eyes to what thrifting could really look like. For me and for us as women learning our own love language together.

They taught me about Facebook Marketplace

It started with Facebook Marketplace during Covid lockdown, when we sheltered in place for weeks at a time my house and itched for something, anything to distract us.

I mentioned that I'd always wanted a cheval mirror for my room. My daughter-in-law scrolled through her phone for about one minute and said, "Here's one for $40, they can deliver tomorrow. Want it? I'll get it for you!" I couldn't believe something I'd considered for so many years, a mirror standing in my room, could be found so close and for so little. And found by someone who loved me so much that she wanted me to have things. Who understood me as a woman, not just as a mom.

And so our adventures in thrifting began. These women brought me into their world of scrolling through Marketplace for steals. We began sending each other listings for plants and coffee tables and midcentury modern barware. I filled my empty rental home with pottery dishes and dressers, tablecloths and artwork and best of all, a squishy white sofa I'd always dreamed about thanks to Nancy Meyers. All secondhand, all coming to a total of around $200.

We started shopping together

When the world opened back up, we took our love language to stores whenever we got together. Piling into a car, coffees in hand, filling our carts with tea pots and straw bags, shiny platform penny loafers and maxi dresses.

These trips taught me patience. Taught me to be methodical about flipping through every single aisle for a hidden gem. Taught me to listen to my daughters-in-law, to pay attention to them as women. As friends. As my young guiding lights who finally, after so many years of guilt, have given me permission and space to fill a craving I never thought I could afford.

Thrifting has become the way we all move through the world as a family now. We give each other secondhand Christmas gifts. We resell thrifted items, passing along polka dot skirts and delicate china tea cups to the next thrifter looking for something special. We send each other coupons and reminders to keep an eye out for special items. A gorgeous thrifted cake topper was my birthday present last year. I look at it every single day and think of the women in my life now.

Our frugal frivolity. Our easy love.

• Craig Celek left a retail position to become a flight attendant this year, in his mid-50s.
• He said he brought life experience and a strong work ethic to the role because of his age.
• The Gen-Xer described the job change as the "third act" in his career.

This story is based on an interview with Craig Celek, 56, a flight attendant from Brooklyn. It has been edited for length and clarity.

In February 2026, I embarked on what I call "act three" of my career.

Right out of college, I worked for a publishing company in Hong Kong for 15 years before becoming a store manager at New Balance, and then taking a leadership role at Saks Off 5th.

My 15 years in retail were amazing, but I started to get itchy feet. I started looking for my next opportunity, and a job on an airline was attractive to me.

Friends my age are flight attendants

I have a lot of friends my in their late 40s and 50s who have turned their second or third act into becoming flight attendants. They encouraged me to apply in November 2025.

I knew that the main US airlines — American, United, and Delta — were open to hiring older people, especially those with a background in customer service.

Each offered me a job, but I was most impressed with Delta's interview process. It felt reassuring that half of my tryout group was over 45. One was 62.

So I took the training in early February. I'm sure my time in retail was the most important factor. Still, I think one of the reasons Delta hires Gen Xers is because we know how to work.

Age often comes with patience and wisdom

We have life experience, which translates into the ability to understand people's needs and respond in emergency situations.

I came into the business seasoned, and I leaned into listening first rather than reacting. Age comes with patience and wisdom.

The skills I developed during some of the most difficult days in retail have helped me every day in my new job. If the customer finds something not up to standard, your first thought is, "How do I get them to where they are happy?"

I was once on a flight that was supposed to be only from Atlanta to LaGuardia, which should have taken no more than two hours. Some terrible weather came in, and the journey was 11 hours altogether.

My team and I managed to keep 250 passengers happy throughout. Not many people can claim to do that.

One of the secrets is, to quote the late, great Dolly Parton, "A little sugar is better."

At Delta, we work all classes, and they're all fun. What I love about the two upper classes is that you can provide different levels of service. The customers are open to talking and having a really good time.

I'm getting to know new places

Then there are the destinations, both domestic and international. I've traveled a lot in the past, but going somewhere as crew is different.

My favorite layover is Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has a cool, creative vibe. I feel the same way about Colorado Springs and Bozeman, Montana.

I'm getting to know the American West. The towns and cities all seem familiar now. I'm big into learning about the food and art scene.

It's the same with world capitals such as Lisbon, Rome, London, and Athens.

Schedules are flexible, but we generally get blocks of three days off. My father is 92, still extremely vital and healthy, and can fly with me free of charge.

We recently went to Dublin and Paris. Nothing makes an employee feel more valued than seeing their dad in first class eating an ice cream sundae.

The base salary is only part of your earnings package. It's increased by boarding and reroute pay. During the hiring process, they said, depending on your shifts and hours, you could earn up to $80,000 in your first year of service.

Since April, I've flown 209 flights, 29 of which were long-haul. I can honestly say that I'm having the time of my life.

I might be in my mid-50s, but I relish change and the adventure of it all.

• My youngest kid just enrolled at the same college my older twins attend.
• The fact that three of them are together brings me joy, but I'm struggling with my empty nest.
• I've booked a trip and plan to hang out with other empty nesters to ease my transition.

When I tell people that my youngest daughter is attending the same college as her older twin siblings, I always hear some variation of these questions:

Did they always want to go to the same college? Are you happy you only need to do one drop-off? Are you getting a buy 2 get 1 free discount?

The answer is no, yes, and I wish!

The reaction people have had to them all attending the same school reminds me of when my twins were babies. People were fascinated and had lots of questions.

Even though I am happy that they will have each other at Fordham University in New York, the transition has been hard for me.

They have only been there a few weeks, and I have FOMO every time I talk to them. But this is all part of my transition into an empty nester.

Preparation didn't help

For the past year, I've been trying to mentally prepare for the time when all three kids will be in college. Anytime my youngest was at one of her many after-school activities, I would think, "This is what it's going to be like."

I even went on my first solo trip to start to get used to the idea of being without my kids.

But as the name empty nest implies, there's an indescribable emptiness that is different from when she was living at home. Even though she was busy, she was always at home at night. She acts in musical theater, so she was always belting out songs at home.

During the first week she was gone, my husband noticed the silence. He said, "There's no singing anymore."

I initially coped by cleaning

After we moved them into their dorms, I returned home and began cleaning and decluttering. For the next week, I deep-cleaned all their bedding and every surface in their rooms, and donated extra items like sheets, blankets, and towels.

When I told my youngest daughter how I spent my time, she replied, "That sounds like a very empty nest thing to do."

Cleaning didn't change the stillness, but having some control over an aspect of my life made me feel a little better. And their rooms never looked so clean, which was (as my daughter would say) very satisfying.

Listening to music helped

Besides singing, my daughter also loves listening to music. One day, I heard an Ariana Grande song in her room. When I went to investigate the source, I found my husband, who said, "I thought I would play some music to help it feel like she's still here."

After laughing at my husband's creative attempt to fill the void, I realized that hearing the music actually helped.

Talking to other empty nesters helped too

This week, one of my fellow empty-nest friends called and asked, "How are you doing?"

We discussed our mutual new normal and how hard and strange it's been. We agreed to meet for a meal in a few weeks, and having something to look forward to has helped.

I then realized a few other friends were in the same situation. In our group chat, I asked, "When are we having an empty nest gathering?" They all agreed that sounded like a great way to cope. So yet another planned gathering; my calendar is filling up.

Planning a trip

Ever since I was in my 20s, I've always loved traveling. Since my twins were babies, we have been traveling as a family. We've gone on many family-friendly cruises like Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.

To help me look forward to something, I planned a trip for just my husband and me.

Since it's just the two of us, we are going to try a Celebrity Cruise, which tends to be mostly adults and more upscale — in other words, a line we wouldn't take our kids on. And we're going to a bucket-list destination that I've wanted to go to since my 20s — Greece!

Anytime I've felt sad, I started planning or researching, and that's definitely helped, too.

Let them fly

My youngest daughter was already familiar with the college campus from visiting her siblings, so she hasn't had the typical homesickness most students experience (at least not yet). She's been so busy with classes, clubs, and activities that I've barely spoken to her.

When I was feeling sad this week, my husband said, "We need to let them fly."

He's right, and I love that he's sticking with the bird metaphor.

To help me focus on the positives, I asked them to send a first-day-of-classes picture, and they actually did it. Seeing them all together made me smile, and knowing I still had clout helped too.

The best part? They've kept up the weekly dinner meetups my twins started their freshman year. Every week, all three of them share a meal, catching up and probably complaining about us. They even have a nickname for it — sibs dinner (short for siblings).

While I wait for Fordham to respond to my application, I might show up unannounced to their next sibs dinner. Just like a homing pigeon, I'll land directly on their table.

• The US Army is buying lots of drones to meet its goals of spreading the systems across the service.
• The next step is training enough pilots to operate them.
• Army courses and programs, as well as shared soldier feedback, help prepare troops for drone operations.

US Army officials say the service has amassed enough small drones to spread them across its formations. Now the challenge is training soldiers to use them.

"We fielded 10,000 drones" after the first phase of the Drone Dominance program, Col. Gregory Merkl, the director of drone dominance for the Army, said on Thursday during a media roundtable.

"We're in the process of receiving another 30,000 drones currently," he shared. "That is enough absolutely to get them down to every squad level."

"Where we still have some work to do, candidly, is getting everybody trained at the appropriate level," he said. "Right now, if you look across the force, you have that capability in every platoon. We still have a little bit of work to do in terms of getting qualified pilots down to the squad level."

The Army plans to field thousands of low-cost, one-way attack drones by next fiscal year and has held a series of events to select drone companies for advancement in evaluations called Gauntlets.

Last year, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memo directing the overhaul of how the Pentagon buys and integrates small uncrewed aerial systems across the armed forces. That line of effort led to Drone Dominance, an iterative development program investing $1 billion to purchase at least 200,000 drones through 2027.

As drones become more common in soldier arsenals, the Army is learning how best to train troops on using the systems.

The Army's efforts to train drone operators include specialized courses like the Unmanned Advanced Lethality Course and other programs focused on flying specific models of drones. The service is also exposing soldiers to drones starting in basic training. This approach gets troops familiar with the technology and then transitions them to tactics in different scenarios.

One approach launched last year was a three-week crash course at Fort Rucker, Alabama. The pilot class was described as a "catch-up" to close the US gap on drones, bringing students from different assignments in to learn the basics of piloting the systems while also exploring how to build and 3D print parts for them.

Observations from Army drone courses and schools have highlighted skills some soldiers already bring to drone warfare, from flying drones as a hobby and playing video games to the engineering know-how needed to build and modify them.

One important aspect of the Army's efforts to catch soldiers up on using drones is in how it approaches integrating drone warfare lessons across the service. Army officials have said soldier feedback on these systems is prioritized, as are takeaways from the war in Ukraine and US soldiers who have trained with Ukrainians.

Last month, news broke that the Army was phasing out the 173rd Airborne Brigade's specialized drone unit, raising questions about how the Army intends to not only learn drone lessons, but also disseminate them across the force.

Army officials say the unit's experimental drone role was always temporary. They said the plan was for formation across the Army to cultivate drone skills rather than depending heavily on a specialized unit.

"There was always a plan for us to provide lessons, to put them into really realistic, tough, difficult training scenarios, and then provide feedback so that the institutional Army could make decisions about doctrine and organization and acquisitions — which we're doing right now," said Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, acting commander of US Army Europe and Africa.

"We got a tremendous amount of data and feedback from the rotation that we're providing to the Army," he said.

• Ukraine's soldiers want drones that require less hands-on control.
• More autonomy lets one operator supervise multiple drones from safer positions.
• AI is handling more flying while humans still decide when to strike.

Ukraine's soldiers want drones and robots that can handle more of the flying and driving themselves, letting one operator oversee multiple systems instead of manually controlling each one.

Ukraine's rapidly expanding arsenal of aerial drones and ground robots has become central to its fight against Russia's larger military. Defense technology companies say they're increasingly automating certain tasks while keeping humans responsible for decisions about using force.

In practice, that means shifting more routine work from the operator to the drone. Newer systems can increasingly navigate, return to base, and help identify targets independently, allowing operators to focus on other tasks, from target confirmation to swarm control.

Mykyta Rozhkov, the chief business development officer at Ukrainian defense technology company Frontline Robotics, told Business Insider that his company's innovation has come from soldier' requests.

"Our soldiers are coming to us with a request of: 'How can you provide us with the capability to have different robots controlled by one person?' or 'Can we make a shift of our UAV pilots easier?'"

The company responded to these requests by developing software that lets drones handle more of the flight themselves, including traveling to and from an area of interest with minimal input.

"In the new version of a drone that we produce right now and supply, there is an autonomy layer installed in the drone itself," Rozhkov explained. "So it can go autonomously to the area of interest, then come back with basically one button."

A "pilot can bring the system home with a push of a button," and the drone can figure out the shortest way back, he said.

Autonomy is also being built into the company's product updates. The latest version of its Linza drone — the 3.0 released this year — has more onboard autonomy, so it can operate when GPS is unavailable because of Russian electronic warfare.

It puts less "mental demand on a soldier so they can do more stuff." It took eight months to develop, but it offers "a huge upper hand," Rozhkov said.

Frontline's Zoom reconnaissance drone also has AI navigation, so it can work when it loses satellite navigational signals.

These changes, likewise, were driven by soldier feedback, the executive said. Unlike many Western defense firms, Ukrainian companies often work directly with soldiers, even talking to them from the front lines over FaceTime and listening to their insights.

The broader shift toward artificial intelligence and autonomy is also a priority for Ukraine's government. Ukraine's defense ministry said in August that units were using "more than 70 different systems powered by AI and computer vision technologies to strike enemy targets."

And it said that the aim is to eventually have 100% of drones on the front line equipped with computer vision and AI capabilities.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, battlefield technology has moved from one pilot fully manually controlling one drone, to AI helping pilots find targets and providing autopilot capabilities, to now enabling one operator to oversee multiple drones while AI assists with basic tasks, like flying and driving, and helps take over when Russian electronic warfare cuts the connection.

Former defense minister Mykhailo Fedorov predicted last month that "we will reach a stage where autonomous drones will fight autonomous drones."

A host of Ukrainian companies are pursuing that vision, and some are working toward larger swarms of autonomous weapons that can communicate with one another.

Achi, the CEO of Ukrainian defense firm Ark Robotics, told Business Insider that the evolution toward a single pilot controlling many drones is "kind of a prerequisite to be successful in the total drone warfare that is coming to all of us."

The defense technology company is developing a system that allows thousands of aerial drones and ground robots, including those not made by Ark Robotics, to work together with minimal human intervention, and enables an operator to be thousands of kilometers away.

Achi said that to have the advantage on the battlefield, "you need these asymmetrical systems that allow you to work with multiple drones at the same time."

Ukraine's combat systems need to be able to work amid Russia's heavy electronic warfare. Ukraine's Twist Robotics makes hardware and software that allow drones to navigate and track designated targets when Russia disrupts GPS. It does that "by default" because the problem is so common, co-founder Rostyslav Olenchyn told Business Insider.

Most of the company's products have AI assistance, allowing the drone to "accomplish the mission" even if an operator makes a mistake or loses control.

How much autonomy is in use remains somewhat limited by both technical and ethical constraints. Many companies and experts describe what is often portrayed as autonomy as exaggerated in practice, resembling advanced automation rather than independently acting AI.

Ukraine says it has not removed human oversight.

Its defense ministry said last month that "algorithms are now being entrusted with critical combat tasks, ranging from navigation and object identification to autonomous target engagement. However, the final decision on target selection and engagement is made by a human operator."

It said it will keep humans in the loop on principle, and while technology helps to identify a target, "the final decision to engage remains with a human, while the system's level of autonomy is limited based on the potential cost of an error."

Ukraine is rapidly advancing to match Russia's volume and allow its human soldiers to stay farther from the fight. Rozhkov described the general trend as "trying to get people outside of the danger zone."

• Airlines are cutting flights over the holidays due to high fuel costs.
• Executives said there could be further cuts and higher prices if fuel prices remain high.
• The price of oil surged past $100 a barrel this month.

If you haven't booked your holiday flights yet, you may want to brace your wallet: Airlines are cutting options and potentially raising fares as oil prices reach new highs.

After surging in the spring following the start of the war in Iran, oil prices surged yet again this summer and surpassed $100 a barrel this month; jet fuel is $4.53 a gallon as of Thursday. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest consumer price index show airfares rose more than 23% year-over-year in August.

Speaking at Morgan Stanley's Laguna Conference on Wednesday, major airline executives said they are cutting flights planned this holiday season and are likely to raise fares to offset oil spikes.

Mike Leskinen, CFO of United Airlines, said the company is seeing strong demand and that its customers are "incredibly, incredibly resilient," but United has already cut some routes that are on the low end of profitability and "don't make sense in a higher fuel environment."

"As you look into the fourth quarter, there'll be some flights in December that we won't fly that we thought we were going to fly," Leskinen said. "If fuel remains high, we'll make some adjustments into the first quarter and beyond into 2027."

Southwest Airlines CFO Tom Doxey and American Airlines CFO Devon May similarly said demand is strong and that if high fuel prices persist, they would trim capacity and raise fares in response.

However, the airline CFOs said it takes time for those increases to show up: "Jet fuel price gets passed through with a lag," Leskinen said. "Period."

Doxey said that "both from the booking curve and just kind of a natural lag, it takes a while for that to come," but Southwest has the "ability to recover a good portion" of those added costs.

Sally French, a travel analyst at NerdWallet, said that, beyond high airfares, airlines have also increased checked-bag and seat-selection fees. "The true cost of flying is higher than ever," she said.

What flight cuts could mean for travelers

It's unclear which specific flights and routes will be axed and how the airlines will rebook those affected. When trimming schedules, airlines have historically looked for markets that are already oversaturated, flights on less-busy travel days like Saturday, and flights that depart at less desirable times and may have lower demand.

Considering the record demand for premium travel, it's also possible airlines will focus resources on more business-heavy markets with strong corporate demand, especially long-haul international routes.

Several airlines are banking on their affluent customers continuing to book as they have grown desensitized to the volatility.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said in an April earnings call that "as difficult as it is to see what's going on with the conflict in the Middle East, I'm not sure that our premium customers are feeling affected by that."

Another wrinkle for travelers looking for affordable flights is that this year marks the first holiday season without Spirit Airlines, which shut down in May, taking its famously low fares off the table.

"Generally speaking, booking now to lock in a good price is best practice, particularly if we're talking winter travel," French said. "That sweet spot window for booking domestic travel is 1-3 months in advance, or 2-8 months for international travel."

She added that booking refundable fares that you can cancel and rebook if prices drop is also a smart move.

• My husband, 45, is a doctor and encourages his patients to get routine colonoscopies on time.
• When he went in for his own, he was surprised to be diagnosed with colon cancer. He had no symptoms.
• Now, we're changing our diets, and what our kids eat, as well.

When my husband, a doctor, went in for his first routine colonoscopy at 45 years old, he said nonchalantly, "I'll be done by noon. Then we can grab lunch." He recommends that his patients be screened on time, so he was simply following his own advice.

He had no symptoms suggesting anything was wrong, so when they found a few polyps — the largest one measuring 55 millimeters — we were caught off guard. A second procedure was necessary to remove the larger polyp, and when the biopsy came back showing cancer, our lives crumbled in an instant.

The right portion of his colon was removed, and three weeks later, our whirlwind nightmare began to settle. Luckily, having his screening on time saved his life. Now, we're focused on preventive care.

We're changing our diets, and what our kids eat, too

An average person has about a 4% to 5% lifetime chance of developing colorectal cancer — but having one affected parent raises that risk to roughly 5% to 15%. Someone with a first-degree relative who had colon cancer should have their first screening at 40 or 10 years younger than their family member was diagnosed, whichever comes sooner — for our kids, that means being screened at 35.

With double to triple the risk, I want to be as proactive as I can for my children — now ages 15 and 11 — and that means altering their diet (and ours!) to limit foods that may increase risk. We've read through current research and determined which changes are worth making.

We don't plan to restrict them completely from all foods associated with higher risk because we realize that's unrealistic (and we want them to enjoy eating), but we'll teach them to savor these foods in moderation.

We're limiting how often we eat some foods

First, processed meats will largely be eliminated from their diet. Our bacon-loving sons have only enjoyed this delicacy as a treat during vacations, and that plan will continue. They'll only indulge in other processed meats like hot dogs or ham when served at a barbecue or other social gathering. And cold cuts have been eliminated from our home, except for sliced turkey from our local market, which they prepare in-house without additives like sodium nitrites or nitrates.

Secondly, our kids love a medium-rare steak, and we don't plan to take that from them. But we will limit red meat to once a week or less, filling our other dinner menus with healthier protein like salmon, chicken, or turkey.

In our home, sugary drinks have never been a staple. We don't keep soda in the house, and that's not going to change. Aside from Gatorade during workouts or sporting events, we'll continue focusing on increasing water intake for hydration.

Fast food and other ultra-processed foods have no place in our home. Will my children have McDonald's once or twice a year? Perhaps they will, because my husband is easily persuaded by their happiness! But luckily, I have the time and ability to prepare home-cooked dinners most nights, and I don't plan to stop.

Finally, we've talked with our kids about the dangers of alcohol since they were little, but that conversation will now include the fact that alcohol intake is a risk factor for several types of cancer, colorectal cancer included.

We're also increasing how much we eat other things

We're limiting consumption of some things but increasing how often we eat others. There are certain foods that promote colon health, and we'll make sure they know which ones do. We'll aim for a diet including calcium-rich dairy products, whole grains, fish, and fruits and vegetables.

While our kids may not be receptive to every healthy option now (we struggle with vegetable intake just like many parents!), my hope is that the more we offer these foods and talk about a healthy diet with them, the likelier they are to adopt these eating habits as they grow.

Our kids aren't thrilled that some of the foods they love are being limited — and they likely won't follow every suggestion when they're older — but it's our job to guide them down a healthy path and provide them with the necessary information, especially given their increased risk. Thankfully, my husband's story had a happy ending, and we were given the chance to change the trajectory for our kids.

• AI is raising clients' expectations for faster delivery times on consulting projects.
• Jeanelle Johnson, PwC's DC managing partner, said clients now expect some work to be delivered in half the time.
• Faster delivery should not be confused with less work, said Johnson.

AI is resetting assumptions about how quickly professional services firms should move, and consulting clients are getting impatient.

"I am seeing clients ask for our help in delivering outcomes at a more rapid pace" compared to this time last year, Jeanelle Johnson, PwC's managing partner for the Washington DC area, told Business Insider.

"Something that we might have said takes eight to 10 weeks; the expectation is probably half of that. The shelf life is half," Johnson said.

Clients are not necessarily expecting an entire transformation to be completed in a fraction of the time; the expectation is more for pilots and proofs of concepts, she said.

"There's an expectation now that tools should accelerate the work," she added.

Johnson leads more than 2,200 consulting and accounting employees in her role as PwC's DC managing partner. Asked whether those compressed timelines were putting pressure on her consulting teams, she said: "We're working on it."

The Big Four professional services firms — PwC, Deloitte, KPMG, and EY — alongside firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Accenture, are at the center of the AI shift sweeping through workplaces. They have raced to build internal chatbots, train staff, and test AI in client work.

The technology can now assist with, and increasingly perform, early-stage consulting tasks such as market research, due diligence, and brainstorming.

At McKinsey, AI has accelerated the early problem-solving cycle, turning what used to be a team's "week one answer" — the first hypothesis after a week of research and analysis — into an "hour one answer," Kate Smaje, McKinsey's Global Leader for technology and AI, told Business Insider in June.

That frees up consultants to spend more time testing deeper parts of the issue tree rather than waiting days to get oriented, Smaje said.

Amid the rank and file, employees at top firms have told Business Insider they're seeing a difference in delivery times due to AI.

A software engineer at Deloitte US told Business Insider that some coding tasks had fallen from a dayslong process to around five minutes with AI, and an EY-Parthenon consultant in the UK said that due diligence that previously took two weeks of manual work and spreadsheet handling can now be completed in a day with AI.

As well as pressure to deliver faster results, the shift is also raising questions about how the pricing model that has rested on human labor will adapt as more work gets done by AI.

The work is more complex

For Johnson, faster delivery should not be confused with less work.

AI will change how consultants spend their time, freeing capacity for more meaningful or higher-value work rather than simply reducing the number of hours needed on a project, she told Business Insider.

The work itself is also becoming more complex, she added. Clients are navigating geopolitical tensions, wars, tariffs, and macroeconomic uncertainty simultaneously — a broader set of pressures than consultants would often have helped them tackle in the past.

"The confluence of all those things at the same time is something that we used to deal with one or two things at a time," Johnson said.

"Now we're in a world order where we have to deal with 10 plus, plus, plus at a time."

Warning: Some of the images you may see are graphic. For questions or if you suspect a poisoning, contact Poison Help at PoisonHelp.org or call 1-800-222-1222.

Katie Zerbst was doing laundry on a Sunday morning in June when she heard a "guttural" moan. "It was the sound that makes you just drop everything and run," the 45-year-old mother told Business Insider.

Rushing into the kitchen, Zerbst found her 10-year-old daughter, Violet, covered in steaming hot, sparkly goo. Burns seared across her face, and skin from her top lip was flapping down into her mouth. Moments earlier, Violet had popped a squishy toy into the microwave for 30 seconds. She wanted to make the glittery cube more malleable so she could squish it more easily. When she pulled it out, it erupted like a volcano.

Violet ended up in the emergency room, and she isn't the only child to visit the hospital after playing with a squishy.

Business Insider reviewed dozens of incident reports, spoke to parents, and consulted doctors and regulators about the risks behind this year's biggest toy craze. Despite a spike in reports of burns and concerns about toxic exposure, oversight of squishies — slime-filled toys shaped like dumplings, fruit, ice cubes, and other cute characters — falls into a regulatory gray area, and the market is teeming with counterfeits and knockoffs.

What's in a squishy?

Squishies, with their gooey, foamy, or gel-like textures, fall into the category of "sensory toys," like fidget spinners, kinetic sand, and magnetic balls.

In recent years, the toys have gone "from zero to hero," Five Below CEO Winnie Park told investors in June. They're helping the retailer to become "America's greatest little toy store" by driving brick-and-mortar traffic, Park said on September's earnings call. Kohl's also credited the toy with a sales bump, and workers from several retailers have taken to social media with tales of over-eager customers demanding their favorite squishies. Instagram and TikTok are full of satisfying videos of hands squishing toys shaped like a strawberry or a tube of toothpaste.

However, reports from homes and hospitals across the country describe exploding and leaking toys, along with chemical smells. America's Poison Centers told Business Insider that more than half of the 11,500 reports about squishies received by its member organizations since 2024 happened in the first six months of 2026, though only a small portion of the ruptures caused severe injury.

Schylling, which manufactures the most popular squishy brand, NeeDoh, was hit with two lawsuits in July over squishy explosions that plaintiffs say resulted in severe burns. One complaint said that a NeeDoh Nice Cube, left lying on a TV stand near a window, remained cool to the touch but, when squeezed, erupted with a scalding gel that left blisters on the person's leg. Lawyers for the company declined to comment on the allegations.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has also seen a spike in squishy-related incident reports from shoppers and hospitals this year. A Business Insider review found about two dozen consumers describing how ruptures — due to microwaves, hot cars, and squeezing — have burned kids this year. Roughly 20 more reported strong smells emanating from the squishy toys. Hospital reports collected by CPSC showed about a dozen explosion cases in 2025, the latest year available.

One parent told the CPSC the toy didn't "just pop"; it "exploded" in February 2024 after their daughter squeezed it on her 10th birthday. This August, another reported that their 8-year-old son was squeezing his squishy normally when it ruptured. "The outer layer of the toy failed without warning, spraying the internal filling directly across my son's face and into his eyes," causing immediate "burning and distress," the report said. A February report to CPSC echoed a common complaint about a squishy that "emitted an extremely powerful and persistent chemical odor, resembling acetone or nail polish remover," which gave its owner a headache.

In response to growing public concern, the CPSC issued guidance in August, warning shoppers of serious burn hazards from intentionally or unintentionally exposing toys to heat. A spokesperson told Business Insider that these toys hit on several longstanding concerns for the agency, including the dangers of water beads and potential exposure to unsafe chemicals. As for the dangers of microwaving them? That's considered improper use, and the agency doesn't typically punish companies when consumers don't follow safety warnings, the spokesperson said.

Underlying these reports is the common frustration that squishy ingredients vary widely and often aren't listed on the packaging. NeeDoh discloses that its products, including the Nice Cube, Dream Drop, and Groovy Glob, use fairly common ingredients such as maltose sugar, cornstarch, and polyvinyl alcohol, the latter of which the brand says is non-toxic and also found in white glue.

While these ingredients are considered chemically safe, the lawsuit in California cites academic research to argue that some of these substances have thermal properties that, along with a soft polymer casing, can make scalding hot gel feel deceptively cool to the touch — until the toy pops.

The market is also rife with knock-offs, and federal safety rules are patchy. US regulations don't require independent testing and certification of toys, unless they're marketed to children under 13.

Manufacturers initially decide how to market and age-grade their products, subject to CPSC oversight. While products clearly intended for young children, such as baby pacifiers or toddler teethers, must meet stricter testing requirements, squishies can plausibly be sold as children's toys, adult stress balls, desk accessories, or collectibles. Many are marketed as products for all ages, and verifying a toy's age classification can involve a lengthy review.

That ambiguity raises a broader question: When an all-ages product becomes wildly popular with children, should it be treated as a children's toy? The CPSC says it considers not just a product's label, but also how it's designed, marketed, and reasonably understood and used by consumers when determining whether it's a children's product. That last part can change over time, and sometimes it shifts faster than regulators can keep up with.

The agency said that reputable brands typically go beyond legal requirements by seeking voluntary safety certification from independent organizations, such as ASTM International or United Laboratories, and include their logos on their packaging. An ASTM spokesperson told Business Insider the organization's standards are periodically reviewed and revised in consultation with a committee of more than 1,000 members to address new products and hazards.

The squishy market is ballooning

The Zerbst family bought their Glitter Super Squeeze at a local toy store in Queensland, Australia. After Violet's injury, they looked into the product and found that it was manufactured in China under the name Smooshos for distribution in Australia by MDI, a toy supplier. The package didn't list ingredients. It included a warning that "microwaving may cause injury to yourself and others," but that doesn't stop young children from encountering social media trends that promote microwaving them.

Our reporting found that some serious injuries happened even when the toys were used as intended, without being heated or frozen — a concern that cropped up in the CPSC complaints, the lawsuits, and in our interviews with parents of injured children.

Jodanna Bevan, a 39-year-old mom of four who lives in Wales, bought discounted dumpling-shaped squishies from Shein. In late July, her son Hudson was squeezing one of them in his playroom when it suddenly popped, spraying a thick, white, sandy substance into the 4-year-old's face. Bevan and her husband quickly washed out his eyes. When Hudson woke up at 6 a.m. the next day, they were so swollen he couldn't open them.

"He was screaming and so scared," Bevan told Business Insider.

At the hospital, Hudson had to be sedated as staff repeatedly rinsed his eyes. "It's like a torture treatment for a child," she added. While his vision doesn't seem to be affected, the experience was emotionally fraught for the family.

"You feel so guilty then as a parent, seeing them go through that," Bevan said.

Bevan threw the toy away before checking for ingredients. She doesn't think it would have helped. "Where you buy the toys in these different corner shops and whatnot, it doesn't say anything on there about what could be in them," she said.

Shein, which has since pulled the product, would not disclose the ingredients. A Shein spokesperson told Business Insider the company requires all third-party sellers to comply with local laws and its product safety standards. The spokesperson also said Shein works with multiple international testing and inspection agencies "to identify and address non-compliant products."

After the BBC covered Bevan's story, Shein emailed Bevan an apology and offered her a full refund for the squishy toys — £10.12 (a little under $14) for four, two-piece sets — plus £20 ($27) in Shein store credit.

The CPSC told Business Insider that the commission and US Customs have intercepted 96 shipments of squishy toys so far this year, preventing more than 640,000 items from entering the country because they violated various safety regulations.

"That's probably just the tip of the iceberg," said Courtney Griffin, director of consumer product safety at the Consumer Federation of America, a research and advocacy nonprofit.

The rise of online marketplaces, where international third parties sell directly to customers in the US and elsewhere, has further complicated regulators' and consumers' ability to know exactly what is in the products.

Trying to catch risky products is like playing whack-a-mole, but the feds have gotten some off the market. In early September, CPSC recalled a brand of squishy dumplings that contained water beads and posed a choking hazard if the toy ruptured. The dumplings, made in China, were distributed via Amazon. In May, the agency recalled a squishy monkey called Orb Funkee — made in China, distributed by a Canadian wholesaler — after tests revealed it may contain asbestos.

"If you are pushing for kids to just buy more, more, more of these, that certainly lends itself to the rise of dupes and counterfeits, fakes, and other unsafe things," Griffin said.

It's back-to-squishy season

Parents are braced for more squishies to enter their homes with the start of the school year. It's become a meme on TikTok — parents picking up random toys, wondering where they came from. Friends? Grandparents? Birthday party gift bags?

But for a small number of families, the fun ends in the emergency room.

"Everything's fine one instant to everything is 100% not fine the next," Kelly McElligott, a burn outreach coordinator at Loyola Medical Center in Illinois, said. "That it is all very overwhelming on top of your kid being hurt and you not knowing what the long-term prognosis is."

McElligott, who's seen around six cases this year, monitors patients for up to two years to make sure they're healing properly, physically and emotionally. Even if the surface skin looks OK, scar tissue can form beneath or cause functional issues if the scarring tightens over joints, she said.

Most squishies don't cause injuries, even when they pop. America's Poison Centers said 85% of exposure cases had no documented signs or symptoms, and 94% of those cases were managed at home or outside a healthcare facility.

The stories of children who have been injured have created a dilemma for parents whose kids are obsessed with them.

Summiah Hafeez's 8-year-old daughter has about 10 to 15 squishies. Two dumplings and a stick of butter are her prized possessions. Initially, Hafeez bought a couple as a reward for reading more books, but soon squishies were turning up everywhere.

"Whenever any other kid comes over, that's what she wants to show them," Hafeez, 31, who lives in Dallas, told Business Insider. "It's definitely a big thing among all kids right now."

Hafeez keeps them out of the car; the Texas heat can easily top 100 degrees in the warmer months. She's taught her daughter to store the toys on a shelf in her room, away from her 2-year-old sister, who Hafeez worries might eat them. She also doesn't allow her daughter to use the microwave for any reason.

Those who've experienced burns are taking a harder line. Bevan has purged all the squishies in the house and is trying to spread the word about their potential dangers. "All our friends have had them for their children," she said. "You've got to be aware that there could actually be some dangerous chemicals in there."

As for Violet, her mom shudders at the memory of rushing her into the shower, letting a stream of cold water run over her face and body. Zerbst said her daughter sat in the shower for 40 minutes, waiting for an ambulance to arrive. The paramedics congratulated Zerbst for her quick thinking in administering first aid.

"It was terrifying to hear Violet whimpering, but she was pretty calm and collected on the whole," the mom said. "I was just scared of any lasting damage from a cult squishy that seemed so harmless and fun."

• This week, the Oracle of Omaha gave up his job of chairman of Berkshire Hathaway.
• After decades at the top, Warren Buffett leaves a legacy of leadership advice.
• He has emphasized the importance of self-improvement, honesty, and choosing the right leaders.

If you want to be a high-mileage leader like Warren Buffett, it pays to be humble.

The Oracle of Omaha this week gave up the job as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, after more than half a century spent building and then running the conglomerate. Buffett said his son Howard would succeed him as chairman.

In that role, his son will guard Berkshire's culture and values, which the elder Buffett said are "worth more than anything on our balance sheet."

That belief in the importance of organizational culture is nothing new for Buffett who has, over the years, offered a steady stream of advice on investing and leadership.

Last year, in his final Thanksgiving letter to shareholders as CEO, he shared insights on the virtues of stewardship, honesty, and what he described as "good intentions" gone awry in attempts to rein in CEO pay.

One broad takeaway was his call to continue learning and growing.

"Choose your heroes very carefully and then emulate them. You will never be perfect, but you can always be better," Buffett wrote.

Here are five other lessons Buffett shared:

Stay humble

The 96-year-old famously ran Berkshire with an unfussy, meat-and-potatoes sensibility. Buffett wrote about the role luck played in his life and work, and how that experience continually honed his sense of humility.

"Keep in mind that the cleaning lady is as much a human being as the Chairman," Buffett said.

He also grounded some of his humble inclinations in the luck he had, being a man — compared with his sisters, whom he described as having "equal intelligence and better personalities," though they faced a much different outlook.

"I was born in 1930 healthy, reasonably intelligent, white, male and in America. Wow! Thank you, Lady Luck," he said.

Learn from your errors

Buffett said that while he's made many mistakes, he's tried to use them as springboards for growth. "Learn at least a little from them and move on," Buffett wrote.

One misstep, he said, was not intervening more forcefully when he saw indications that a "wonderful and loyal CEO" of a parent or subsidiary company would "succumb to dementia, Alzheimer's or another debilitating and long-term disease."

"Charlie and I encountered this problem several times and failed to act. This failure can be a huge mistake," Buffett wrote, referring to Charlie Munger, his longtime friend and colleague, who died in 2023.

Buffett said that while it's often not easy, boards need to keep watch for signs of such conditions in chiefs, and that CEOs themselves need to do the same at the units they oversee.

"Directors should be alert and speak up is all that I can advise," Buffett said in the letter, which ran about seven pages.

Choose the right leaders

Part of Buffett's call for humility extended to how future Berkshire leaders should expect to conduct themselves — and what they should aspire to.

He said that the company should only require five or six CEOs over the next century. In the shareholder letter released Friday, Buffett reiterated his confidence in Greg Abel, who succeeded him as CEO.

"He has been making the decisions that matter for some time now, and I have not had to think twice about any of them," Buffett wrote.

Buffett wrote last fall that he wanted Berkshire Hathaway, which was a New England textile producer when he began buying up its stock in the early 1960s, to avoid hiring top leaders who are there for the wrong reasons: "It should particularly avoid those whose goal is to retire at 65, to become look-at-me rich or to initiate a dynasty," Buffett said of the company.

Think about your obit

One recurring theme in his letter centered on Buffett's assertion that it's "never too late to improve."

Another bit of advice: Work backward from what you want your obituary to say and then "live the life to deserve it."

The release of Buffett's third annual Thanksgiving letter to Berkshire shareholders had become something of an event because of his status as one of the world's most famous investors. He said at the time that he planned to continue to address shareholders in an annual letter, though not as CEO. "As the British would say, I'm 'going quiet.' Sort of."

Don't rule from the grave

Buffett's decision to become chairman emeritus appeared in line with his advice against of trying to retain influence for too long.

In his Thanksgiving letter, Buffett applauded the abilities of Abel, who is some three decades younger and took over as CEO at the start of 2026.

"He is a great manager, a tireless worker and an honest communicator," Buffett said.

He also wrote about his three children, whom he said possess the "maturity, brains, energy and instincts" to disburse the family's large fortune. Earlier this year, Buffett's net worth was nearing $150 billion.

After he dies, Buffett wrote last year, his children will be free to adapt to changes in tax policy and other factors as needed to continue the family's philanthropic work.

"Ruling from the grave does not have a great record, and I have never had an urge to do so," he said.

An earlier version of this story appeared on November 10, 2025.

• Bank of America predicts two more Fed rate hikes in 2026.
• Hikes "increasingly seem like an opportunity for Chair Warsh to burnish his legacy," BofA said.
• Market consensus is for one more rate hike in 2026.

Bank of America thinks the Federal Reserve has just kicked off a hiking spree heading that will continue for the rest of its meetings through yearend.

In a note on Friday, the bank said it expects the Fed to hike interest rates two more times in 2026, following September's 25 basis-point hike.

Markets are pricing in one more rate hike in 2026 as the most likely outcome, eyeing an increase at the December meeting.

BofA unpacked a couple of reasons the market may get more hikes than it's expecting. One is simply that the economy remains strong, supporting the view that inflation could be stubborn. Inflation has remained sticky, with CPI at 3.4% year-over-year the last two months.

But the second is that hikes have actually appeared to become "politically expedient" for Fed chair Kevin Warsh, the bank said, despite President Donald Trump's insistence that the Fed slash rates.

Hikes allow the Fed to cap long-term bond yields after rising oil prices and the Treasury's buyback program spooked investors about the prospect of further inflation. Surging yields on assets like 10-year and 30-year Treasurys had started to weigh on equity prices. So a hawkish Fed at the moment appears to be a boon for markets and lends credibility to Warsh, the bank said.

"Fed hikes looked politically challenging a few months ago, but they increasingly seem like an opportunity for Chair Warsh to burnish his legacy," Aditya Bhave, US economist at the bank, wrote in the note.

On the September hike, Bhave added: "For one, the rate hike alleviates concerns that Warsh is not politically independent. Additional increases would end that conversation for good. For another, by hiking at just his third meeting as Fed Chair, Warsh can absolve himself of the inflation problem, while also taking credit for any disinflation in coming months."

After three consecutive rate hikes to end 2026, Bhave said that policy adjustments would see an extended pause.

Neil Dutta, the head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research, also said Warsh may be even more serious than some investors are anticipating.

Dutta said on Friday that, despite Warsh's disdain for forward guidance, he gave clues about his hawkish views on monetary policy at Wednesday's meeting.

For example, Warsh warned that high commodity prices signal inflationary pressure. He also mentioned a "timelier" return to 2% inflation and described the hike as removing just a "dose of accommodation."

This leads Dutta to conclude that "we're closer to the beginning than the end" of the Fed's hiking cycle.

He added that "there is a reasonable chance that Warsh keeps going until something in the economy goes awry," and that in his first stint at the Fed, Warsh "has been willing to let the labor market slide to achieve the inflation side of the mandate. His actions to date tell me he is willing to do it again."

• Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman said AI labs need to ensure they can control what they're creating.
• "We should not create something that we can't control," Suleyman said.
• Suleyman questioned why some in tech are so opposed to new regulations.

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman says it's "surreal" that he has to say AI needs to align with humanity.

"We should not create something that we can't control," Suleyman said Friday on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "And if it looks like we're on a path to producing something that is not just more powerful than all of us combined, but is, as a result, something that we can't control, then it's going to fail in its fundamental purpose."

Success will not come easily, Suleyman said.

"Controlling these things are going to be a really, really big challenge for us," he said.

Suleyman said he was "glad to see a lot more people" supporting the idea that tech companies and frontier model makers need to maintain control over their AI systems. In the industry, ensuring AI acts in accordance with human intentions is called alignment.

"But there's a growing group of people that think that we are doing it for its own sake, and we just want to turn over the next card, see what's around the corner, and create something that is just going to slip our own leash," he said.

Suleyman's comments come at a time of increased attention to AI safety, after former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon warned that AI workers are privately fearful that AI could wipe out humanity.

In recent days, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have all expressed broad agreement that frontier AI labs should better pace their advancements to ensure that safety measures can keep up.

Before Coxon's viral post, many in the industry were already concerned about safety after OpenAI revealed that its agents had breached Hugging Face, illustrating the potential consequences of losing control over AI systems. Suleyman called the breadth of the Hugging Face breach and OpenAI's initial unawareness of what its AI agents were doing "remarkable."

"It has moved everybody from Elon and Zuck to me, Sam, Dario, and everybody else in between to say it's time that we take a look at this," Suleyman said. "I don't think it's overly alarmist. I don't think it's self-interested. I actually think it's responsible."

Meta CEO Zuckerberg has taken a different stance than Amodei and other AI leaders. Earlier this week, Zuckerberg questioned why AI companies need to band together to manage the rate of development, suggesting that each company should handle its own business.

"Every lab has the responsibility and incentive to move at the pace required to train its models safely," Zuckerberg wrote on X.

Some in tech, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, have questioned whether broad new regulations are needed. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also pushed back on AI companies that are urging governments to act.

Amodei and others have requested Congress and international bodies to get involved as well. Suleyman questioned those who scoff at the very idea of regulation.

"Regulation is not a nasty, dangerous word," he said. "Everything that you trust and is of value at the moment has been carefully thought through by standards bodies that involve the industry, the public, consumer protection, Congress. And we're just going through that process."

• Goldman Sachs warns AI spending won't sustain stock-market momentum into 2027.
• The bank's Ben Snider sees S&P 500 earnings slowing as capex wanes.
• AI-driven inflation and weaker chipmaker margins could challenge market momentum beyond this year.

Wall Street has cheered upbeat earnings this year, fueled by strong growth in tech, but the investors shouldn't count on the strong momentum lasting much longer, Goldman Sachs says.

Ben Snider, the bank's chief US equity strategist, recently laid out his team's thesis on how AI growth is likely to impact the market in the coming year. Even if capex spending stays strong, he's not convinced it will be enough to sustain this year's positive momentum.

"The AI investment boom has accounted for nearly half of S&P 500 earnings growth this year, and this tailwind should begin to fade next year even as capex spending continues to grow," Snider wrote in a note to investors on Thursday.

Snider told Business Insider in July that investors should double down on popular AI infrastructure stocks, citing a bullish stance on the data center boom. Yet, as he looks beyond 2026, his latest view indicates that AI spending may be masking a more difficult reality for markets.

Snider's focus is not on the notion that the AI bubble is likely to burst in the near future. Rather, his base case centers on the likelihood of S&P 500 earnings growth slowing down significantly over the next two years, partially because of problems ahead for chipmakers, which have been major beneficiaries of the AI spending by Big Tech firms.

"The recent surge in semiconductor profit margins leaves S&P 500 earnings vulnerable to a decline in chip prices," Snider stated. "Our industry analysts expect supply to remain tight through 2027 but for the rate of margin expansion to slow next year."

Chip stocks have been a significant growth driver for the S&P 500 since the AI boom began in late 2022, surging on the combination of extremely high demand and limited supply. Others have said recently that surging chip costs could be problematic for the AI trade.

Goldman previously predicted that the US would shoulder the brunt of a global AI-driven inflation surge, noting that AI chip prices were already troublingly high.

Now, the possibility of cooling chip margins threatens to compromise the momentum that powered the AI trade in 2026.

"In a scenario where slowing AI infrastructure investment, increasing supply, and/or technological shift lowers semiconductor prices and profit margins, S&P 500 EPS growth would also disappoint," Snider noted.

Snider also highlighted another factor that's helped fuel Big Tech's earnings growth, one that is likely to contribute to the deceleration that his team sees coming: income companies have earned from private investments.

While these paper gains can be considered income, that doesn't mean that the company has actually generated any cash from them.

"We expect a much smaller contribution in 2027. The complete removal of this 'other income' next year would create a drag of 8 pp on S&P 500 earnings growth in 2027 relative to 2026, all else equal," Snider added.

• After a surge of pandemic-era aid, older Americans have faced rising poverty.
• Healthcare costs drive older Americans into poverty, straining their savings and finances.
• Social Security often isn't enough to cover costs, leading older Americans to take on low-paying jobs.

After a slew of pandemic-induced aid ran its course, older Americans are falling back into poverty — and even younger would-be retirees are struggling.

After the Great Recession, the trendline for older Americans had been improving, and 2020 pandemic relief measures helped buttress the aging population from falling into poverty in the wake of Covid.

New census data shows that now, the poverty rate has increased the most for Americans 65 and older, after adjusting for things like tax credits and government programs. The share of all Americans living below that adjusted poverty measure grew from 9.1% in 2020 to 13.1% in 2025. For Americans 65 and older, that rate grew from 9.4% to 15.4%.

Millions of older Americans live solely off Social Security benefits, which often don't cover all daily costs, let alone Medicare premiums or caregiving expenses. Social Security kept 28.8 million Americans out of poverty in 2025, the new Census report found, including nearly 21 million Americans 65 and older. As the boomer generation ages into retirement, those benefits look shaky, a worrying sign as lifespans stretch longer.

Historically, poverty among older Americans rises with age, although younger retirement-aged Americans started falling into harder times as of 2024. Last year, Business Insider spoke with dozens of Americans 80 and older who were below or slightly above the poverty line, most of whom worked at least part time to make ends meet. Many said the only jobs they could find were minimum wage, menial jobs, paying them enough to put food on the table and heat their homes. Some said they had much more saved earlier in life, but were hit hard by medical treatments.

"We should get tax breaks after a certain age because prices are so high for food," said Rebecca Reed, 88, who works two lower-paying jobs in New Orleans. "And maybe some discounts at the grocery store."

While the oldest Americans are still the most impoverished group, their younger counterparts have been seeing poverty rates tick up. The official poverty rate for Americans ages 70 to 74 saw the largest percentage-point increase from 2020 to 2024, according to a Business Insider analysis of Census microdata, followed by the younger cohort of 65- to 69-year-olds, indicating a more widely felt poverty landscape.

Older Americans are often more prone to sudden and costly medical disruptions, which contribute to malnutrition or poor living conditions. Indeed, 7.7 million Americans fell into poverty due to medical expenses, per the Census report, and around 2.5 million of them were 65 and older. That's up from around 2.36 million in 2024.

In interviews, dozens of families said they have spent six figures on care for their loved ones, as the median cost of a private nursing home room rose from $111,000 to $130,000 annually between 2022 and 2025, according to data from the care navigation platform CareScout. Some families said their older loved ones had exhausted all of their savings on home health aides or assisted living facilities, leaving them in the hands of their financially pressed children.

Housing costs have also hurt many older Americans who don't own homes, or who have substantial home repairs. More than one in three older American households puts 30% or more of their income toward housing, per a 2025 study from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. Older Americans are also the fastest-growing demographic experiencing homelessness, with about 20% of all people experiencing homelessness 55 and older as of 2024.

Some are doing what they can to make the most of it. Sharon Albrecht, 85, works for a home healthcare agency and as a part-time Uber driver in Virginia to make ends meet. Though above the poverty line, Albrecht said her income goes a long way toward supplementing Social Security and her retirement savings, adding that she's "very wealthy in time and freedom to create my own schedule."

"If an 80+ person has the attitude that 'Now, I have time to create,' the sky is the limit," Albrecht said. "It totally depends on the person and whether or not they have a victim mentality."

• I hoped a bilingual upbringing would give my daughter an edge in life.
• I didn't realize that a non-native language to me would end up becoming our primary language.
• I've had my share of criticism over this decision, but it's working well for us so far.

My daughter was born three months before the COVID-19 restrictions began where we live. Stuck at home with a new baby, I needed something to keep me busy, and I'm too mishap-prone for sourdough. For a linguist like me, a language-related project seemed like just the thing.

I decided to dust off my French — which I spoke quite well in high school but hadn't used in decades — so I could speak it at home with my daughter. What parent hasn't heard about the benefits of bilingualism for little brains?

Six years later, my project has outstripped all my expectations. We're lucky to have bilingual schools in our neighborhood. Because my daughter hears French from her peers as well as from me, she speaks it just as fluently as the English she uses with my husband and the rest of our family.

My own ability to express myself in French grew little by little alongside hers. Today, we rarely speak English when it's just the two of us.

Some people think I'm making a mistake

My French is far from perfect: I'm never going to get rid of my American accent, and my speech is peppered with small mistakes — like le vidéo when it should be la vidéo.

Sharing my family's language journey online, I've gotten criticism that my grammatical slips could harm my daughter's linguistic development. "If I wasn't fluent enough to not make errors, I would not be speaking that language to my child 100% of the time," one poster told me.

Others have raised concerns about my emotional connection with my child. "The optimal language of interaction is the caregiver's heart language (most dominant language)," a commenter on a bilingual-parenting blog warned.

What the research shows

Since I'm a linguist by profession, I did a deep dive into the literature on bilingual development at the start of my project, and what I learned reinforced my decision to focus on French.

Many people believe that children are little sponges for language, but that's only half true. Children automatically soak up the language they hear in the surrounding community, especially from peers. But a language children hear mostly at home needs more encouragement to take root.

And even if they don't absorb the whole language overnight, children do have an advantage in certain aspects of language learning. My daughter doesn't imitate my accent and my grammatical errors. Instead, she corrects them. "Le vidéo doesn't make any sense, maman," she once told me in French.

The shared learning experience is invaluable

I once asked my husband if he thought speaking French was damaging my emotional connection with our daughter, who is now 6 years old. He snorted. "If anything, you have the opposite problem. You two are weirdly close," he told me.

It's true we have a very strong bond, what the French call une relation fusionnelle. And I suspect that our shared language journey has fostered that close connection rather than harming it.

Learning French is a project my daughter and I have shared for six years. Our current dynamic is unique: I still have a larger vocabulary and can teach her new words, but she is the one teaching me when it comes to pronunciation and certain aspects of grammar.

I do sometimes worry about the years to come. Will my French be strong enough to navigate the complexities of adolescence, for example. But it reassures me to watch my daughter slip effortlessly between English with her father and French with me. If her feelings become too complex to express in French, we can always pivot to the native language we share.

This summer, our family moved to France for a one-year sabbatical, so we will be discovering a new culture in addition to our language learning. Whatever languages we use in the future, this opportunity to broaden our horizons together will always remain precious.

• I spent a week trying out Muse and gave it access to my email, credit cards, and even Apple health data.
• It was able to do some helpful tasks for me, like organizing my inbox, but failed at helping with school forms.
• Even though it failed fairly often, I imagine it will get better and more useful. I'm a convert!

There are a whole slew of very good reasons that I should feel nervous about giving Meta access to my health data. Or my credit cards. Or read/write access to my personal and work emails and calendar.

I think we can all reasonably agree that over the last 20 years, Meta has given reasonable people some very reasonable reasons to think that granting it that much access to personal, private data is very unreasonable.

But I am not a reasonable person.

Which is why I stopped worrying about AI killing us all and learned to love Muse, Meta's new AI agent. Well, mostly.

Muse launched earlier this month and has received a surprisingly warm reaction. I guess I say surprising because Meta has struggled to launch an AI app that has caught on with consumers. Remember "Vibes," the video generating Sora competitor? Me neither.

Muse's strength is that it's an easy-to-use and understand AI agent. You use it to send it to-do tasks like "organize my inbox" or "Find me a good travel stroller for my upcoming trip" instead of the more common things you use LLMs like ChatGPT for (such as text generation or in place of Google searching).

I started by testing it with some obvious, straightforward tasks. First, I asked it to look through my email and send me a daily digest of "important" emails (my inbox gets quickly clogged with PR pitches and newsletters). It did this admirably well. I also asked it to look at my credit and debit cards and tell me what subscription I could cancel — it suggested Flickr (for irrational reasons only understandable to my human soul, I'm keeping it).

What more could I do? If I gave it more and more access to my life beyond my email and credit cards (!!) would it help me even more?

I gave Muse two main buckets of tasks.

1. Be my kids' secretary

School-age kids generate a tremendous amount of paperwork, form-filling-out, calendar balancing, and various online sign-ups and email, and keeping on top of it all feels impossible. An AI agent to help me sift through this would be far more useful than in my professional life. But could it cut through the weird mess of strange and clunky apps that schools and kid activities all use?

The task: Plan a kid's birthday at a trampoline park. This involved getting pricing and availability from the venue, and sending invites.

The result: Failure, but mostly human failure. Muse tried, but ultimately, there are too many decisions about this to be made by the birthday boy (and needed real phone calls to the venue), so this wasn't a good job to outsource to AI. (Since then, Meta has updated Muse to allow it to make calls, but I don't love the idea of subjecting a human to an AI call.)

The task: Keep on top of my kids' school and activity notifications. Staying on top of things across a variety of apps and emails for school and activities is my personal nightmare — so send me a digest.

The result: Mixed results. While it flagged items that came in via email, the school's Russian nesting dolls of information sometimes stymied Muse's ability to actually help me.

For example, I needed to fill out a Google Form for band signup, and that Form lived inside a link from ParentSquare. But my ParentSquare login is via my Google account — and Muse's browser version of the site didn't include the Google login option. (I told a Meta PR person a few days later about my Google login issue. They conferred with the engineering team, and gave me steps to troubleshoot a way to log in. Success, although that kind of concierge service isn't available to most users.)

It also couldn't track any of the Girl Scouts planning information, because that app happens in a busy WhatsApp group — and it couldn't view WhatsApp messages.

The task: Renew Girl Scouts annual membership.

The result: The Girl Scouts of America defeat AI! The Girl Scouts' website has always been really frustrating to use, and although Muse almost could do it, it couldn't complete the final payment section without the site timing out. I ended up having to do it on my computer.

2. Personal health data

I needed to go full Muse guinea pig and give it all the sensitive data I could think of. I connected it to my Apple health and fitness tracker data. Could Muse make me healthier?

Here you go Muse, have my Apple Health data!

The task: Help me lower my resting heart rate. I'll be honest, I wasn't that interested in doing this but I wanted to give it something to do.

The result: Sure, fine. It looked at my data and told me my resting heart rate was fine, but suggested I could improve it by sleeping better (no thanks).

The task: Book my annual physical. I gave it my doctor's name and told it to book for November.

The result: Failure. After giving it a bunch of info like my date of birth and last four digits of SSN (yikes), it couldn't get past updating the insurance info and told me to call the office.

The task: Order cookies from Walmart+ to arrive 2 days before my period each month.

The result: Failure. The menstrual cycle data from Apple doesn't sync with Muse, and it won't connect to the other period tracker app on my phone.

It was able to start a Walmart order, and I told Muse to only order with free shipping, but it took that too literally and didn't notice it was tacking on a bunch of extra same-day delivery fees. I told it to cancel the task and not place the order.

My takeaway: Muse was helpful, but not ready to fix my life yet

I can see the promise here — it was able to accomplish (or at least half-accomplish) some stuff that could be genuinely helpful. A colleague of mine used Muse to successfully dispute a health bill with his insurance. But it can't yet do the really annoying stuff I don't want to do myself.

Meta acknowledged that Muse can't do everything (yet). "Some of that friction is intentional," said Jimmy Raimo, spokesperson for Meta told me. "If fees look high or a login looks off, Muse is designed to stop and check rather than push through. We'd rather it ask than get it wrong."

Although the failures were disappointing, nothing was life-ruining. I just simply had to do the tasks myself on a computer. I'd rather it fail than accidentally spend $5,000, email my whole contacts list, or sign me up for a marathon in an effort to increase my daily steps.

One thing I've realized is that 80% of the battle here isn't how well Muse can execute a task; it's how well you can come up with a task for Muse to do. It requires a huge amount of knowledge about what kinds of tasks AI agents are suited for, and some creativity to brainstorm for ideas it could do. I suspect the biggest hurdle here was me — I wasn't good at coming up with good tasks for it.

Maybe I need a muse to help inspire me.

• LSU football coach Lane Kiffin's program was in the middle of an unprecedented legal fight.
• Sports attorney Tom Mars, Kiffin's friend, told ESPN that the LSU coach turned to ChatGPT.
• Mars said Kiffin would send him screenshots of ChatGPT's legal responses, which were wrong on the law.

Indiana head coach and reigning national champion Curt Cignetti has Google in his corner. Apparently, LSU football coach Lane Kiffin relies on ChatGPT.

According to Kiffin's friend, who is also one of the nation's most prominent sports lawyers, the LSU football coach turned to ChatGPT for legal advice at a critical moment for the university.

"Usually, when I would express an opinion about what LSU was doing, Lane would reply with a screenshot from ChatGPT that supported LSU's position, which was almost always wrong," Attorney Tom Mars told ESPN.

Despite incurring the wrath of rivals, the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the NCAA, and many, many talking heads, LSU initially fought to add former NFL players Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to Kiffin's inaugural squad. In November, LSU announced that it had hired Kiffin away from the Ole Miss Rebels, a fellow SEC member, with a seven-year, $91 million deal that came in the middle of the Rebels' College Football Playoff run. Both Wright and Harris played under Kiffin at Ole Miss, and both signed with NFL teams after going undrafted.

The situation escalated to the point that the SEC, of which LSU is a founding member, went to court to secure a ruling allowing conference leaders representing the other members to meet and consider LSU's status. If LSU were kicked out of the SEC, the university would likely lose out on lucrative conference TV rights payments.

With university presidents, state attorneys general, governors, and even members of Congress involved, LSU was facing an unprecedented fight over its very future.

Mars said that he told his friend the stakes were too high to rely on an AI chatbot.

"Eventually I told him that a guy with a $91 million contract ought to have a top-notch lawyer on speed dial and not be using ChatGPT for legal advice," he said.

Representatives for Kiffin, Mars, and OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment. LSU declined to comment.

While Wright and Harris prevailed in state court, LSU ultimately backed down and announced a final 2026 roster that did not include either player.

Mars said Kiffin reached out to him, which means the LSU coach, known for not doing things by the book, followed OpenAI's terms for this area. The ChatGPT maker, like its competitors, makes it clear that users should not rely on an AI chatbot as the sole source of professional advice. Specifically, it says ChatGPT is not "a substitute for professional advice."

It remains an unsettled area of law what happens if a user follows the chatbot's advice and suffers harm.

In a federal court case in Illinois, OpenAI has argued that ChatGPT is not a lawyer and does not practice law in response to a $10.3 million suit filed by a life insurance company. Nippon Life Insurance Company has argued that OpenAI is to blame for ChatGPT giving inaccurate legal advice to a former disability claimant who, relying on ChatGPT, breached a settlement agreement with the insurance company.

As for Kiffin, Mars said it's unlikely the LSU coach will rely on ChatGPT for legal advice again.

"Lane ignored most of my unsolicited advice, but I don't think he'll be using ChatGPT anymore for legal advice," he said.

• After 20 years of being a colorectal dietitian, Sophie Medlin has tweaked her diet along the way.
• There are certain foods she has cut out or minimized, while others she's made a habit of eating.
• She makes eating foods that can lower colon cancer risk as easy as possible.

Sophie Medlin has been a colorectal dietitian for 20 years, and in that time she has made some changes to her diet to lower her risk of colon cancer.

Medlin and her husband, who is a chef, cook most of their meals, meaning they mainly eat a diet of whole, unprocessed foods. But they still go out for dinner or order takeout occasionally. "It's not perfect all the time. Nobody can be perfect all the time," Medlin, who is based in London, told Business Insider.

Cases of colon cancer in younger people have been rising since the mid-90s, and it is now the deadliest cancer form of the disease for under-50s. While scientists don't know what's behind the uptick, evidence suggest that healthy lifestyle choices like exercising regularly and eating a balanced diet, lower the risk.

Medlin shared the two foods that she tries to eat daily and one she limits as much as possible.

Limit red meat and eliminate processed meat

"I've essentially eliminated processed meat," she said. This includes buzzy snacks like beef jerky, which are "getting a bit of a health halo at the moment because of the high protein trend," Medlin said.

Processed meat, such as hot dogs and deli meat, as well as unprocessed red meat, have been linked to colorectal cancer to varying degrees.

Medlin does eat red meat, but limits it to a maximum of two servings a week. The World Cancer Research advises eating no more than 350 to 500 grams of red meat a week, or around three portions.

Eat plenty of different plants

Eating plenty of plants is a priority for Medlin, she said.

The gut microbiome, the trillions of microbes that live in the colon lining and influence overall health, including chronic disease risk, thrives when it's fed lots of different types of plant foods. The beneficial bugs eat fiber, which is found in plants.

"When we ferment plant foods in our gut, then we produce these postbiotics, which are things like short-chain fatty acids that help to protect us from colorectal cancers," Medlin said.

She tells her patients to chop up and throw an extra vegetable into the pan when cooking dinner. "It's just as quick, and then you get an extra type of vegetable in there that's going to give you additional gut health benefits," she said.

Fermented foods

Medlin also makes sure to eat some kind of fermented food, such as yogurt or kimchi, every day.

Fermented foods are made using ingredients like live bacteria, yeast, or mold. They are thought to introduce new "good" microbes to the gut microbiome.

Medlin often makes tzatziki, made with Greek yogurt, cucumber, extra virgin olive oil, and herbs, and uses it as a dipping sauce. She also often eats pickled cabbage or yogurt, both fermented foods, with meals.

"It's a habit that you form over time of adding things to your meal. They become like condiments."

• Student-loan borrowers have reported delays with Public Service Loan Forgiveness processing.
• Some have made the required amount of payments, but are waiting for the relief to be reflected.
• At the same time, PSLF eligibility is facing ongoing litigation.

A major student-loan forgiveness program is facing changes — and delays.

Student-loan borrowers pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness, which forgives student debt for government and nonprofit workers after 10 years of qualifying payments, have found that their payment counters have not updated to reflect payments that put them at the forgiveness threshold.

For example, some borrowers who made their 120th payment over the past few months are still waiting for their payment counter on Federal Student Aid to reflect that they qualify for relief. The delay means borrowers must choose between continuing to make payments they might not owe or stopping payments and risking being flagged for delinquency.

The Education Department did not comment on the delay or when it will be resolved, and a spokesperson said that the agency "remains committed to ensuring that every qualifying payment is properly credited to a borrower's account."

The processing delays are not the only challenge borrowers pursuing PSLF face. President Donald Trump's student-loan repayment overhaul implemented stricter rules on determining a qualifying PSLF payment, and the Department of Education is fighting in court to implement its plan to narrow eligibility for the program. Some borrowers also had some of their PSLF payments rescinded, which the administration cited to code errors.

Beyond PSLF, borrowers have been navigating Trump's overhaul and the higher bills it has brought. The administration has said that its changes are intended to simplify a complex repayment system and compel colleges to lower their tuition. Still, borrowers have reported administrative errors and inaccurate account statuses, putting their budgets in limbo.

What's ahead for PSLF borrowers

Following Trump's repayment changes, the stakes are higher for borrowers to be exactly on time with their payments. Prior to the changes, borrowers were given a 15-day grace period to make a payment so it would count toward PSLF progress. Now, a borrower must make a payment exactly on the day it is due; making a payment even one day late will not count toward PSLF.

Federal Student Aid's guidance said that a payment qualifies if it is made "on or before the due date," and that payments don't need to be consecutive to qualify. This change applies to both the new income-driven Repayment Assistance Plan created under the overhaul, as well as existing repayment plans.

Eligibility for the program is also in litigation. The administration planned to implement a rule on July 1 that would have narrowed PSLF eligibility, excluding employers that do not meet its definition of "public service." Courts blocked the rule following lawsuits filed by nonprofits.

The Education Department appealed the ruling at the end of August, and the case will not progress through the DC Circuit. There are no immediate changes to PSLF while the court makes another determination.

Have a story to share about student loans? Contact this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• I tested the Cadillac Optiq, the cheapest EV in GM's luxury lineup.
• Its elegant design and supple ride make it properly Caddy-ish.
• The Optiq isn't the fastest EV, but that's OK. The interior materials, though? Some aren't great.

Cadillac's entry-level EV doesn't feel particularly entry-level.

The Optiq is the cheapest way to get into an EV with GM's luxury badge. It's a crossover-like SUV with a base trim that starts just under $50,000 — or, less money than the average American car.

I spent a week and about 400 miles in a 2026 Cadillac Optiq Premium Sport, driving from New York City to upstate New York and back with up to three passengers and several large suitcases in tow. My rear-wheel-drive tester stickered at $58,976 with options, including 21-inch wheels, two-tone exterior paint, and Cadillac's warm brown Autumn Canyon leather interior.

That package is hardly pocket change — but after a week behind the wheel, I wondered why buyers would spend more for some other Caddys.

Easy on the eyes and on the throttle

The Optiq nails the first impression.

Stacked LEDs in the front and back give the crossover a recognizable signature at night. They also put on a dazzling welcome light show as you approach. Inside, a curved 33-inch display stretches across the dashboard, caramel-colored seats look properly expensive, and — praise be — Cadillac kept physical climate-control buttons underneath the screen.

It looks like a Cadillac. More importantly, it drives like one, too.

The steering was accurate, the suspension softened rough pavement despite those huge wheels, and road noise was virtually nonexistent.

Optiq also benefits from GM's SuperCruise assisted highway driving. It was impressive on my highway-dominant drive upstate, automatically pulling into an open passing lane when I caught slower traffic. It, however, occasionally moved over when faster traffic was approaching from behind, a trait that I'm sure drew the ire of other New York drivers.

Off the line, this Optiq takes a rather leisurely approach to acceleration.

That's not a bad thing, especially compared to other EVs I've recently driven that are faster than they need to be. The RWD Optiq still had enough verve to merge comfortably onto the highway. And, if you absolutely need bone-chilling speed, Cadillac now sells the sport-oriented Optiq-V, which launches to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds — nearly half the time my tester took to get there.

The Optiq handled the less glamorous parts of EV ownership well, too. At a Level 3 charger, I added 41.47 kilowatt-hours in 20 minutes, taking the battery from 32% to 72% — roughly enough time for any trip's necessary restroom-and-snacks stop.

Some of the luxury is better from a distance

Live with the Optiq long enough, though, and some of the luxury sheen fades.

There's a lot of hard plastic inside. The floating center console, for example, has a black appliqué that looks like wood. It isn't. The silver rings around the cupholders look like hammered metal, but those are plastic, too. Similar trim details appear throughout the dash and doors.

Then there's the infotainment screen…

… where there's no Apple CarPlay.

Cadillac's Google-based system is perfectly usable, and the enormous display is well organized, but for plenty of drivers I talk to, losing CarPlay is a dealbreaker.

There are also moments where GM's Silicon Valley-ish ambitions become a little too obvious. The best example is the glovebox: There's no normal latch. Instead, you open it via the infotainment screen, so it only works when the car is on or in accessory mode.

Verdict: Luxe appeal and a price that's less than your mortgage

Cadillac has a surprisingly crowded EV showroom. The Optiq is joined by the slightly larger Lyriq, the three-row Vistiq, the hulking Escalade IQ, the even bigger Escalade IQL, and the built-to-order Celestiq.

The Optiq isn't as extravagant as an Escalade IQ or as dramatic as a Lyriq. That's kind of the point. It's the entry point — although, at just a few inches shorter than the Lyriq, it doesn't feel meaningfully smaller from behind the wheel. (Although the Lyriq is the only GM EV with Apple CarPlay…)

Long drives, though, have a way of cutting through luxury-car theater.

On the trip upstate, I pulled into a rest area starved. My best option was an Impossible Whopper from Burger King, which I ate in the driver's seat. There I was, surrounded by caramel-colored seats and Cadillac's enormous curved display, with tomato juice running down my arm.

The Optiq projects opulence. I was its foil, and I'm okay with that — the burger was worth it.

• Sheryl Sandberg says she's disappointed to see fewer women in corporate leadership.
• She said women are as ambitious as men but feel they're valued less in the workplace.
• She believes companies could do more to retain and encourage female leaders.

More than a decade after telling women to "lean in," Sheryl Sandberg is concerned that more are leaning out — but not because they lack ambition.

Sandberg, Meta's former COO and author of the 2013 bestseller "Lean In," told Business Insider that there's a gender gap when it comes to leadership ambitions in 2026. "This is not the women who are saying, 'I don't want to do it,'" Sandberg, 57, said. "It's the women saying, 'I don't want to do it because I'm not wanted, I'm not getting the same opportunities and the same support, and I face an unfair burden at home.'"

Lean In, the nonprofit organization Sandberg founded in tandem with her book's publication, has been releasing its annual Women in the Workplace reports with McKinsey since 2015. In its 2025 Women in the Workplace report, which surveyed 9,500 US employees across 124 organizations, Lean In found that, despite having practically identical levels of career motivation as men, women were less likely to want a promotion.

When asked why, 25% of the women who didn't want to advance cited "personal obligations," compared to 15% of men who said the same. The report also found gaps in household labor as well as opportunities for mentorship for women.

At Business Insider, we've been covering this trend. Amid mass layoffs and newly enforced RTO mandates, some women who have moved up in the corporate world during the "Lean In" era are feeling burnt out and are stepping back. They have shared their stories with us, of starting their own businesses, going freelance, or, in one case, moving to Antarctica.

Sandberg finds this shift "concerning" — both for women and companies at large.

"We're at a critical moment in time for women, because what a lot of women are seeing is that commitment to them in leadership pulling back," Sandberg said. "Then what's happening to them is their ambition is pulling back. And that's a loss. It's a loss for our economy. It's a loss for our companies. It's a loss for our children."

Why corporate women never 'had it all'

One of the most common critiques leveled against Sandberg and the "Lean In" movement is that it unrealistically encourages women to "have it all" — though the book argued the opposite.

"Lean In" had a chapter titled "The Myth of Doing it All," and in a 2013 McKinsey Quarterly interview, Sandberg denounced the idea of women feeling pressure to be everything all at once: "No one can have it all," she said. "That language is the worst thing that's happened to the women's movement."

Sandberg told Business Insider that it's easy to "overly characterize the words 'lean in.'"

"What I mean by them is very clear," she said. "I think women should make decisions based on believing in their own abilities, based on believing that they should and can have the same opportunities as men."

Recent data shows trouble in that department, particularly for working moms. Matthew Nestler, a senior economist at KPMG, recently found that labor force participation between 2023 and 2026 decreased the most among women with children under 5, regardless of their education level. Meanwhile, participation increased for almost all groups of men, college-educated women with kids old enough to go to school, and women with no kids.

Sandberg said some trends have remained consistent over time. "We know women do more of the housework at home," she said. "We know women do more of the childcare." This is doubly true for women in the sandwich generation, caring for both their kids and aging parents or in-laws.

For women facing short (or nonexistent) maternity leaves, inflexible schedules, and paychecks that pale in comparison to daycare costs, leaning out can feel like the best option.

When women are in corporate, they push for policies that retain more women

Sandberg said there are a few big benefits to having more women in charge. "We know when companies have more women in leadership, performance is better," she said. "We also know they have better work-life balance, better policies, better care for their employees."

One 2025 working paper from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics in Germany studied how gender diversity impacted retention in US companies using US Census data. It found that adding a woman to the board of directors increased female employment and earnings at public companies by 1-2%, driven by retention of existing female workers rather than hiring more women.

"What's really interesting is that the ambition gap in our data collapses when women believe companies really want them in senior leadership," Sandberg said of Lean In's annual reports.

More specifically, she said it's female leaders who are more likely to advocate — or even consider — policies that would keep other women around, from longer maternity leave options to lactation rooms.

Throughout her career, Sandberg said her personal experiences as a woman drove her to change her workplace culture. In the early 2000s, when she was the VP of global online sales and operations at Google, Sandberg was pregnant and nauseous as she hunted for a parking space before a meeting. After learning that Yahoo had pregnancy parking, she asked then-CEO Sergey Brin if Google could do the same. He agreed. Google did not respond to a request for comment on whether the policy still exists.

"You kind of need a pregnant woman to think of that in order for that to happen," Sandberg, who had two kids with her late husband Dave Goldberg and has three stepchildren with her husband Tom Bernthal, said.

Later, when she was at Meta (then Facebook) in 2014, an employee with cancer was seeking fertility preservation prior to starting treatment. Because the company didn't cover egg freezing, she couldn't afford it, she told Sandberg.

When Sandberg looked into adding egg freezing coverage for cancer-related infertility, the head of HR wanted to go even further. "She said, 'We should just cover egg freezing. Why should we decide why people need it?'" Sandberg said. Meta, through Progyny, a fertility benefits program, covers up to four "Smart Cycles" that can be used for IVF, egg freezing, and related care, as well as adoption and surrogacy assistance.

In 2012, when she publicly shared that she left the Facebook office at 5:30 p.m. every day to have dinner with her family and put her kids to bed, she said she got thank-yous from her competitors.

"I got flowers from the Yahoo legal team — I didn't know anyone on the Yahoo legal team," Sandberg said. "Someone said to me: I couldn't have gotten more press if I had murdered someone with an ax."

She believes companies need to do a lot more

When asked what companies can do to improve, Sandberg quipped: "How long do you have?" She listed better parental and bereavement leave and opportunities for more flexible schedules among some of the policies that could retain more women.

There were also changes in workplace culture that could help. She said she still talks to people who won't take a meeting with a woman alone.

"Who's ever been promoted by someone they've never had a meeting with? No one ever. You can have a meeting alone with a woman: Keep the door open," she said. "Let's not find cultural reasons to give better opportunities to men than women. We absolutely shouldn't be sexually harassed, but we shouldn't be ignored, either."

For now, Sandberg, who stepped down from Meta in 2022 to focus on her other ventures, the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation (which runs Lean In) and the early-stage VC firm Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, said she supports the choices women make, even when it includes bowing out of corporate leadership.

"I think being at home with your children is great," she said. "Going back to school, great. Starting a company, great. Going part-time, great. Anything you want to do is great."

Sandberg just thinks it's a shame if fewer stick around at all.

"I just hope that enough women want those senior leadership roles," she said, "that we get the environment for women that they deserve."

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Angela Davis, 65, who lives in New Orleans with her 87-year-old mom with dementia. She said her mom's at-home care is upward of $7,000 a month. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

My mom and dad were never married. I grew up in New Orleans and went to an all-girls Catholic high school. My mom was a school teacher and bought a house in her 30s, which I recently transferred to my son. My dad was a math teacher, but left that to help his dad run a furniture moving business.

I went to Fisk University and moved to Texas, then Connecticut. I did my clinical fellowship at Yale University and had a son. I moved back to New Orleans because I didn't want my grandparents and parents to be strangers to him. I worked as a licensed clinical social worker in schools before retiring. I've also earned income from real estate, as I own over a dozen rental homes.

I started noticing changes in my mom's behavior

I have no brothers or sisters, which has made the last few years challenging. My parents were independent for a while. About eight or nine years ago, I started to notice some changes in my mom's behavior. One time, I was following her car, and she missed the exit to go to her house. Another time, she called the police because she said someone had taken her dog from her car, even though the dog was home.

Then, it all accelerated. She went around telling people that I was trying to steal her house and her money. She changed the locks, which I found out when we couldn't get in touch for three days. I literally broke into the house, and she was on the floor. She spent about two weeks in the hospital, though her services were extremely limited because she had stopped paying her Medicare premium. This was about two and a half years ago. She was diagnosed with dementia in February 2024.

I briefly put her in a facility, but it didn't work out. The facility stated that my mom needed services that she hadn't needed when I dropped her off. They were willing to provide additional services if I would pay $2,000 more. That being the case, I brought her back home with me, where she's been ever since. I've tried to do as much as I could to make her comfortable.

She didn't want caregivers

I've had a couple of caregivers. The last one was really good, but my mom didn't want her there anymore. In the past three months, she would roll paper up and light it because she's been craving nicotine. I had to take the knobs off the gas stoves at my house.

My mother's godchild volunteered to stay with her for free. I'm going to give her $500 a week. It's a struggle, though, because I inherited my mom's dog, so I have two dogs, two jobs, and a mom with dementia who is depressed on a regular basis. I've had to worry about her roaming, too. She walked a block from the house and fell, and one of the neighbors called an ambulance, which cost $4,000.

Her condition is worsening, and she's not taking in much food. She will not get out of bed. She sits on the sofa, and she's up all throughout the night. Since she's been out of the hospital, I've been sleeping on a loveseat downstairs. It's not good for me because I am 65, but it's what I have to do.

She can tell you my name, my son's name, her goddaughter's name, and her Social Security number. If you ask her on a Monday who her favorite president is, it's Barack Obama, but if you ask her on Tuesday, she'll tell you she doesn't know. She can't respond to questions about current events, but she can tell you about her condition.

She's aware enough to know that something's wrong, though she's still in denial about her dementia. Her mother had it, and she and her sister took turns caring for her until it became too overwhelming. They put her in a facility, and she didn't last long there.

We spend about $2,000 a month on her care

She only brings in $3,200 a month, but we spend about $2,000 a month on care, and the upkeep on the house is about $5,000 a month for electricity, taxes, insurance, alarms, and her car. Her money doesn't cover it, so I do have to help her out. This doesn't include food, new clothes, or other day-to-day things. At the end of the day, she pays 60%, and I pay 40%.

I continue to work, partly for my own mental well-being. The money is not going to make or break me, but it never hurts to have more. It gets me out of the house and takes me out of caregiving for a few hours.

I've also taken a few trips for myself. I went to Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia. I took a trip with my son to Rome.

There have been a few times when my son has come from New York to help me, even if it's just cutting the lawn. He helped her move everything out of her facility, and he's really stepped up. I do some of this to model for my child. I will want him to do his best to take care of me. But I've always had the attitude of not waiting for the diagnosis to live. You live now.

The other day, I was exhausted at night. I've never been a nap person, but I fell asleep on the love seat. When I looked at my phone, it said 7:05 the next day. I rushed to get ready for work, and the dogs were looking at me. Even my mom had asked me, "What's wrong with you?"

For reference, I'm usually up by 4:30 a.m. at the latest because I have to commute 40 miles one way. I feed and walk the dogs, and it takes me 30 to 40 minutes to get her up and change her clothes. I'm grateful I have flexible settings where I'm not punching in a clock because otherwise I'd be unemployed.

I get off work at 2:30 p.m. and home at 3:30 p.m., though sometimes I have to show an apartment. I make sure my mom takes her medications. She has struggled with eating, and sometimes she'll have food and not remember it 15 minutes later. I'm usually asleep by 11 p.m. The weekends are a little more relaxed.

Even though I'm a social worker, I'm not that kind of caretaker. I'm not the "I can wipe your butt and brush your teeth gladly" kind of person. Will I help her do this? Yes. But I don't enjoy it. I've already made clear my own wishes, which is to not to go out like this. I wouldn't wish this on many people. Of course, it's harder for my mom than it is for me.

It's death by 1,000 cuts, and in this case, you could say death by 1,000 memories every day.

• Paul Farahvar went from law to stand-up comedy after some encouragement from comedian Bob Saget.
• Farahvar did comedy on the side of trial law for years before becoming a full-time comedian.
• Despite loving his work as a lawyer, Farahvar said he was ready for a new challenge.

This is an as-told-essay based on a conversation with Paul Farahvar, a touring stand-up comedian based in Chicago who previously worked as a trial lawyer. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

Right out of law school, I started practicing at an insurance defense law firm. I had won a case in the Illinois Supreme Court when I was only 25, which then led to places trying to recruit me.

I went to a firm that allowed me to work part-time, because I was also playing in and managing bands and doing entertainment law on the side. Eventually, one of my partners and I split off and started our own law firm.

Comedy came into the picture by accident. It was never on my radar when I was younger. My friend was a stand-up comedian, and he asked me to go with him when he was opening for Bob Saget. I was backstage and made a joke that got Bob Saget laughing. He said I should use the joke onstage, but I told him I wasn't performing and that I'd never done stand-up in my life.

His encouragement gave me the confidence to go to an open mic the next day. I won the contest, and that changed my life. I ended up hosting that open mic and then became a host at The Laugh Factory in Chicago. Now I've been a full-time comedian for over six years.

A common misconception is that I was burned out as a lawyer. I wasn't. I loved being a lawyer and practicing law, and I was lucky enough to take cases to trial often since our firm was a specialty trial firm.

I miss it sometimes, but I felt like I did everything I could do with law. I tried over 20 cases, and wanted the challenge of something new. I like to push myself to do things that are hard or uncomfortable.

Comedy is a hustle, but you can make money doing it

As a lawyer, I handled insurance defense and defense work for cities, including election and police cases. I was usually the bad guy.

I kept the comedy under wraps at first. At some point, people started to notice, and surprisingly, everyone was pretty supportive. If I were discussing a trial date with the other side and needed to schedule it around a comedy show, most lawyers were cool with it.

My last couple of years of law, I was a full-time comedian and part-time lawyer. When my partner and I split our firm, I kept my existing clients but didn't take new ones. My last trial was late February 2020, and I closed my law firm on March 1, 2020. Comedy has been my job since.

Stand-up comedy is the biggest part of my life. I also do podcasts, writing, and acting. I'm lucky to be doing comedy almost every night, touring, headlining, and supporting bigger shows and theaters. This year, I have tried to force myself to take a day off each week. I still end up doing 6-10 shows weekly.

People assume you can't make money with comedy, but you can. You have to hustle. In times when I've really needed money, I've taken corporate gigs, such as shows for organizations like bar associations or unions. Those shows pay very well. There were a few years when I made more as a comedian than as a lawyer.

There are ups and downs. I'm fortunate that I can do comedy, and I don't have to take a lot of those corporate gigs or cruise ship shows because I'm single and I don't have any debt.

Even as a lawyer with my own firm, I was trying to generate business, and there were years where it was sink-or-swim. In the first year of our law firm, I didn't take a salary because we put all this money into starting the firm. That was harder for me than any year of comedy.

Working in comedy requires more than just writing and performing

As a stand-up comic, 90% of it is just sending my availability out and trying to get bookings and opportunities. I hate doing it, but I'm good at it because I used to do it when I worked in music. I don't have a manager, so if I forget or don't have time to spend a week making calls for show bookings, that hurts me in two months, when I'm like, "Oh shoot, I have a week, and I don't have that many shows."

I'm very driven, almost to an unhealthy degree. I don't have a personal life. Everything I do revolves around my career. I always say I wasn't the best lawyer, and I might not be the funniest comedian, but I'm the hardest working.

In comedy, you definitely experience burnout. Like the other day when I flew in on a red eye from Florida and realized I had a show that night. But once I get onstage, I think, "Oh yeah, this is way more fun than whatever else I was going to."

Now, some of the comedians I'm friends with are people I used to watch on TV as a kid. Every once in a while, I get to pinch myself, like when I've opened for my favorite comedian.

Still, I loved practicing law. I didn't like the mornings, and I hated waking up, but I always say if court was in the afternoon, I might never have quit.

• Top bedding sales: Save on editor-vetted sheets, duvets, and pillows from Brooklinen and Ruggable.
• Standout discounts: Get 35% off our top duvet insert and 30% off our favorite sunrise alarm clock.
• Viral pillow test: We reviewed the viral Mellow Sleep pillow to see if the 50% sale is legit.

The seasonal swap from lightweight summer quilts to cozy autumn bedding always triggers a barrage of aggressive sales pitches. Let's be honest about direct-to-consumer sleep brands: most of those limited-time markdowns crowding your feed are really"sales" with a lowercase 's' — everyday prices dressed up in fake urgency.

Ultimately, the right products are simply tools to optimize your habits for better sleep. If you've been looking to upgrade your own environment as fall approaches, your algorithm is probably pushing one brand in particular: Mellow.

The buzzy sleep startup is inescapable on TikTok and Instagram right now, thanks largely to a perpetual 50% off sale on viral items like the CloudAlign pillow and the MarshMellow comforter. As far as senior home editor Jaclyn Turner is concerned, when a brand is always on sale, that's just the regular price. So she set out to discover whether the bedding actually lives up to the marketing hype. Spoiler: She found them to be surprisingly supportive for the price, and you can read her full review here.

Whether you're curious about a viral newcomer or sticking to trusted classics, getting your bedroom ready for cooler nights doesn't require replacing everything from the bed frame up. Below, I've pulled together the editor-tested sleep staples our team actually reaches for as summer turns into fall — including 35% off my favorite duvet insert. Scroll on to see this week's absolute best deals on products we've tested and brands we trust.

Learn more about how Business Insider tests and reviews products.

The best deals on cozy bedding upgrades

Upgrading your sheets and duvet inserts for the cooler months doesn't mean settling for cheap bedding. From direct-to-consumer favorites like Silk & Snow to heritage labels like The Company Store, whether you're looking to swap crisp percale for warm flannel or add a heavier winter-weight down insert, these are the best editor-tested bedding deals right now.

Sheets and sheet sets

Comforters and duvet inserts

The best deals on pillows, mattress toppers, and mattresses

From full mattress replacements to budget-friendly mattress topper that make a firm bed feel brand new, these deals make upgrading your core sleep foundation much easier on your wallet. Here are the top markdowns on editor-tested mattresses, toppers, and pillows available right now.

The best deals on editor-tested sleep tech

From a sunrise alarm clock that will make dark autumn mornings far easier to noise-masking earbuds and sleep trackers, smart devices can dramatically streamline your bedtime routine. Below, I've tracked down the best discounts on editor-tested sleep gadgets and bedroom tech to help optimize your sleep environment.

How Business Insider covers deals and sales differently

The BI Reviews team has spent years testing products, updating recommendations, monitoring pricing, and analyzing shopping behavior. We look at what readers click on — and what they ultimately buy. That's important because the products generating the most buzz aren't always the same products that deliver the most value. The deals on our lists do both.

Everything on this list has earned its place for a reason. These are the products that have either been thoroughly tested by the BI Reviews team and featured in our buying guides, or products I have personally used and keep buying. They're also backed by real shopping behavior, not just clicks.

If your new iPhone 18 Pro Max is stressfully bare, you're not alone. For many smartphone users, a case is a necessity, not an option. With so many options to choose from, it's easy to find one fitted to your needs, too. I've rounded up all of the best iPhone 18 Pro Max cases below, from ultra-protective shells to style-friendly wallet cases.

Unlike other brands, Apple's new devices have a saturated case market with a variety of designs, styles, and features. Whether you like the designer-like appeal of Bandolier and Bellroy or need military-grade drop protection from OtterBox and Zagg, there's something for everyone right now. If you're shopping for the smaller version, check out my guide to the best iPhone 18 Pro cases for options tailored to its needs. If you have yet to place your order, you can also learn how to buy the iPhone 18 Pro Max in my guide.

The best iPhone 18 Pro Max Cases

Though the magnet built into the iPhone 18 Pro Max is pretty strong, it's not strong enough for grips and mounts to hold without a compatible case. If you're hoping to use MagSafe accessories, be sure to select an option with its own integrated magnet. Most of the options below fit the bill, but you may need to specify as much before adding to your cart.

• Browse more cases at Bandolier | Casetify | OtterBox | Zagg

What is the best iPhone 18 Pro Max case?

If protecting your iPhone 18 Pro Max is the top priority for your new case, the best option is OtterBox's Defender Series Pro or Zagg's Rainier Case. Alternatively, visually focused shoppers might prefer the vast design libraries offered by Casetify and Burga. If you're shopping on a tight budget, Mkeke and Fntcase are my go-tos.

The best iPhone 18 Pro Max case ultimately depends on your needs as a user. If you're shopping for a balance between quality, appearance, and price, I always recommend looking into Spigen's designs.

Do iPhone 17 Pro Max cases fit the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Luckily, the iPhone 18 Pro Max shares the same dimensions as its predecessor, the iPhone 17 Pro Max. That said, I always advise looking at your case's specifications to ensure it's actually compatible with both devices. Just because a product technically fits, doesn't mean it's designed with the device's hardware in mind — a poor match can result in lackluster drop protection.

What screen protector should I get?

A screen protector is always an excellent investment for new phones, even if the manufacturers boast improved durability with every new generation.

For the iPhone 18 Pro Max, I recommend Spigen's GlasTR EZ Fit Screen Protectors or AmFilm's OneTouch screen protectors. Both are easy to apply, relatively budget-friendly, and come with extras to replace a damaged one.

See more: iPhone 18 Pro cases | 18 Pro Max screen protectors | 18 Pro screen protectors | Verizon iPhone 18 Pro deals

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Apple's latest iPhone generation is officially up for grabs, and the new device looks sweet for fans of the iOS ecosystem. As you might expect, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max aren't cheap, so a good deal goes a long way to making the smartphone accessible. Luckily, new and existing Verizon customers can save now on their new iPhone with these sweet deals.

One of the best offers features a free iPad A16 and Apple Watch Series 12 (or previous generation) with iPhone orders and eligible Verizon Plans. It's an incredibly sweet deal, perfect for students and newcomers to the Apple universe. The devices pair seamlessly, creating a stress-free setup for one user or a value-packed trio to be shared among family members.

Keep reading for more details on how to get Verizon freebies with your iPhone 18 Pro purchase. I've also broken down some of the provider's other ongoing offers for new iPhone purchases, in case you're interested in a different discount.

How to get a free Apple Watch Series 12 and iPad A16 with iPhone purchases

To get your free devices with your Verizon order, you need to have an iPhone Service plan. Here's how to get started:

1. Head to the Verizon website and choose the iPhone you want — it doesn't have to be the newest generation to count.
2. Select the color and storage size you want, specify whether you're a new or existing customer, indicate whether you'd like to include a trade-in, then click "Order."
3. Select the iPad and Apple Watch you'd prefer in the pop-up that appears after adding the phone to your cart.
4. Click "Next steps" after adding all three items to your cart.
5. Select your preferred Verizon cell plan and proceed through account enrollment and checkout.

This specific promo covers your additional devices through bill credits. Put simply, you'll pay up front for the iPad and Apple Watch, but Verizon will discount your monthly bill to offset the total cost.

If you already have a smartwatch and a tablet, Verizon is also offering other great promotions on the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max.

What devices are eligible for the Verizon iPhone 18 Pro deal?

The Verizon deal isn't limited only to the latest devices — it actually applies to a handful of different Apple devices. Any iPhone purchased with a Verizon Service Plan can be bundled with a free iPad A16 and any of the following smartwatches:

• Apple Watch Series 12
• Apple Watch SE 3
• Apple Watch SE 2

If you're unsure how those exact models compare, see this table for a quick glance at their different specs.

Aside from these hardware differences, the pricier options also offer better software features, such as Siri AI, 5G compatibility, more robust health tracking, and more. It's a big difference worth paying for, if you can afford the upfront cost of the Series 12. After all, Verizon will refund you the amount with monthly bill credits anyway.

See more: iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max offers | iPhone 18 Pro cases | iPhone 18 Pro Max cases

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Apple just launched its latest lineup, and the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is among the new devices that hit stores on September 18, 2026. If you're hoping to learn more about the device (including where you can order it), you've come to the right place.

• See all colors at Amazon

The bulk of the upgrades for the Ultra 4 are internal and help bring the watch up to standards found in other devoted health and fitness trackers. The biggest improvements include longer battery life, enhanced heart rate and step tracking, and a brand-new Readiness score. The Ultra 4 will also work with a new suite of Audio Intelligence features, the most notable of which will be released later in the year.

We've highlighted everything you need to know about the Ultra 4 below, including where you can order the device online and a breakdown of all of the best new features. If you're interested in something a little bit smaller and less expensive, you can check out the new Apple Watch Series 12. The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is also still on sale and is the top pick for outdoor enthusiasts in our best Apple Watches guide.

How to order the Apple Watch Ultra 4

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 was initially only available for preorder through Apple. The device later became available to preorder on Amazon, and eventually landed at other retailers (including cellular providers such as T-Mobile and Verizon). Now that the watch has officially launched, it should also be available in stores while supplies last. You should check to see if the device is in stock online before heading to a store.

The 49mm watch starts at $799 and comes in natural and black titanium finishes. Some Amazon models start at $780.

What's the trade-in value for my current device?

If you're hoping to save some money, you can always try trading in an old device. Apple allows trade-ins on eligible items, including previous-generation Apple Watches, iPads, Macs, iPhones, and select Android devices. There's a full list of eligible devices and models on Apple's website, but you can explore the estimated maximum trade-in values for select products below:

What's new in the Apple Watch Ultra 4?

The Apple Watch Ultra 4 primarily offers internal upgrades, most notably across battery life, health and fitness tracking, and Audio Intelligence. Our team has yet to formally test the Apple Watch Ultra 4, so these facts and figures are reported by Apple. Some of these features can be found in other Apple Watch devices, including previous generations and the new Series 12. (*Denotes a forthcoming feature.)

1. Readiness score: The Readiness score offers a 0-10 rating based on activity, training, vitals, and sleep. Readiness will offer suggestions, including succinct recommendations: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It.
2. Longer battery life: The tagline for the Apple Watch Ultra 4 is "a battery you can't outrun," and the new device certainly puts that to the test. The Ultra 4 boasts up to 50 hours of battery life (up from 42 in Ultra 3) and up to 84 hours in Low Power Mode (up from 72 hours).
3. Faster charging: Like previous generations, the Ultra 4 is fast-charge capable. Now, 15 minutes of charge can get up to 18 hours of normal use (up from 12 hours in the Ultra 3), and a five-minute charge can get up to 10 hours of sleep tracking (up from 8 hours).
4. Better step counting: The Ultra 4 offers improved step tracking thanks to the S11 chip and new machine learning models. In addition to improved daily step count data, this will enhance measurement accuracy for indoor walking and running workouts (e.g., on treadmills).
5. Enhanced heart rate sensing: The redesigned heart sensors provide high-frequency background heart rate tracking, including continuous measurements every five seconds. HRV (Heart Rate Variability) measurements have also been improved, with readings taken up to 24 times more often each day. The watch now provides Recovery HRV and overall HRV variants, viewable in a new section of the Heart Rate app.
6. Redesigned Health app*: Apple is revamping its health app, which will arrive later this year. The new Health app will be able to respond to Apple Intelligence data, including data collected from the Apple Watch, and offer detailed information in the new Insights and Longevity tabs (including a Health Age feature). There will also be new, optional integration for labs.
7. Audio Intelligence*: Apple's new Audio Intelligence features work in tandem with the Apple Watch Ultra 4 to offer special perks like Sound Recognition and Shazam. Siri Recap and Live Rewind will be available in beta later this year and will require an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone 16 or later (not the iPhone 16e).

• See also: Preorder Apple AirPods 5 | Best iPhone in 2026

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Summer may be coming to a close, but the fall TV (and movie) premieres are just getting started. We've scoured the recent releases and rounded up the five best new movies and TV shows streaming the weekend of September 18, 2026.

This week's hottest shows include the newest installment in the "Traitors" franchise and Sharon Horgan's latest comedy. A few fan-favorite dramas have also returned for new seasons, including prestige hits "MobLand" and "Slow Horses." Even though it's a TV-heavy week, there's also a new comedy movie on Netflix.

5: MobLand

One of the most star-studded Paramount Plus originals returns for a second season. In "MobLand," Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan star as the heads of the Harrigan crime family. As new threats face their empire, their savvy fixer (Tom Hardy) attempts to keep things in check. New episodes drop Fridays on Paramount Plus.

4: Best of the Best

"Never Have I Ever" star Maitreyi Ramakrishnan returns to Netflix in "Best of the Best," a coming-of-age college comedy. The movie follows two childhood best friends (Ramakrishnan and Priyanka Kedia) who decide to join the super-competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team at UCLA. The film is now streaming on Netflix.

3: Youth

Sharon Horgan, the creative mastermind and star of "Bad Sisters" (and several other comedies), is back with her latest TV outing. "Youth" follows a divorced woman who decides to get back out there as her son prepares to head off to university. She navigates her dating life while balancing work, parenthood, and her aging parents. New episodes drop Sundays on HBO Max.

2: The Traitors: New Blood

The hit reality series "The Traitors" returns with a twist in "The Traitors: New Blood." This time around, the 22 contestants are everyday Americans and not celebrities, adding a little extra mystery to the game. Alan Cumming is back as host, and with $250,000 on the line, it's shaping up to be a can't-miss season. New episodes air on Thursdays on NBC, which can be live streamed through Peacock Premium Plus.

1: Slow Horses

"Slow Horses" has become one of the most reliable TV series since its premiere in 2022, both in terms of quality and its ability to churn out a new season every year. Season 6 of the witty spy thriller finds Gary Oldman and the rest of the slow horses once again fighting for their lives. This time around, assassins are hunting down anyone who has ever worked at Slough House, the last stop for MI5 misfits. New episodes stream Wednesdays on Apple TV.

Also streaming:

Every week, we recommend the very best TV show premieres, finales, new-to-streaming movies, and specials, but there are a handful of other releases that might be of interest. There are also several excellent shows that have already premiered but are ongoing and still dropping new episodes. You can find our additional recommendations below:

• "Lanterns" (new episodes Sundays on HBO Max)
• "South Park" (new episodes every other Wednesday on Comedy Central, next-day on Paramount Plus)
• "Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story" (all eight episodes now streaming on Netflix)

• "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" (new episodes Fridays on STARZ)
• "Ted Lasso" (new episodes Wednesdays on Apple TV)
• "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" (new episodes Mondays on Hulu and the Disney Plus and Hulu bundle)
• "Lioness" (season finale Sunday on Paramount Plus)

If you're interested in learning more about these streaming apps, check out our guides to the best streaming services and best live TV streaming services. For additional recommendations, you can explore our roundup of the best streaming deals and bundles.

Whether you're a longtime Apple fan who upgrades every year or a newcomer to the brand, everyone should invest in a good iPhone case. Despite improvements to durability, shielding your device, even with a thin, decorative option, can make a big difference in keeping it safe from scratches, dents, and irreversible screen shattering. With that in mind, I've gathered all of the best iPhone 18 Pro cases you can buy now, below.

Thanks to Apple's huge user base, there is no shortage of cases for the new smartphone. From Casetify's crowd-pleasing prints to Bellroy's sleek wallet cases, there's already a design for every type of iPhone 18 Pro owner. Check out the best from brands we've tried, researched, and loved below, and peep my guide to ordering your iPhone 18 Pro if you haven't secured your device yet.

The best iPhone 18 Pro Cases

The iPhone 18 Pro has a built-in magnet on its back, allowing MagSafe accessories to function properly. If you plan to use it, you need to choose a MagSafe-compatible case. Most of the picks below are, but for some, you need to specify them as an add-on or customization before adding your pick to the cart.

• Browse more cases at Bandolier | Casetify | OtterBox | Zagg

What is the best iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max case?

As I always say, the best iPhone 18 Pro case depends on your needs as a user. Shoppers looking for the most protection will get the most coverage from an OtterBox Defender Series Pro, while style-minded owners will prefer the purse-like qualities of Bandolier or customization of Casetify. Wallet-case lovers should look into Bellroy's all-in-one options, while those with tight budgets can make do with a Fntcase.

If you're looking for the best balance of appearance, quality, and price, Spigen's cases check all the boxes — but for a slight price increase or decrease, you may be able to find something you prefer more.

Do iPhone 17 Pro cases fit the iPhone 18 Pro?

Overall, iPhone 17 Pro cases can fit the iPhone 18 Pro, thanks to the devices' similar specs. However, unless a product specifies that it works for both, it's always advisable to upgrade your case when you upgrade your phone. Just because a case "fits" doesn't mean it is designed with all of the device's hardware in mind, which may mean the protection is lacking.

What screen protector should I get?

If you're shopping for a screen protector too, you're a smart cookie. A phone case is half the battle; the other half is shielding your screen to prevent scratches, or worse, shattering. I've rounded up the best options in my guide to iPhone 18 Pro screen protectors.

For a quick answer, I'd recommend looking into Spigen's GlasTR EZ Fit Screen Protectors, a trusted brand. Alternatively, the super-budget-friendly AmFilm OneTouch screen protectors are a tried-and-true personal favorite, especially since they come with extra replacements to swap in when you damage your first one.

See more: Verizon iPhone bundle deal | Best 18 Pro Max cases | 18 Pro screen protectors | 18 Pro Max screen protectors

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Comfortable walking shoes can make a major difference in your health. I've easily racked up 20,000 steps in a single day without any protest from my feet, and it's all because I had the right sneakers on.

I spoke to podiatrist Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM, FACFAS, who told me that women are more prone to developing stress fractures. It's important to prioritize support especially if you walk a lot, as you could be saving yourself from future muscle strains.

For this guide, I tested over 30 pairs of sneakers on walks totaling over 50 miles. These long-distance trials let me gauge which felt the most supportive and durable, whether I was hiking trails with my dog, speed-walking through errands, or traveling to explore a new city.

The most comfortable walking shoes for women in 2026

Best overall: Asics GEL-Nimbus 28

While the GEL-Nimbus 27s were my go-to walking shoe for nearly two years, the new GEL-Nimbus 28s are the most comfortable version yet.

Weighing in at 9.8 ounces, this model is slightly lighter than its predecessor. Even after spending 6 hours walking on concrete floors, my arches, calves, and knees still felt supported and fresh (well, as fresh as can be expected) by the end of the day.

I'm conscious of highly cushioned shoes that end up feeling packed down or "muddy" after long walks. And while these are slightly less stiff than my previous pair, their 2mm of FF Blast Plus foam in the midsole area gives them a supportive, structured feel.

In addition, there's a gel heel counter to help limit movement in the foot's tendons (which is why they're some of the best shoes for plantar fasciitis). The new knit uppers are also better at holding their shape snugly and firmly, while still allowing my toes to splay naturally.

If you don't like a high-cushion, adaptive technology shoe because you have ankle issues or super flat feet, you may be happier in the Adidas Ultraboost Lights. But ultimately, the GEL-Nimbus 28s are the best walking shoes for most people, thanks to their perfect balance of support and cushioning.

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Best budget: Rykä Devotion X

Rykä's sneakers are proof that you don't have to spend big to find supportive shoes for your feet. For just $80, the Devotion Xs have all of Daughtry's must-haves: a roomy knit upper for breathability on long, hot miles; responsive cushioning for shock absorption; an EVA proprietary foam that provides soft cushioning, including built-up cushioning in the midfoot for stability and arch support; and a padded heel. They even boast the Seal of Acceptance by the American Podiatric Medical Association.

These are one of the few shoes on our list designed specifically for walking, which means they don't have a meta-rocker or any unnecessary design features that come with some running shoes.

After a 3-mile walk, I found these shoes to be incredibly comfortable. The knit upper is very soft and formed to my foot shape, so these shoes felt like a light hug but not at all tight. They were also extremely breathable and kept my feet from building up heat after multiple miles.

"The Devotion X sneakers have been my preferred walking shoes for about two years now," writes senior associate style editor Gabrielle Chase. Most recently she wore them on a 10-day trip across central Europe, walking an average seven miles a day. "They're perfectly cushioned and light, and made my ankles feel supported even as I navigated uneven cobblestone streets."

"By far my favorite feature of these is the layers of foamy padding on the outsole," adds style editor Samantha Crozier. "It actually feels like walking on pillows — and each step is so bouncy these are downright buoyant."

The design isn't revolutionary so these shoes won't earn you a ton of compliments, but they're not noticeably unattractive. 

The main downsides are that if you underpronate (supinate), the stability design for these shoes might throw off your biomechanics. Also, while the construction matches the price point here, these shoes aren't the most durable with minimal reinforcements in the knit upper, so if you wear through your shoes quickly, a budget option might not equal value for you.

Read more in our full Rykä shoes review.

Best cushioned: Puma Magnify Nitro 3

Highly cushioned walking shoes are great for anyone with extra high arches, a tendency to overpronate, or achy knees. Puma's Magnify Nitro 3 has the thickest piece of foam among the brand's entire lineup. Yet they're still very lightweight, at just 8 ounces overall.

During testing, I found these shoes to be far less stiff and more comfortable across the entire foot on long-distance walks, compared to the high-cushion competitors I tested (like Hoka's Bondis).

In fact, I would describe them as a super lightweight and bouncy ride, thanks to the premium PEBA-based Nitro foam, which is much softer and springier than the foam used in past iterations of the Magnify Nitro I've tested.

The knit upper is highly breathable, forms to the foot, and feels very durable, as it's reinforced with Puma's proprietary seamless tape so your toes won’t bust through over time. The molded heel collars felt especially comfortable on long, hot walks. In my opinion, Puma has expertly inserted highly-engineered features, all within a light, streamlined package.

It’s worth noting the heel-to-toe drop in the Magnify Nitro 3 is quite high (10 mm), which may be too much stress on the knees or hips for some people’s biomechanics. Also, the overall fit of the shoe runs narrow in the forefoot and midfoot. If you have even slightly wide feet, opt for the well-cushioned Asics GEL-Nimbus 28 instead.

Best arch support: Hoka Gaviota 6

I've tried all the best Hokas that have come out over the past decade. After walking in the Gaviota 5s for years and testing the Hoka Gaviota 6 for a few months, I can confirm this update is indeed an upgrade. This new version is the perfect blend of comfort, support, and arch support, with a more plush collar, highly breathable mesh uppers, improved traction, and a wider overall design. Plus, the new Gaviota 6s weigh about a half ounce less than their predecessor. They also come in a Wide or X-Wide option for those who need more toebox space.

Stability shoes like these are helpful if your foot rolls inward as it strikes and pushes off the ground (also known as "overpronation"). Hoka's enhanced stabilizing H-Frame helps level out your foot while keeping the shoe lightweight. This in turn can help you avoid pain and collapsed arches in the long run.

You can't feel the H-frame when you run, but it keeps your foot feeling firm and controlled with your arches supported. At the same time, the Gaviota 6 is designed with a softer, EVA foam to give a plush and forgiving ride underfoot akin to their popular Bondis.

The Gaviota 6s are constructed with a new, breathable engineered upper, which I found to be more flexible and durable than the jacquard upper of the Gaviota 5s. I also really like the addition of an internal ghillie lacing system, which makes them feel more locked in and secure.

If you need arch support, prefer solid cushioning underfoot, and have a wider-than-average foot like I do, you'll love the fit and ride of the Gaviota 6. And if you stand or walk a lot all day, you'll love their flexible, breathable feel.

Best for standing all day: On Cloudtilt

After testing the best shoes for standing all day, I found that the On Cloudtilts strike a perfect balance between cushioned and supportive. On's signature technology, CloudTec, builds the midsole out of firm foam cutouts, or "clouds," to provide structured support. These clouds are organized in a sequential collapse pattern, so they compress gradually in a way that offers just the right amount of give. This allows for better balance and disperses the impact of walking all day, thereby reducing fatigue in your legs.

The Cloudtilts use a knit upper made from 100% recycled polyester that feels more elastic and forgiving — especially if your feet tend to swell. It hugs your foot like a sock without trapping heat. One downside: The sock-like upper means you lose some structure and lateral stability, so it's not ideal if you pivot a lot on the job.

Priya Parthasarathy, DPM, is a Maryland-based podiatric surgeon with Foot Ankle Specialists of the Mid-Atlantic. She told me finds lace up shoes are more supportive for standing and walking all day compared to one-size-fits-all slip ons. That said, sometimes you want a shoe that slips on and off easily. I love that this lace system lets you tighten across the top of the foot as needed, but has enough stretch and a simple stopper knot. This way you can slip them off without having to untie and re-tie every time.

Other walking shoes we tested

Most stylish: Bared Footwear Stork

As anyone who travels or lives in a city knows, the struggle to find good-looking sneakers that are actually supportive after hours and hours of walking is all too real. Bared Footwear is a unicorn brand: They make stylish footwear with contoured, supportive, and swappable footbeds designed by a podiatrist to provide support and structure for all day on your feet.

I've worn the Stork sneakers everywhere from touring the city all day to dinner out with friends, and they are one of those sneakers that look good with everything. They do take a handful of wears to break in (they're leather, after all), but I found them to be incredibly supportive for my feet and lower body even after walking in them for over 6 hours.

The shoe itself is designed to optimize your natural biomechanics. There's a slight incline on the heel to relieve pressure from your calves, an internal steel shank for rigid stability, and slip-resistant rubber soles.

All Bared Footwear sneakers come with a footbed engineered for support, contoured in four keyt areas to reduce pressure in the ball of your foot, stabilize your gait, provide arch support, and cushion your heels from shock.

The real kicker — and what sets Bared Footwear apart — is that each of their shoes comes with a complimentary Fit Kit made up of a thinner footbed and forefoot padding, so you can tweak the shoe's fit if you need more or less room. This kind of personalized fitting is what really dials a shoe in to be comfortable for hours of wear.

Best trail hybrid: Merrell Morphlite

I could not be more thrilled with the performance, fit, and purpose of this dark horse shoe. Merrell has long been a leader in the hiking shoe space, but in 2022, the brand renewed its place in the trail shoe category. The Morphlite is an incredibly lightweight, comfortable shoe that felt so good on long walks, I only wanted to keep wearing them.

These shoes are technically a road-to-trail shoe, which means their centers have shorter lugs for road running, and their perimeters have slightly-deeper lugs (2mm) to grip slippery trails. If you often walk from pavement to dirt or gravel trails like I do living in a Colorado mountain town, this shoe is wonderfully comfortable and balanced on both surfaces.

While wearing a true trail shoe on concrete can often feel like a cleat, I found the Morphlite's lugs are short enough to not clomp on hard ground, and also just toothy enough to have some grab on less-technical trails. The proprietary foam midsole has a nice, balanced plushness between lightly foamy and firm that helps to offer light cushion underfoot.

After an hour of walking in these shoes, I did feel a bit of strain in the back of my arch and front of my heel, so they probably aren't ideal if you have extremely high arches or plantar fasciitis. But for the average foot, they're very comfortable.

The Morphlite's Jacquard recycled knit upper encases the foot for a very close fit. I like that this knit is strategically reinforced for harder trail wear. But if you have a high-volume foot, they might be too snug.

Best dress sneaker: Frankie4 Nat III

"When you imagine a classic low-top, cap-toed sneaker, you probably think of Chuck Taylors. But most Converse sneakers are simply not comfortable to walk in. They have zero arch or heel support, their soles are rock hard, and their toe boxes too narrow for most people. Instead, here's a similar style that's actually made for prolonged wear.

The Nat III's gussets are elastic, so they allow you to forgo laces if you rather wear them as slip-ons, as I do. You can also choose from a set of podiatrist-approved insoles in the included "Sole Saver Pack," which each have different levels of padding in the forefoot and heels.

I have high arches, so I was thankful for their supportive, spongy padding when I broke them in on a long neighborhood walk. Their shock absorption is leagues ahead of most flat-soled sneakers. And if you have weak ankles, these have high heel counters and collars to help stabilize you.

I could actually wear these comfortably without socks because the leather interior is so padded and smooth. I also liked how the toe boxes, though slightly narrow, became more flexible the more I broke them in. I got them in a size 8 and they fit true to size. They were stark white, but this summer I've roughed them up on the city sidewalks." — Gabrielle Chase, senior associate style editor, Insider Reviews

Best for travel: Reef Neptune

Any pair good of walking shoes should feel lightweight, but especially so when you're packing for a trip. Sneakers with heavy cushioning are often too clunky to fit neatly in a weekender bag, but travel writer Emily Hochberg found the Reef Neptunes' slim design and soft knit uppers easy to tamp down flat.

She's walked hundreds of miles in these travel sneakers, noting their easy-to-style silhouette you can wear with your airport cozies or as you explore a new city. Either way, their cushioned insoles can support you on the long haul.

"Simply put, I've never worn a more comfortable sneaker," she says. "The fact that these shoes look good with everything, pack down ultra light, and remain comfy through miles of walking, has made them a true VIP in my closet (and suitcase)."

The women's size 8 Neptunes weigh 11.7 ounces — another testament to their packability. You do sacrifice some arch support and ankle stability with these, but their stretchiness and soft padding makes them ideal for all the waiting around that comes with travel.

Best waterproof: Hoka Transport GTX

These waterproof sneakers are my choice for a lightweight alternative to rain boots. I wore them on multiple walks and hikes and found them to be very comfortable. The Transport GTX isn't as cushioned as other Hokas —more balanced than plush — but the EVA midsole felt comfortable for 1- to 3-mile walks.

Most of all, the waterproofing is a 10/10: I tromped through a pile of snow on one early spring testing walk and, where my husband's feet were soaked in normal sneakers, mine remained bone dry. That's because the upper is treated with GORE-TEX, which notably does cost you some breathability. But I loved that the upper was mesh for a roomy fit, while also being strategically reinforced to last against the elements. 

I really liked the functionality of these shoes. The main laces are a pull-tab design so they're easy to secure or loosen, but unlike a lot of other similar designs, Hoka's quick-toggle lace neatly tucks away so the tail isn't flopping around. I also love that the shoes come with traditional laces, in case you don't like the quick-toggle design.

Note that these shoes have neutral stability, so they may not be supportive enough for people with high arches. And if you like an extra plush walking shoe, these might feel too stiff for you.

Best lightweight: Adidas Ultraboost Light

True to the name, the Adidas Ultraboost Light are one of the lightest shoes on our list weighing just 9.2 ounces. But they're also incredibly well designed and kept my feet cool and supported walking for hours at a time.

The Ultraboost Light have a soft, textile upper, which Daughtry says is crucial in a great walking shoe as it offers more space and breathability for your foot.

The midsole is well-cushioned, which Daughtry also highlights to help with shock absorption and minimize added stress. After walking all day in these shoes, my feet felt pain-free and well-supported. The BOOST technology in the midsole offers a little bounce with every step. Though they are technically a neutral shoe, my high arches felt well-supported on long miles, so they seem to be a good fit for all pronation types.

The weight and more minimal design of these shoes make them great for packing to travel — and it's a bonus that they're good-looking. They're also made from at least 20% recycled materials, sometimes more depending on which color you buy.

I know some people with wide feet who've found the plastic lace closures in this shoe dig into the top of their foot since that upper isn't rigid, but my feet are on the regular-to-wide side of the spectrum and I didn't find any issue with this.

Read more in my full Adidas Ultraboost Light review.

Best pull-on: OOFOS Oomy Zen

During testing, I appreciated not only how fatigue-fighting Oofos' shoes are — the support feels incredibly rejuvenating on tired feet — but also that all of their styles, from slides to sneakers, are really easy to slip on and off.

"Oofos are unlike any other sneaker I've tried. The shock-absorbent foam outsole makes for the bounciest, squishiest bottom of all. They feel like what I imagine Moon Shoes, the springy early 2000s product that was constantly featured on commercials, might feel like to wear.

The bowed shape of the footbed also puts a pleasurable pressure on the arch of your foot, which is the source of many of the shoe's exercise-recovery benefits. But even as someone who isn't running long distances each day, I love slipping these on to help my feet recover from wearing heels.

The only drawback with Oofos is that they aren't the most fashion-forward footwear. The slip on sneaker passes the function test with flying colors, but I'd love to see the same footbed on a trendier silhouette in the future." — Samantha Crozier, style editor, Insider Reviews

"I agree with Sam: these laceless shoes are pretty swagless, but they're so comfy to wear on long city walks that it's forgivable. They fit true to size with an extra wide toe box. Thanks to their seamless upper, I can pull them on and they fit as snugly as a sock. The foam footbeds have a meta-rocker design that propels you as you walk, but I don't feel wobbly when I'm at a standstill because it flexes with my foot.

If you have a really high arch and weak ankles, these are probably not the walking shoes for you. They engage your heels more than anywhere else. Still, I find them really bouncy and light, and noticed my feet don't get fatigued as easily, even after miles of stepping on concrete." — Gabrielle Chase, senior associate style editor, Insider Reviews

How I tested walking shoes

I'm a fitness gear expert covering fitness topics ranging from orthopedic footwear to running watches. Over the past two years, I've personally tested over 30 pairs of sneakers and 10 walking sandals. Each pair I wore on at least three walks (though many have seen dozens more) on surfaces like sidewalk asphalt, concrete flooring, dirt and gravel trails, and airport corridors. To test shoes with technical elements like waterproofing or all-terrain lugs, I walked in rainy conditions near my home in Colorado.

I also consulted a board-certified podiatrist, Elizabeth Daughtry, DPM, FACFAS from the Foot & Ankle Specialists of the Mid-Atlantic, for tips on what to look for. Ultimately, the criteria for choosing the best walking shoes for women differs across members of our team.

I myself have semi-wide feet and high arches, but cumulatively, our team has tested a total 40 pairs made for narrow, wide, flat, and petite sizes.

Initial comfort and shape: The right fit for your foot shouldn't feel like it's rubbing anywhere or like it's tight in the toe box or on the top of your foot (called foot volume), and your heel should feel snug and secure in the back. I chose walking shoes that were comfortable right out of the box. Most of our team members have medium to wide width feet, with medium to high arches. The best shape for any foot will have a wide base and roomy toe box to let your toes spread naturally. This shoe shape will help distribute your body weight more evenly and avoid any muscle strains in your foot.

Arch support: Women with higher arches usually need more support in their shoes or more stability in the midfoot area to prevent excessive flattening of the foot and arch, Daughtry says. I myself have high arches, so I walked at least three miles in each shoe to gauge for achiness.

Stability: Cushioning level and heel counter stiffness were easy to feel early on: More cushioning gives a plush, walking-on-air feel, while a firm heel counter adds feels more rigid under the back of your foot, and provides ankle support over time.

Weight: I tested shoes that weigh between 8 and 13 ounces, which is the ideal range to feel light on long walks and slow foot fatigue. Two of the lightest pairs we recommend are the Merrell Morphlites and On Cloudtilts.

Durability: Some insoles can flatten after consistent pounding on pavement, which weakens the shoes' shock absorption. After testing the shoes on a long walk, I took out the insoles and held them at eye level to see whether they looked deflated in any areas.

Traction: For the majority of the shoes, I walked in each pair for at least 2 miles, both outdoors on pavement and indoors. I used a treadmill or my walking desk. I felt for whether their tread felt slippery on smooth surfaces, versus how well it grips onto rough terrain. For outdoor-oriented shoes (trail runners, winter walking shoes), I tested the traction by wearing the shoes on icy, snowy, and loose trail surfaces in wet and muddy weather, and gauged which shoes offered the most secure footing.

Breathability: I chose walking shoes with wide toe boxes and mesh uppers that allowed for more airflow, an attribute that's pretty clear after just one mile. If my feet felt swollen and hot, or the shoes were damp with sweat after my walk, I nixed them from this list. Leather shoes like dress sneakers were the only exceptions.

Learn more about how the Reviews team tests shoes at BI.

Our top sneaker picks compared

Shoe	Weight (oz per shoe)	Cushion	Stability	Price	Best for
Asics Gel-Nimbus 28	9.8	High	Neutral	$$	Comfort and support
Ryka Devotion X	8.7	Moderate	Neutral	$	Under $100
Adidas Ultraboost Light	9.2	Moderate	Neutral	$	Breathability
On Cloudtilt	8	Moderate	Neutral	$$	Better balance
Hoka Gaviota	8.6	High	Stability	$$	Wide feet, high arches
Puma Magnify Nitro	8	High	Neutral	$$	High cushion
Hoka Transport GTX	10	Moderate	Neutral	$$	Rain and mud
Merrell Morphlite	7.6	Low/Mod	Neutral	$	Uneven terrain
Reef Neptune	11.7	Low	Neutral	$	Smart packing
OOFOS Oomy Zen	12.5	Moderate	Neutral	$$	Plantar fasciitis
Frankie4 Nat III	10.6	Low	Neutral	$$$	Office wear

How to pick the best walking shoes for women

What to avoid

Even though most of us walk in whatever sneakers we already have on hand, there are certain categories of shoes that, according to Daughtry, you shouldn't wear walking more than 10 minutes:

• Fashion sneakers: Most stylish sneakers are designed with a more narrow toe box and low to no cushioning or support for better aesthetics. But the trade-off is zero shock absorption and more strain on your foot when walking.
• Certain running sneakers: Rocker-design running shoes tend to have higher heel drops. This design gives better propulsion and bounce when running but disrupts the natural stride while walking. Daughtry explains that a good walking shoe is less bouncy and gives a more natural cadence to your stride during the gait cycle.

What to look for

• Cushioning: This is the most important aspect of a walking shoe, Daughtry says. Sufficient cushioning will absorb the shock from repetitive pounding that our feet undergo with every step. If you know you have tender heels, see our guide to the best shoes for plantar fasciitis.
• Arch support: If you have high arches, you'll want a shoe with extra arch support to maintain ideal biomechanics (and avoid achy arches at the end of the day). Technically, you can add inserts to any shoe, but that can change the way the shoe fits overall, so often it's best to just opt for a shoe with great arch support from the start.
• Your gait: The way your feet strike the ground, or "pronate," influences where you need extra support in a shoe, as the goal is to have even pressure across your foot with each step. See our FAQ section below to learn what your shoes' wear pattern means.
• Support and stability: All shoes should feel supportive, but this is relative to whether you overpronate or remain neutral. If you overpronate, look for a stability shoe versus a neutral shoe.
• Tread: Most people are wearing a walking shoe on pavement, so any level traction will work. If you're looking for a walking shoe to wear on trails, look for one with more tread.
• Ventilation: A mesh upper is great in a walking shoe, as it offers more space and breathability compared to rigid leather.

Meet the experts behind this guide

Rachael Schultz is a fitness gear expert and style contributor based in Colorado, and formerly the Health Editor at Insider Reviews. Based on her conversations with medical professionals and several months personally testing over 30 pairs of the internet's top-rated sneakers, she knows how to spot a well-designed walking shoe. With a stylish approach to comfort, she focused on brands that specialize in sensible footwear and determined how well their designs fit into the modern woman's wardrobe.

Dr. Elizabeth Daughtry is a podiatrist board-certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery in Foot Surgery, recognized for her expertise in foot-friendly footwear and foot health.

Dr. Priya Parthasarathy is a Maryland-based podiatric surgeon with Foot Ankle Specialists of the Mid-Atlantic and a spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association.

FAQs on the best walking shoes for women

What should women look for in walking shoes?

Women should look for walking shoes with plenty of cushioning to absorb shock, solid arch support, and a supportive-yet-breathable design that matches their gait and the surface they'll be walking on. A secure, stable, and breathable fit are the most important factors to minimizing fatigue.

Which walking shoes are best for flat feet?

According to our podiatrists, people with flat feet need more support through the arch and possibly some form of motion control to prevent pronation. We recommend the Hoka Gaviota 6s, which have great arch support and stabilizing H-Frame technology to keep your foot from rolling inward as you walk.

What's the difference between neutral and stability walking shoes?

A stability shoe is built with technology inside the shoe (usually strategic padding) to keep your foot from rolling inward, or overpronating, as you walk or run, which can help minimize injuries and aches (you can find more shoes for overpronators in our guide to the best shoes for standing all day, where we tested sneakers such as the popular Brooks Ghost 17s). A neutral walking shoe doesn't interfere with the way your foot lands and works better for those with neutral gaits.

Are running shoes good for walking?

It depends on the running shoe — you shouldn't walk in shoes with a rocker design and high heel drop, because these mechanisms propel your feet forward in an unnatural way. A good walking shoe should be less bouncy and follow your natural foot-strike cadence when walking, Daughtry says.

What is supination vs. overpronation?

Pronation is a bio-mechanical term that describes the way your feet roll and distribute impact as you step. There are three ways your foot may strike the ground: overpronation, supination, and neutral. Overpronators step with their heels rolled inward at a severe angle (putting them at a higher risk for twisted joints). Those who supinate, or underpronate, step without any significant inward roll of the heels, putting more pressure on the legs. People with neutral gaits hit the ground at a flat angle and should wear a stabilizing shoe that supports the midsoles.

How do I know if I supinate or overpronate?

Take a look at the soles of your most-worn shoes. Wherever they're the most faded, that's where you want extra cushioning in a walking shoe. If you overpronate, you'll see the tread is mostly rubbed off around the inner heels and edges. If you supinate, they'll be most worn down around the outer heels and perimeter of the soles. Neutral pronation shows the most wear at the ball of the foot and center of the heels.

Are Hokas worth it?

Yes, and our guide to the best Hokas lists all the top styles from the last decade that we've found worth the spend. For example, the best Hokas for those who need extra stability are the Gaviota 6s. They're especially comfortable for overpronators with wide feet. Another top recommendation from this guide is the ultra-cushioned Bondi 9s, which also come in wide sizes and work great for people who spend most of their day on their feet.

Apple's latest Pro iPhones have officially landed, and the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max come with plenty of upgrades to tempt anyone who's been holding onto an older model. This year's highlights include the new A20 Pro chip, a revamped cooling system, and a 48MP main camera with variable aperture. If you're ready to order, I've broken down how to buy the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max below.

There are plenty of smaller upgrades packed in as well, from new camera controls and video tools to deeper Apple Intelligence features in iOS 27. The phones come in black, silver, glacier (light blue), and a new burgundy finish, with storage options up to 2TB. Prices start at $1,199 for the iPhone 18 Pro and $1,299 for the iPhone 18 Pro Max.

If you're already sold, the phones are already available for shoppers to buy now. Be sure to check out our guide to the latest on the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 for details on how to get the smartwatches.

How to buy the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max

To get your order locked in, simply head to your carrier of choice (like Verizon or T-Mobile), specify your preferred color and storage size, then check out.

By opting for trade-in or a new carrier line, you can also score some discounts on your order.

What's new in the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max?

As someone who has been covering new smartphone releases for years, I can say that recent releases have been somewhat boring. The same cannot be said for the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. Here's a quick list of what's new with the latest iPhones:

• 48MP Fusion Main camera: For the first time, the iPhone camera offers aperture control for more control over your photo's depth and lighting. This, plus a new sensor for better image quality, means crisper details and better low-light pictures.
• Additions to the photo editing suite: The Apple collection of Photographic Styles has been upgraded, giving the ability to tweak texture and grain controls. Cinematic effects can also be applied to videos shot at up to 60 frames per second, and Time-lapse mode can now record in 4K and Dolby Vision HDR.
• Apple Reference Image: Thanks to the camera's new sensor, photos taken with the iPhone 18 Pro can now be authenticated when captured in the new Reference mode. In short, the pictures you take will be verifiably real, and not AI.
• Dynamic Island upgrades: Redesigned to fit more information than before, the Dynamic Island (or the black oval that lives around the selfie camera) can now track up to three Live Activities simultaneously.
• A20 Pro-powered performance: Now with 50% more memory bandwidth and 40% faster GPU design than its predecessor, the A20 chip in the iPhone 18 Pro enables faster graphics rendering, more powerful on-device AI processing, and more.
• New cooling and interior architecture: Aimed at eliminating overheating issues of past iPhones, the iPhone 18 Pro features a redesigned vapor chamber and reorganized interior hardware to keep key components cooler for faster performance.
• Unprecedented battery life and charging: eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pros can now deliver up to 36 hours of video playback, while the Pro Max can reach up to 45 hours. Not only that, but the Pro can charge to 50% battery in 15 minutes when plugged in, or in 30 minutes when charging wirelessly.

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max specs

The iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max largely share a lot of the same features in terms of camera upgrades, performance, and display quality. They differ in size and a few other factors:

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max colors

As is tradition with every new iPhone generation, Apple's latest round of smartphones comes in a new range of colors. Quite a departure from last year's vibrant orange, this year's iPhone 18 Pro is available in:

• Burgundy
• Glacier
• Silver
• Black

When did the iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max release?

The iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max were released on September 18, a week after preorders opened.

When will the iPhone Duo release?

It was announced in the same keynote, but Apple will not be releasing the iPhone Duo for some time. The new foldable will be up for preorder starting October 16, with phones shipping as soon as October 23.

See also: Best iPhone 18 Pro cases | Best iPhone 18 Pro Max cases | iPhone 18 screen protectors | Verizon iPhone 18 bundle deals | Best iPhone in 2026

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The Cougars take on the Red Raiders in Friday night's most exciting college football match-up. We've compiled everything you need to know about how to watch Houston vs. Texas Tech, no matter where you are in the world.

If you don't want to scroll any further, you can live stream Houston vs. Texas Tech on a streaming service like Fubo in the US and on DAZN in the UK and other international markets. You can access your streaming options from anywhere with a VPN, like NordVPN.

What channel is Houston vs. Texas Tech on?

The Houston vs. Texas Tech game airs on FOX in the US. The game is scheduled to kick off on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.

How to watch Houston vs. Texas Tech in the US

Cord-cutters can watch the Houston vs. Texas Tech game live through a variety of streaming services. Fubo carries FOX and other popular channels in several plans. Fubo Sports + News, when available, costs $65 a month and includes around 30 channels. Fubo Pro costs $89 a month and carries 200+ channels. Fubo plans unlock access to ESPN Unlimited and come with a free trial for new customers, along with other introductory savings.

YouTube TV is another FOX-friendly live TV streaming service. The platform carries FOX and 100+ other channels in its Main plan. The Main plan typically costs $83 a month, but a limited-time deal will knock your first five months down to $68 a month. FOX is also available in YouTube TV's Sports plan, which carries 30+ channels and costs $65 a month. A limited-time deal will reduce the first six months to just $45 a month. These YouTube TV plans also come with free trials for new users and unlock ESPN Unlimited live streams.

FOX's direct streaming counterpart is FOX One, which costs $20 a month. You can sign up directly through the FOX website, as a Prime Video add-on, or through a bundle with ESPN Unlimited.

How to watch Houston vs. Texas Tech in the UK and other countries

DAZN carries live streams of tons of college football games each week in the UK and other countries. It's always a good idea to double-check that your desired game is available before signing up. This week, Houston vs. Texas Tech will definitely live stream on DAZN in the UK. DAZN NCAA College Sports subscription prices vary from region to region.

How to watch Houston vs. Texas Tech from anywhere

College football fans don't need to worry about missing out on any of the action just because they're traveling abroad. They can keep up with their usual websites and apps with the help of a VPN, or virtual private network. VPNs are handy tech tools that let people temporarily alter their virtual locations. A VPN is also an instant way to boost cybersecurity. The services we've highlighted require country-specific methods of payment, so this option will work best for those who are just traveling away from home.

NordVPN is our top recommendation. It's one of the best VPNs on the market, thanks to its fast speeds and server variety. Plus, it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

How are the teams doing?

The No. 22 Houston Cougars won their first two games of the regular season. They beat Oregon State 33-20 and Southern U 77-6. The No. 13 Texas Tech Red Raiders have found similar success so far this season, with two wins under their belts. Texas Tech also beat Oregon State, with a 35-24 final score. Before that, the Red Raiders beat ACU 33-10.

Who won the last Houston vs. Texas Tech game?

As staples of the Big 12, Houston and Texas Tech have faced each other multiple times. The teams last played each other in an October 2025 game, which Texas Tech won 35-11.

Where does the game take place?

Texas Tech will have the home-field advantage at today's game. The game will be held at the Galaxy Stadium in Lubbock, Texas. The stadium was renamed in 2026 and was previously called the Jones AT&T Stadium.

Who is favored to win Houston vs. Texas Tech?

Texas Tech is the favorite to win today's game. On DraftKings (at the time of writing), Texas Tech is -325 on the moneyline, while Houston is the +260 underdog.

• See also: Where to watch Ohio State Buckeyes college football | How to watch Texas Longhorns college football | Where to watch Alabama Crimson Tide college football

Note: The use of VPNs is illegal in certain countries and using VPNs to access region-locked streaming content might constitute a breach of the terms of use for certain services. Business Insider does not endorse or condone the illegal use of VPNs.

• POLITICO reports airlines are cautious but optimistic about an AI tool for airspace management.
• The tool aims to reduce flight delays by predicting and managing airspace congestion.
• Confusion over the FAA's vague description of its much-hyped plans eased in the past week.

Airline industry officials have finally stopped panicking about the Federal Aviation Administration's soon-to-launch artificial intelligence tool for managing flights and easing congestion in air travel, multiple people familiar with the situation told POLITICO.

Weeks of industry confusion over the FAA's vague description of its much-hyped plans eased in the past week when agency officials told them they would use the tool in just a limited way at first, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations.

The tool, dubbed Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories, or SMART, is set to debut in coming days, offering advice to air traffic controllers managing flights for the three airports that serve the nation's capital, according to two industry officials. The hope, according to FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, is that after a 90-day testing period the tool will be rolled out on a wider scale.

Before the FAA eased the airlines officials' concerns, one of their biggest worries was how extensively the AI would be integrated into day-to-day air traffic management, one of the industry people said. "I think that's what people were freaking out about," the person said.

Instead, according to another industry official, the SMART tool is not expected to create any new procedures for air traffic controllers or for the airlines. It will simply generate alternative route information that is passed through the FAA's existing systems and procedures.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has touted the tool, aimed at easing congestion in the skies. But three airline officials said the industry was bewildered for weeks about how the system would work, and that a sustained series of meetings with the FAA had left them with more questions than answers.

"We've been requesting and … talking to [FAA] and saying, 'Let's narrow the scope of this. Start, crawl, walk, run.' And I think ultimately that's what they decided to do," said one airline industry official, who like the others, was granted anonymity to discuss internal conversations with the agency.

In a statement, FAA spokesperson Hannah Walden said the agency is "moving at record speed to modernize America's National Airspace System, and SMART will fundamentally change the way we manage our skies."

"Instead of waiting for congestion or weather to cause delays, SMART helps us see problems coming and act before they do," she said.

Walden added that airlines have been "at the table" since the very beginning and FAA is "welcoming their feedback as we deploy SMART, which is why we're taking a slow, methodical approach to the rollout."

With Duffy and Bedford leading the charge, the FAA has fully embraced artificial intelligence to help tackle some of its persistent problems following a series of high-profile aviation disasters, highlighted by the deadly midair collision over Washington in January 2025 and a fatal March runway crash at LaGuardia Airport in New York. It's part of a wider overhaul aimed at bolstering the nation's rickety air traffic control system.

During the discussions, some airline officials fretted that the AI tool could inject chaos by prompting increases in flight cancellations and reschedulings in the name of preventing aviation bottlenecks and avoiding weather-related delays. That could become a costly headache for both airlines and passengers, though nobody involved alleged that the system would compromise safety.

As confusion continued to reign across the airline industry, the FAA convened several meetings last week, including one on Sept. 10 between the major airline CEOs and Bedford. It helped ease many of the airlines' concerns, two of the airline officials said. According to a fourth airline official, granted anonymity to discuss the executives' meeting, Bedford presented the FAA's vision and strategy, and the CEOs' reception to the plan was "exceptionally favorable and supportive of the effort."

The CEOs of United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines were among those who attended the meeting, several airline and one government officials said.

Duffy hinted this week at the modest ambitions for the tool, which is part of a larger 12-year, $875 million contract effort to modernize air traffic control.

"We have to do a slow roll into the airspace," he said at a Tuesday talk at the National Artificial Intelligence Association in Washington. And in a recent interview with POLITICO, Bedford said the rollout's roughly 90-day first phase will focus mainly on testing the system and building airlines' confidence in its predictions.

How SMART?

Bedford said Tuesday that the FAA will work with airlines to examine specific flights, compare flight paths and assess how accurately SMART's predictive analytics perform.

SMART will focus, in part, on forecasting where weather systems are headed rather than simply assessing where they are in real time, Bedford said.

"That is a big difference between whether we keep airspace closed too long," he said. "So how can we make more space available safely, based on better data and better decision-making tools."

He said the 90-day testing window will give the agency time to determine whether the system performs as expected and whether airlines can trust its recommendations.

While the industry has generally acknowledged the potential of predictive analytics to help manage disruptions, airline industry officials who spoke to POLITICO in recent weeks have also cast doubt on the notion that the technology is ready to immediately transform flight operations. That raises questions about how much the system can actually accomplish at launch and how it will fit into existing airline and FAA processes.

The technology is being developed by Air Space Intelligence, a Boston-based software company that won the contract in June. The company did not respond to a request for comment Thursday, but previously referred questions back to DOT and FAA.

To their understanding, the official who described FAA's effort to now "narrow the scope" said that the new tool won't create any new procedures for air traffic controllers. SMART will identify alternative routes, such as in cases of bad weather, and send those recommendations from the "SMART center" — headquartered at the Transportation Department — to an established command center through the FAA's existing processes.

From there, the information will reach controllers though systems they already use to receive routing information. The key difference is that SMART will generate additional routing options. That could be particularly useful when traffic is backed up at airports, giving the FAA more options to move aircraft out of those bottlenecks and reduce disruptions for passengers, the official said.

That the system will not be integrated in day-to-day air traffic management is "a big relief," added another airline industry official, who said airlines were approaching SMART with some trepidation over how the system would integrate with their own scheduling and operations systems.

Down to the wire

In the weeks leading up to the rollout, however, these airline officials familiar with the project weren't completely convinced the FAA had all the details figured out.

The industry officials said at the time they were asking questions such as whether the air traffic controllers themselves would use the AI, whether the software's developer would be in charge of feeding routing information to both airlines and controllers, and whether airlines needed to train their employees to understand the technology. They also weren't clear if the airlines could opt out of using the AI system.

Even now, the three airline industry officials said the FAA has yet to answer some of those questions in granular detail, despite the airlines holding almost weekly group meetings with the agency to discuss implementation over the course of three months.

Bedford's in-person meeting with airline CEOs on Sept. 10 helped quell some of the industry's concerns about the rollout and offered additional clarity on how the FAA envisions the technology working.

'When done thoughtfully…'

Top airline officials have publicly expressed measured optimism about the initiative.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement on Sept. 9 that SMART could significantly reduce delays and cancellations during bad weather.

"If it works as we think it can, it will do more to reduce delays and cancellations than anything that's happened in decades," he said.

Similarly, American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said in a statement that he applauded Duffy and Bedford "for their efforts to leverage technology to make the airspace more efficient and safer." He said the airline is working closely with the FAA on SMART, "which when done thoughtfully and methodically will offer enhanced benefit to the traveling public."

Airlines for America, the trade group for the many of the major carriers in the airline industry, similarly touted SMART as a potentially transformative tool, saying its ability to strengthen safety, increase capacity and improve efficiency could reduce delays and cancellations nationwide.

"We're just in the initial stages, but it's one of the most exciting and bold initiatives taken on by the FAA in decades," a statement from the group said.

In a statement, Delta Air Lines also said it "fully supports" the FAA's modernization effort, including the SMART program, and said it appreciated the FAA's "collaborative approach," adding that the airline is "actively engaged in the development process."

This story originally appeared on POLITICO and is courtesy of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which harnesses the resources of the company's newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces, and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet, and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms.

• President Donald Trump said he was banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House.
• He said the ban was "effective immediately," but did not provide further details.
• This "ban" follows earlier restrictions on reporters covering the Pentagon.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he was banning MS NOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House for their reporting on him, a sharp escalation in his antagonism toward the press.

"Media Outlets shouldn't be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they're covering the President of the United States," Trump said on Truth Social, his social media platform.

Trump said the ban was "effective immediately," but did not provide any further details. "Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow," Trump said.

CNN said in an article published Friday that their reporters "remained seated in their White House workspace near the briefing room as of this writing."

"CNN stands fully behind our White House team and their fair and accurate reporting. We have a right under the U.S. Constitution to do that reporting without hindrance or interference from the government," a CNN spokesperson said in a statement.

The spokesperson said the ban, if enforced, "would be an illegal assault on that fundamental and constitutionally-protected right."

Speaking in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said he decided to ban the outlets because of "cumulative stories."

"They purposely write negative news," Trump said of the outlets. "They do that because they want to try and diminish the Republicans."

Trump called it "a simple ban."

"I don't want them in my office," he said.

Friday's ban follows earlier restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on reporters.

Last year, the White House barred journalists from the Associated Press from the Oval Office, Air Force One, and press pool events after the outlet didn't change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

In another shake-up last year, several legacy outlets lost their workspaces in the Pentagon.

These legacy outlets, including NBC News and The New York Times, were replaced by other independent journalists and influencers generally considered more aligned with the president.

In a memo at the time, the Defense Department framed the change as a "media rotation program."

MS NOW and Politico did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent on Friday.

Politico and Business Insider are both owned by Axel Springer SE.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

• GM is now making housing components for Patriot missile interceptors.
• It delivered the first batch just 22 days after signing a contract with Lockheed Martin.
• GM expects its defense subsidiary to generate nearly $700 million this year.

General Motors is adding missile parts to its manufacturing résumé.

On Thursday, major defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced that GM Defense — the automaker's military subsidiary — had delivered housing components for the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor, a missile used by the Patriot air-defense system. The companies entered into a formal contract on August 6, and the first batch of components was delivered to Lockheed 22 days later, the companies said.

Tim Cahill, Lockheed Martin's president of missiles and fire control, called it an "extraordinary 22‑day turnaround."

Demand for Patriot interceptors, particularly the advanced PAC-3 MSE built for complex threats, has surged as the wars in Ukraine and against Iran strain US and allied inventories.

Over recent months, media reports and think tank assessments have raised concerns about US munition stockpiles, including Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and Patriot interceptors.

The Pentagon and the White House have dismissed concerns about the status of the US stockpiles. A newly released Department of Defense Inspector General report said that "munitions expenditure in [Operation Epic Fury] has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply." It did not specify which kinds of munitions.

The US defense industry is also expanding munition production in partnership with the Pentagon.

GM isn't building the entire interceptor. Still, its component production marks a notable expansion for a defense business better known for military vehicles.

During a July earnings call, Mary Barra, the automaker's CEO, called defense a "growth business" and said the company was targeting nearly $700 million in defense revenue this year.

"GM Defense is another compelling growth opportunity that enables us to deliver defense solutions faster with better economics for the US taxpayer," she said.

GM isn't alone. Ford CEO Jim Farley also said during a July earnings call that his company is "continuing to discuss additional Defense-related projects with the US government."

Lockheed Martin and GM said they plan to apply their partnership to other munitions programs and future defense systems. Lockheed said it is investing between $8 billion and $9 billion to scale production of weapons, including the PAC-3 MSE. It expects its munitions production and warehouse space to grow by nearly 50%.

"We're proud to support production of this country's critical defense capabilities," Stephen duMont, the president and CEO of GM Defense, wrote in a press release. "We look forward to putting these strengths to work in support of our nation's security and the people who protect it."

The iPhone screen protector has existed for just about as long as the iPhone itself, and for good reason. With so few buttons, the display is one of the device's only points of interaction. A broken screen means bad visuals, or worse, a useless phone altogether. Now, generations later, the glass is more durable, but shielding it remains a necessity for most of us. That's why I've gathered the best iPhone 18 Pro Max screen protectors to keep your new phone safe.

The amount of options you have to choose from is overwhelming — and not all are going to be worth your time or money. Zagg is a beloved name in the game, known for making some of the most protective tempered glass shields you can find, backed by lifetime replacements. Alternatively, shoppers on a tight budget can pick up AmFilm's multipacks, which offer surprisingly great defense despite the low price.

The best iPhone 18 Pro Max screen protectors

• Browse more screen protectors at Amazon | Zagg

What is the best iPhone 18 Pro Max screen protector?

The best screen protector for your iPhone 18 Pro Max depends on what you're prioritizing as a user. Now, if you asked my old iPhone 15, "Which screen protector saved you from the hard metal jaws of a motorized reclining couch?" the answer would be Magic John's. (The screen protector was crushed to dust, but the glass display itself was without a scratch!)

That said, based on my years of testing, I highly recommend AmFilm's budget-friendly packs if you want something cheap. It's more than enough for everyday use, so long as you don't plan to drop your phone into the crack of a motorized couch. They're also thinner than pricier options, which means they catch less on your belongings and accumulate less gunk at the edges.

Do iPhone 17 Pro Max screen protectors fit the iPhone 18 Pro Max?

Since the iPhone 18 Pro Max has the same screen size as its predecessor, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, many screen protectors are compatible with both models. As always, though, I recommend looking closely at your product's specifications — some are specific to a single generation, meaning the protection will be lackluster if used on an incompatible device.

What case should I get?

A case is always a wise investment, especially because covering your screen doesn't necessarily eliminate the risk of shattered glass. After all, a hard hit on the corner of your iPhone 18 Pro Max or force applied to the center of the device can also deal major damage to your screen, regardless.

There are already a ton of options, and I've highlighted the best iPhone 18 Pro Max cases from our tried-and-true brand favorites in my guide. If you need a quick answer, I recommend the Spigen Ultra Hybrid as a good balance of protection and price, or the Mkeke Techwoven line for something more stylish yet affordable.

See more: iPhone 18 screen protectors | iPhone 18 Pro Max cases | iPhone 18 Pro cases

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Apple just announced its latest slate of devices, and the Apple Watch Series 12 brings major updates to the wearable. The new device is officially available to buy now.

• See all colors and sizes at Amazon

The biggest updates for Apple watches have less to do with cosmetic redesign and instead focus on Apple Intelligence and Health + Fitness features (although there's a new ceramic option and a flashy assortment of fresh bands). The Apple Watch Series 12 includes a new Health Sensing System and an S11 chip, making it the most reliable and health-conscious edition of the Apple Watch Series to date. The enhancements will be bolstered by the forthcoming Audio Intelligence features and a redesigned Health app. The Series 12 is an upgrade on last year's Series 11, which ranks among the best fitness trackers we've tested and earned the top honor as the best Apple Watch overall.

We've highlighted everything you need to know about the new Apple Watch Series 12, including pricing, colors, new features, and trade-in value for other devices. You can also find the latest deals and bundle offers available now.

How to preorder the Apple Watch Series 12

The Apple Watch Series 12 is available in 42mm and 46mm case sizes, which are priced starting at $399 and $449, respectively. After their announcement, preorders were open for a week before the smartwatches were officially released. Now, you can order your own device on Amazon, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

What's the trade-in value for my current device?

Apple allows people to trade in eligible devices, including prior generations of Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even certain Android devices. You can explore a full list of eligible devices and models on Apple's website, but we've highlighted the maximum estimated trade-in values for select items below:

What's new in the Apple Watch Series 12?

The biggest improvements in the Apple Watch Series 12 are mainly internal, and some of the major features won't come until later in the year. Our team has yet to personally test out the Apple Watch Series 12, and these key features and figures were reported by Apple. Some of these features might also be made available in other versions of the Apple Watch, including previous generations and the Ultra 4.

1. Longer outdoor workout battery life: While the 24-hour overall battery life remains the same as the previous generation, the outdoor workout battery life has been upgraded to up to 10 hours.
2. Faster charging: The watch now charges faster, and it's easier to top off the battery. The battery can get up to 12 hours of extra life after just 15 minutes (up from 8 hours in 15 minutes). Like the Series 11, it can get from 0-80% in about 30 minutes.
3. Enhanced heart rate sensing: The new Health Sensing System and S11 chip offer improved accuracy in heart rate sensing. The larger, green LEDs on the optical heart sensor will measure heart rate every five seconds, providing valuable high-frequency background heart rate tracking and better readings during workouts. HRV (Heart Rate Variability) is now measured up to 24 times more often, and users can monitor both daytime and overnight metrics.
4. Better step counting: The redesigned pedometer model and S11 chip will allow for better step counting, making indoor walk and run tracking more accurate (an often tricky feat for fitness trackers on a treadmill).
5. Readiness: The watch will deliver a Readiness score on a scale of 0 to 10, based on recent activity, training load, sleep, and vitals. The Readiness feature will offer a recommendation: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. It can also update throughout the day and incorporate new information.
6. Redesigned Health app (forthcoming): The Apple Watch will work in tandem with Apple's redesigned Health app to help users get a clearer picture of their health, including a new Health Age feature in the Longevity tab.
7. Audio Intelligence (forthcoming): Audio Intelligence offers Sound Recognition and Shazam options, and special features like Live Rewind and Siri Recap will launch in beta later this year.

• See also: Buy the Apple Watch Ultra 4 | iPhone 18 Pro/Pro Max offers | Verizon's iPhone 18 deal

• I grew up in the US, and my husband grew up in the UK — we've noticed many differences.
• In the UK, eggs are not refrigerated, and ordering a coffee won't get you what you'd get in the US.
• Things normal to me in the US aren't in the UK, like celebrating Halloween or tipping bartenders.

I was born and raised on the East Coast of the United States. After moving to Scotland in the fall of 2017, I met my husband and settled into life in the United Kingdom as an expat for several years. 

Growing up in separate cultures means we've had to navigate a slew of differences in our everyday habits, expectations, and worldviews. 

Here are a few of the most surprising differences between life in the US and the UK, as experienced by my partner and me:

My partner thinks it's strange that servers take your credit card away in some US restaurants.

The first time my husband and I ate together at an American restaurant, he was alarmed when the server took his credit card away to swipe it after the meal. 

He was also totally perplexed by the need to sign a receipt, which apparently isn't the norm in the UK. 

In UK restaurants, the server typically brings the entire card machine to your table. While they supervise, you insert your card and follow any on-screen prompts before grabbing your receipt and leaving. 

Though my husband thinks that taking a customer's card away after a meal is a security hazard — someone could copy your card details out of view — I prefer the convenience of simply handing my card to a server and letting them take care of the rest. 

Fall activities, like hayrides and "leaf-peeping," are completely alien to my Scottish husband.

Growing up in New England, where October is essentially a monthlong celebration of pumpkin spice and apple-picking, I was startled to find that the rest of the world doesn't worship autumn in quite the same way. 

My husband is completely baffled by the idea of actively making plans to admire fall foliage. He could not stop laughing when I first explained that some people in the US go for walks or drives just to look at the changing leaves.

When I mentioned that this is often called "leaf-peeping," he nearly collapsed. 

He's also confused by the concept of going on hayrides ("Where do you even go? Why would you pay for that?"), driving to a farm to pick pumpkins, or getting lost in a corn maze. 

Halloween is much more of a big deal in the US than it is in the UK.

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and it's a huge deal in the US. I love the decorations, the horror-movie marathons, and the seasonal treats.

And so, I was gutted to find that the sum total of Halloween spirit in our Scottish city amounted to a flyer advertising a children's spooky story hour at the library and a lone bin of sad-looking pumpkins at the supermarket. 

My husband finds it strange to tip bartenders and buy your own drinks at a bar.

The UK is famed for its "pub culture," or the socializing and social drinking that happens in its many cozy bars and pubs. 

Although buying a round of drinks is an optional act of generosity in the US, it's standard practice in the UK. Members of a group will rotate who is responsible for each round, and skipping your turn is seen as rude. 

Though I can definitely see the advantages of electing a single member of your group to fight their way through a crowded bar, I find the US method of independent drink-buying means that you can imbibe at your own pace and don't have to keep tabs on your friends' drinks. 

Speaking of tabs, it's somewhat unusual to open one at a UK bar unless you're a true regular. Tipping is also not standard, though it's certainly appreciated. 

Everyday patriotism is a little weird to my husband.

One big thing I've learned from living abroad and being married to someone who didn't grow up in the US is that overt, casual patriotism is a very American thing.

Most people in the US probably wouldn't bat an eyelash if you flew an American flag outside your home or showed up for a lunch date in a red, white, and blue baseball cap.

Plus, popular music in the US often features lyrics that proclaim pride in being American, and many cars are plastered with patriotic bumper stickers. 

Patriotism is different in the UK, at least in the more urban areas where I've lived. In my experience, donning a patriotic T-shirt as everyday wear or flying a Scottish flag on your front lawn would be unusual.

You might wave a Scottish flag at a rugby game, but my partner and I have noticed that people in the UK aren't as fixated on "doing" patriotism as many Americans are. 

Having electrical outlets or light switches in a bathroom terrifies my partner.

In the US, blow-drying your hair or charging your electric toothbrush in the bathroom is no big deal. 

But in the UK, these feel like rare occurrences. For safety reasons, you're not allowed to have power sockets in your bathroom unless they're a certain distance away from the bathtub or shower, which isn't always possible in small spaces. 

I'm sure there are safety guidelines to follow for installing electrical sockets in bathrooms in the US, too, but based on prevalence of outlets in these spaces, they seem to be far less strict.

Electric showers are normal in the UK, but I've never seen one in the US.

Despite the UK's (sort of) prohibition on power outlets or light switches in bathrooms, it's common to have an electric shower unit right in the shower stall. 

These units heat water with electricity, so you'll still have hot water in the shower even if your boiler breaks down. You push a button to turn them on, and they usually include an attached showerhead and temperature dials. 

I wasn't very familiar with these until I moved, since these are generally not allowed under US building codes.

My husband has said he feels more pressure to clean up his food wrappers at casual eateries in the US than he does in the UK.

In the US, throwing out your own trash and returning your tray when in a casual café or fast-food restaurant is normal — and leaving a mess behind for staff to clean up is usually frowned upon.

In the UK, it seems more acceptable for diners to leave their food wrappers, beverage cups, and trays at their tables for employees to collect. 

Though picking up after yourself is appreciated no matter where you are, my husband admits to feeling much more social pressure to clear his own table when we're visiting the US. 

My husband is puzzled when I ask for a "regular coffee."

I grew up with the impression that brewed drip coffee — the kind many Americans make in a machine in a kitchen or break room – is the standard, baseline type of coffee. In the US, it may be, but that's not so in the UK. 

My husband considers espresso-based coffee drinks to be the norm. Ask for "just coffee" in a UK restaurant or café, and you'll likely be asked what kind of coffee you mean.

In fact, most places I've dined in the UK don't even prepare drip or filter coffee. If you ask for black coffee, you'll usually be served an Americano, which is a shot of espresso in hot water. 

Similar beverage confusion has happened when we've been in the US, and my husband asks for "regular tea." In the UK, "tea" is common shorthand for what people in the US would call black or breakfast tea. 

Ask for tea in the UK, and you'll be asked whether you'd like milk or sugar. In the US, you'll likely be asked what kind of tea you'd prefer. 

If you order a pancake in the UK, you'll probably get what many Americans know as crêpes.

Ordering pancakes in the UK will get you a plate of what many in the US would call crêpes. These are thin, papery pancakes that can be sweet or savory, depending on how they're prepared. 

If you want a stack of fluffy, pillowy pancakes, you'll have to ask for "American" ones. In my experience, though, your chances of having them served with real maple syrup are slimmer than a crêpe. 

Interestingly, I've also seen UK grocery stores sell packages of miniature, precooked American-style pancakes that are sometimes pre-soaked with syrup. 

Eggs sold in UK grocery stores aren't usually refrigerated like they are in the US.

Even after living in the UK for years, I still found it a little unsettling to walk by shelves of unrefrigerated eggs in a grocery store on a hot summer day. 

In the US, eggs are often washed and this process removes a protective outer coating called the cuticle, which is thought to help prevent bacterial contamination. The eggs are then refrigerated to better keep them from becoming contaminated with harmful bacteria. 

Eggs in the UK are sold at room temperature because they aren't washed before sale.

I've also found that brown eggs seem much more common than white ones in the UK. My husband initially assumed US grocery stores only sold white eggs because those are the kind he always sees used in American television shows and movies. 

The UK leads the US on renewable energy, but excess plastic is everywhere in grocery stores.

For the first time since the 1800s, the UK uses more electricity from renewable sources than from fossil fuels. In contrast, less than 25% of US energy comes from renewable sources. 

Considering this environmental victory, I'm always shocked to see how much excess plastic packaging is still used in UK food stores. 

In the UK, it's not uncommon to see plastic wrapping around individual pieces of produce, such as bananas, heads of lettuce, and single apples. Plastic containers are used more frequently than cardboard boxes to hold items such as berries, plums, and peaches. 

The US certainly uses a lot of packaging, but grocery stores often have optional plastic bags for produce.

Medical care in the UK is free, although it often comes with longer wait times.

In the US, medical care is not free, though there are a few special government health plans that provide insurance support to certain groups, such as low-income families and seniors.

In most cases, those in the US have their healthcare partially covered through their employer.

Medical care in the UK is provided by the National Health Service (NHS), and it is government-funded and free for all residents.

In the UK, it's not unusual to go your entire life without paying a single medical bill. 

Though the care I received under the NHS while living in Scotland was high quality, both my husband and I have noticed that wait times for appointments and treatment under the NHS can vary wildly depending on the circumstances. 

In April 2018, I developed a non-life-threatening health issue that required an appointment with a specialist. I was placed on a waiting list and was eventually seen in January 2019, nearly a year and a half later. 

In contrast, when my husband was diagnosed with a serious health problem in 2018, he was brought in for treatment and continued care within 24 hours. 

On the bright side, in the UK, there are no stacks of insurance forms to fill out or claims to navigate.

If you're having surgery in the UK, you may need to bring your own pillow and pain medication.

When scheduling a minor operation through the NHS in Scotland, I was surprised by a nurse's instructions to bring my own pillow and ibuprofen to the hospital. This is something I'd never been asked to do in the US. 

My husband confirmed that, largely due to the taxpayer-funded nature of the NHS, patients are sometimes encouraged to bring their own basic supplies from home. 

This isn't the norm everywhere in the UK, and policies can vary by hospital, but it's not unheard of.

My partner thinks it's unusual that people need to pay for prescription medicine in the US.

In Scotland, prescription medicine has been free for everyone since 2011. England is the only part of the UK that still charges for NHS prescriptions. By law, you can be charged around £10, or about $13, per prescription in England. 

In contrast, the average American can spend well over $1,000 on retail pharmaceuticals a year, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 

In the UK, it often felt surreal to pick up a prescription for a month's supply of medication without swiping a health-insurance card or opening my wallet. To my husband, the need for US residents to pay for necessary medication is equally unusual. 

This story was originally published on August 22, 2022, and most recently updated on September 18, 2026.

Finding the right comforter — often called a duvet insert — comes down to balancing weight, fill power, and breathability. Whether you want a plush, cloud-like down layer or a low-maintenance, hypoallergenic alternative, the ideal blanket regulates your temperature without trapping heat. To cut through marketing claims, our sleep experts tested over a dozen top-rated comforters on real beds, evaluating loft, temperature regulation, and long-term durability.

Learn more about how Business Insider Reviews tests and reviews home products.

Our top picks for the best comforters

Best overall: Brooklinen All-Season Down Comforter - See at Brooklinen

Best down-alternative: Silk & Snow Down Alternative Comforter - See at Silk & Snow

Best budget: Bedsure Down Alternative Comforter - See at Amazon

Best goose down: Feathered Friends Bavarian 700 Down Comforter - See at Feathered Friends

Best lightweight: Lands' End Essential Down Comforter - See at Lands' End

Best cooling: Rest Evercool Cooling Comforter - See at Rest

Best overall

This is the perfect comforter. If you imagine the perfect comforter in your head — fluffy, airy, and soft — you're probably picturing Brooklinen's Down Comforter. It has absolutely everything we look for in a comforter, and sleeping under it is a dream.

It's luxuriously fluffy. It feels incredibly luxurious, stuffed with Downmark-certified Canadian duck down clusters and feathers in a baffle-box construction. The baffle-box design prevents the down from clumping or shifting at night, minimizing the need to re-fluff it. It's also one of the fullest comforters we've ever tested. Brooklinen doesn't skimp on the filling, and each part of the comforter feels filled to the brim. Kinsley can't resist wrapping herself like a burrito in its puffiness every night — and apologizes to her partner and pets for being a blanket hog.

Better than ever. Brooklinen redesigned its down comforter in January 2026, and we think it's even better than the previous iteration. While we won't be able to comment on longevity just yet, the original survived three years of daily use on Jaclyn's bed, so our expectations remain the same. The current design is larger, includes more loops for attaching a duvet cover (eight on king, six on queen, four on twin), and features an embroidered logo in the corner. The slightly oversized design fits snugly in a duvet cover. We've had no problems with the comforter shifting at night.

Hot sleepers should opt for the lightweight density. As a hot sleeper, Kinsley reported no overheating issues while sleeping under Brooklinen's all-season comforter. Many find that down sleeps warmer than other materials, though, so we'd opt for the lightweight option if you sleep very hot, which now has a lighter density to further differentiate it from the all-season and heavyweight options.

Make sure to use a duvet cover. Brooklinen's comforter is subject to the brand's 365-night trial and is covered by a one-year limited warranty. It's also machine-washable, but for commercial washers, so using a duvet cover will help offset how often you need to take it to the laundromat.

Read our guide to all of our favorite products from Brooklinen.

Best down-alternative

Down alternative comforters are allergy-friendly, vegan alternatives to down comforters. The Silk & Snow Down Alternative Comforter is remarkably plush and features a high-quality design with a baffle-box construction to keep the fill in place and corner loops. The hypoallergenic microfiber fill mimics the plush and insulating properties of down and is encased in a breathable cotton shell, which adds durability. Depending on the amount of warmth you require, it's available in lightweight, all-season, and winter weights, with GSM ratings of 175, 375, and 500, respectively.

The lightweight density is airy and breathable. Our tester tried the lightweight option and remarked how it offered the perfect balance of coziness and breathability. It also retained its softness and plushness remarkably well after multiple washes. The lightweight is not quite as full or lofty — a tradeoff for increased breathability — so if you want a fluffier blanket, we'd suggest the all-season option.

It's backed by a generous trial and warranty. Silk & Snow also offers a 100-night trial period and a one-year warranty. Although shorter than Brooklinen's one-year return policy, this is more than enough time to evaluate if it's a good option for you. Whether you prefer not to buy animal products or want to be more environmentally friendly, this is one of the best comforters, combining value and comfort.

Best budget

This all-season comforter costs under $50. Bedsure’s Down Alternative Comforter features recycled polyester fill inside a soft, brushed shell with a baffle-box construction to prevent shifting. We never had to refluff this comforter, but it was noticeably thinner than other comforters. It kept our temperature perfectly regulated, and we never slept hot or cold. Our tester personally doesn’t enjoy the feel of polyester bedding, so if you’re sensitive to microfiber-type materials, we recommend pairing it with a duvet cover.

It fits perfectly in the duvet cover. Putting the comforter into my duvet cover was easy, thanks to the eight loops that hold it in place. It never once shifted or came loose once tied on to the cover. Using a duvet cover makes care easier, but the comforter has easy care instructions: machine-wash it on cold and tumble-dry on low.

Various colors and sizes. Bedsure’s comforter isn’t as premium and full as other options on our list, but it’s also a fraction of the price. It’s available in colors beyond the classic white, in case the minimalist look isn’t your vibe or you don’t want to add a duvet cover. Kinsley tried the sage green and loved that it matched her bedroom’s aesthetic. Some colors are more expensive than others, though. It's also available in tons of specialty sizes, including uncommon bed sizes like Alaskan or Super King, as well as oversize options that add more coverage and overhang on the sides and foot of the bed than typical.

Best goose down

Using this comforter feels like sleeping under a cloud. The Feathered Friends Bavarian 700 Down Comforter has an almost weightless feel that's both airy and insulating. Jaclyn tested the all-season medium-weight during the unusually cold winter, and she never felt overheated or too cool. It was just the right amount of warmth. Then she left it on her bed during the warmer months, and it was still just right.

Fluffy without being bulky. While many brands use fill power (technically a measurement of loft and an indicator of insulation) to differentiate between the warmth of their down, Feathered Friends also uses fill weight. The 700 fill power remains constant across the lineup, with the difference between a Medium and an Arctic down being the fill-weight of 31 ounces and 39 ounces, respectively. Despite its high fill power, the comforter still provides loft and warmth without excess material.

It has a unique, puffy design. This comforter follows a Bavarian construction — Feathered Friends' signature — a sewn-through design that prevents shifting and has a puffier, quilted look. It's also sold in a baffle box construction if you like the uniformity of the construction or are concerned about cold spots.

It's made with ethically-sourced goose down. Every down item comes with a QR code and lot code for tracking and material analysis. The comforter is made with 90% goose down clusters, which are light and lofty, trap heat, and are resilient to compression. Compared to duck down, goose down clusters tend to be larger, softer, and better insulating, which contributes to their more luxurious feel (and price tag). I never noticed an odor, and the overall material was quiet.

Stock can fluctuate, and returns are subject to a fee. While stock fluctuates frequently, Feathered Friends can consistently restock inventory because everything is finished at its Seattle production factory. You can add your email to be notified when an item is back in stock. Interestingly, the brand compresses its blanket into the smallest box I've ever received a comforter in, and it does not come with a storage bag, which is surprising given the luxury pricing. The brand also offers returns within 30 days, but a $14.95 shipping fee will be deducted for a pre-paid label. Feathered Friends backs its products with a limited lifetime warranty; however, services like dry cleaning will void the warranty. Like most down comforters, Feathered Friends recommends washing in a commercial washer and dryer, and also offers an in-house washing service where you can ship your bedding.

Best lightweight

Hot sleepers should look for a comforter with lower fill power. The Lands' End Essential Down Comforter has a fill power of 550, which makes it less insulating than the 700 fill power of the Brooklinen or the Feathered Friends duvet. At the same time, it's cushiony and fluffy enough that you won't miss out on the luxury of sleeping with a down comforter. It also compresses well, but again, less so than a product with a high fill power.

It's stuffed with extra-clean down. Of all the down models we tested, the Lands' End has the least down smell. That's because the down and feather filling is washed a couple of times to eliminate odor and dust. The International Down and Feather Lab labeled it "hypoallergenic," making it one of the best comforters for people with allergies and sensitivities.

It's suitable for the warmer months or hot sleepers. Our testers who regularly sleep hot found this lightweight comforter to be the least stifling among the contenders. In addition to being a great year-round option for warm sleepers, it's also suitable for your summer bedding rotation.

Best cooling

Rest's comforter is cool-to-the-touch and wicks away moisture. If you want a comforter that actively cools you, the Rest Evercool Cooling Comforter can help alleviate night sweats, earning it the coveted spot at the top of our guide to the best cooling comforters. It trades the loftiness of a traditional comforter for a buttery smooth blanket that wicks away moisture. It has a silky, cool-to-the-touch nylon-and-spandex shell and is filled with a blend of natural Tencel and Sorona, an eco-friendly fiber made from renewable, plant-based materials that is breathable and doesn't trap heat.

It's meant to be used without a duvet cover. The design is also reversible and available in six different colors. It lacks duvet loops and is designed to be used on its own (likely so you can enjoy its cooling effect directly). Fortunately, it can be machine-washed and doesn't lose its shape, clump, or stretch out.

Our top picks compared

What to look for in a comforter

The best comforters can be made of down or down alternative materials such as polyester, wool, or a combination. Depending on your preferences for fill and shell materials, comforters can vary in price and weight.

Filling

Comforters are typically filled with down, synthetic materials, or wool.

• Down: Down is made from the fluffy fibers underneath the feather layer of a duck's or goose's underbelly. Goose down is considered more luxurious than duck. It's used in bedding, such as pillows and comforters, as well as in clothing and outdoor equipment like sleeping bags. It's insulating, breathable, and soft. Down comforters have the fluffiness that wool lacks. According to the American Down & Feather Council, a comforter must contain at least 75% down clusters to be labeled as a down product. The remainder of the bedding usually has feathers, and you can check the label of your comforter to find the exact percentage breakdown of down and feathers. Look for comforters with a Responsible Down Standard (RDS) certification, which ensures the sourcing, manufacturing, and final down product are ethical and humane.

• Synthetic materials and down alternatives: Synthetic materials are animal-friendly alternatives that mimic down's properties. Down alternative comforters are often marketed as hypoallergenic or vegan, making them perfect for people who suffer from allergies, whether to wool or feathers.
• Wool: Made from sheep's fur, wool is great for layering in winter or for folks who are generally cold. It's naturally thermoregulating. We've yet to test wool comforters to the same extent as down or down-alternative options, but Woolroom and Nest Bedding are two trusted brands that offer high-quality wool duvets.
• Silk: Silk-filled bedding is lightweight, breathable, and naturally hypoallergenic, making it a great option for hot sleepers and people with allergy sensitivities who want natural fibers. We're currently testing the Cozy Earth Silk Comforter and are looking for credible options to compare it with before crowning it our best pick.

Warmth Metrics (Fill Power, GSM, and Ounces)

When comparing warmth and weight across different blankets, look at the specific metric the brand advertises:

• Fill Power: Down insulation is rated by Fill Power, which measures loft and trapped air efficiency. Higher ratings (700—800+) provide maximum warmth with a weightless feel, whereas lower fill powers (500) require more fill to achieve equal insulation, resulting in a heavier blanket. The fill power in our guide ranges from 500 to 850, but some brands will offer as high as 1,000 fill power.
• GSM (Grams per Square Meter): Down alternatives like Synthetic microfibers, wool, and fleece use GSM to measure material density. Because total blanket weight varies between Twin and King sizes, GSM provides a standardized benchmark: aim for ~175 GSM for lightweight summer cooling and 375+ GSM for year-round comfort.
• Fill Weight: This is the total weight, in ounces, of the inner material. While fill power or GSM determines thermal capacity, fill weight dictates how substantial and snug the blanket feels against you.

Shell material

The main shell materials to look for are natural fabrics like cotton or bamboo, which contribute to a comforter's feel and breathability. We recommend opting for a duvet cover, which protects your comforter from your body oils and is easier to wash. Most comforters also come with corner loops or tabs to hold the duvet cover in place.

Construction

Comforter construction is important because it provides insight into your comforter's durability. Depending on the weave, it will reflect how the filling will lie inside and how warm you will be.

• Baffle-box construction: A design that separates the top and bottom layers of the comforter with a vertical fabric layer. This maintains an even fill distribution and consistent fluffiness.
• Sewn-through construction: A design that sews the top and bottom layers of the comforter directly together, with no middle layer of separation. This can lead to uneven distribution of filling and cold spots, which is why a baffle box is generally the preferred design. Also called box-stitch or Bavarian.

Care

Maintenance can vary depending on the materials your comforter is made of or filled with, so make sure you pick a comforter that is accessible to you and your needs. If it's made from a synthetic material, it's OK to wash it in the machine with a gentle detergent. If it's made from down, many have special care requirements, such as needing to be washed in a commercial machine. It's best to only air-dry or put it in the dryer on air fluff. If you are looking to clean your comforter at home, make sure you buy a comforter that isn't dry-clean-only.

How we test comforters

Our testing methodology

We spoke to four experts to learn more about the most important features of a comforter: Chelsea Nightengale, the general manager of The Restoration Hotel; Dale Fox, the founder and CEO of Foxden Hospitality; Sarah Abitbol, the CEO of bedding brand Riley; and Katie Elks, the Director of Design and Product Development at Brooklinen.

We evaluated each of our comforter contenders on the following criteria:

Performance: We slept with each comforter for at least three nights, paying attention to comfort, feel, breathability, and size. We noted whether the inside material crinkled or shifted during the night. We also noted whether the comforter had corner loops to keep a duvet in place or any other special features. When possible, we invited family members to test each product for at least one night.

Cleaning and durability: We washed and dried each product according to the brand's instructions and noted whether the filling bunched up or fell out and whether there were any loose threads. Due to the size, many comforters require commercial washing because they're too large to fit in residential machines.

Return policy: Beyond comfort and durability, we only considered products with a minimum 30-day return policy. Since bedding purchases are very personal, we prioritize having the freedom to return your comforter if it doesn't meet your expectations.

Meet the experts behind the guide

Jaclyn Turner, senior home editor: I've been reviewing bedding products, including comforters, for five years. I've overseen multiple rounds of comforter testing and tracked new releases for consideration in our guide. I'm passionate about finding and recommending sleep products for every type of sleeper.

Kinsley Searles, former associate home editor: I contributed to testing for this story. I believe that the best way to get a feel for a comforter is to integrate it into my long-term bedding rotation.

The best comforter FAQs

What's the difference between a comforter and a duvet insert?

While technically distinct, the terms "comforter" and "duvet insert" are often used interchangeably in retail and throughout this guide. Strictly speaking, a comforter is a single-piece, ready-to-use blanket featuring a finished decorative outer fabric meant to lay directly on the bed. A duvet insert is a plain white or neutral inner blanket filled with down or synthetic material, and typically includes tabs to specifically be encased inside a removable duvet cover. Duvet inserts are far easier to maintain because you regularly wash only the lightweight outer cover, whereas laundering an entire bulky comforter often requires a commercial washing machine. Duvet inserts also let you change the look of your bed without buying an entirely new blanket.

What is the easiest way to put on a duvet cover?

We recommend the "burrito" method:

1. Turn your duvet cover inside out, then lay your comforter on top of it. Fasten the duvet cover ties to the comforter's corner tabs.
2. Roll the duvet cover and comforter together like a burrito towards the duvet's zipper or buttoned opening.
3. Fold the duvet cover opening around each corner and zip or button it.
4. Unroll the burrito bundle back towards the opposite end.

For another method, start with the same steps of turning your duvet cover inside out, then lay your comforter on top of it. Fasten the duvet cover ties to the comforter's corner tabs. Reach into the opening, grab the farthest corner on either side, and pull it out of the opening. Repeat this step with the other side.

Down vs. down alternative: Which should I choose?

Your choice comes down to budget, care preferences, and allergy sensitivities:

• Choose natural down if: You want maximum loft with a weightless, cloud-like feel. Real duck or goose down offers superior breathability and thermal regulation, keeping you warm without trapping excess heat. While options like the Brooklinen All-Season Down Comforter carry a higher price tag and usually require commercial laundering, high-quality down lasts significantly longer than synthetic fill.
• Choose down alternative if: You suffer from feather allergies, prefer a vegan lifestyle, or want easy home machine washing. Modern down alternatives—like the microfiber fill in the Silk & Snow Down Alternative Comforter—mimic the softness of down at a fraction of the cost. However, synthetics tend to be slightly heavier to achieve the same warmth and lose loft faster over time.

Is goose or duck down better?

Duck and goose down are both insulating and durable, but duck down is generally cheaper and less fluffy. Because geese are larger birds than ducks, they have larger down clusters, which loft more, take up more space, and compress to a smaller size.

Goose down also doesn't smell as much as duck down.

If you want the lightest, fluffiest, and warmest comforter — and you don't mind paying a little more — look for goose down. Still, duck down is an effective option that we also love and recommend.

Is down ethical?

Down is a natural byproduct of the poultry industry, but ethical sourcing depends on independent supply chain verification. Look for bedding certified by the Responsible Down Standard (RDS), which ensures that the Five Freedoms of animal welfare (including access to fresh water and food, comfortable shelter, and freedom of movement) are upheld, prohibits live-plucking and force-feeding, and evaluates the entire process from farm to final product.

Should I size up my comforter?

Si zing up (such as buying a king/California king comforter for a queen bed) is often a smart move if you want extra coverage or a luxury hotel aesthetic. It prevents "blanket hogging" between partners, covers high-profile pillow-top mattresses and tall bed frames with a stylish drape, and creates an extra-plush, puddle-on-the-floor look. Keep your exact bed size if you have a low-profile platform bed (where excess drape will drag on the floor), if you run extremely hot and don't want excess material trapping heat, or if you plan to use an existing duvet cover that matches your current mattress dimensions.

• Actors James Van Der Beek, Hayden Panettiere, Robert Duvall, Chuck Norris, and Tim Curry died in 2026.
• So did musicians Dolly Parton and Duncan Sheik.
• Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, activist Gloria Steinem, and media mogul Ted Turner also died this year.

Below, we look back at the celebrities we lost in 2026, listed in alphabetical order.

Scott Adams, 68

Scott Adams worked at a telephone company in the 1980s. The experience inspired his beloved comic strip, "Dilbert."

By the end of the decade, the character and his satirical office humor began appearing in comic strips.

At its peak, "Dilbert" was syndicated in over 2,000 newspapers. A cartoon series debuted in 1999, running for two seasons.

Adams gained notoriety when he began writing blog posts praising Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run. In 2023, "Dilbert" was pulled from newspapers across the US following racist comments made by Adams.

Adams died on January 13 from metastatic prostate cancer.

Brad Arnold, 47

The lead singer of 3 Doors Down, Brad Arnold launched the group into fame with the 2000 rock anthem "Kryptonite," which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year.

The success led to other hits like "Loser," "Here Without You," and "When I'm Gone." Arnold's vocal range and lyrics focused on love and love lost, which fueled the group to stardom.

Arnold died on February 7 from a type of kidney cancer.

Afrika Bambaataa, 68

A hip-hop pioneer during the 1970s and 1980s, Lance Taylor, known professionally as Afrika Bambaataa, first gained attention as a DJ in the Bronx.

He signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1981 and released landmark songs like "Jazzy Sensation" and "Planet Rock." He would go on to influence the likes of Queen Latifah and A Tribe Called Quest throughout his career.

Bambaataa founded the hip-hop awareness group, Universal Zulu Nation, in the 1970s to steer kids away from gang life. Bambaataa stepped down as the head of the organization in 2016 after accusations of sexual abuse.

Bambaataa denied all claims.

He died on April 9 due to prostate cancer.

Rob Bass, 59

One of the icons responsible for bringing hip-hop to the mainstram, Rob Bass crafted the iconic track "It Takes Two" alongside DJ E-Z Rock.

The track, released in 1988, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Songs chart and later went certified platinum. In 1989, it was voted the greatest single of all time by Spin magazine.

Bass died on May 22 following cancer.

Nicholas Brendon, 54

Nicholas Brendon was a television actor, best known for playing Xander Harris in all seven seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

He also starred in "Criminal Minds" and "Kitchen Confidential."

Brendon died in his sleep on March 20 due to natural causes, according to his family's statement.

In 2023, Brendon suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. He also had cauda equina syndrome, which led to several spinal surgeries.

"While it's no secret that Nicholas had struggles in the past, he was on medications and treatment to manage his diagnosis, and he was optimistic about the future at the time of his passing," the statement to The Hollywood Reporter read. "Our family asks for privacy during this time as we grieve his loss and celebrate the life of a man who lived with intensity, imagination, and heart."

Peabo Bryson, 75

Two-time Grammy winner Peabo Bryson is best known for his classic love ballads.

Bryson began releasing music in the late 1970s, but one of his first major hits was opposite Roberta Flack on the 1983 duet, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love." He continued hit-making a year later with the smash "If Ever You're in My Arms Again," and in 1991, he topped the R&B charts with "Can You Stop the Rain."

Bryson found global stardom with his renditions of two Disney classics. In 1991, he released the pop version of "Beauty and the Beast," alongside Céline Dion, and a year later, he duetted with Regina Belle on "A Whole New World" from the 1992 release of "Aladdin."

Bryson died on June 2. No cause was given.

James Burrows, 85

An 11-time Emmy winner and co-creator of "Cheers," director James Burrows helped shape modern TV comedy through his work on iconic sitcoms including "Will & Grace," "Friends," and "Frasier."

Known for his comedic timing and elaborate blocking, Burrows got his start directing episodes of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show." Throughout his career, he directed episodes of "Frasier" (winning an Emmy for the pilot episode), "Will & Grace," "Friends," and "The Big Bang Theory." He directed over 50 pilot episodes.

Burrows died on June 19. No cause was given.

Kyle Busch, 41

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Busch was considered one of the greatest racers of all time.

Busch was hospitalized on May 21, before two upcoming races. Hours later, he was pronounced dead.

Busch died from severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.

Robert Carradine, 71

Robert Carradine was best known for his roles as Lizzie McGuire's dad and as the iconic geek Lewis Skolnick in the 1980s franchise "Revenge of the Nerds."

As a member of Hollywood's famed Carradine family, Robert was destined for an onscreen career.

He received one of his first screen credits starring in his brother David Carradine's popular 1970s TV series "Kung Fu" and went on to land roles in everything from Samuel Fuller's World War II classic "The Big Red One" to the "Lizzie McGuire" series.

Carradine's family shared statements with Deadline that emphasized being open about his struggles with mental illness.

"We are bereft at the loss of this beautiful soul and want to acknowledge Bobby's valiant struggle against his nearly two-decade battle with Bipolar Disorder," Carradine's family said. "We hope his journey can shine a light and encourage addressing the stigma that attaches to mental illness."

Carradine died by suicide on February 23.

If you or someone you know is experiencing depression or has had thoughts of harming themself or taking their own life, get help. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Help is also available through the Crisis Text Line — just text "HOME" to 741741. The International Association for Suicide Prevention offers resources for those outside the US.

Bud Cort, 77

Most famous for his role as Harold in the 1971 cult-classic "Harold and Maude," Bud Cort became the epitome of 1970s counterculture thanks to his baby-faced looks, wit, and sophisticated persona.

The dark comedy starred Cort as Harold, a man in his 20s who is obsessed with suicide until he meets 79-year-old eccentric Maude (Ruth Gordon).

Before that, Cort scored bit parts in Robert Altman's "M*A*S*H*" (1970) and "Brewster McCloud" (1970).

After "Harold and Maude," Cort worked steadily for the rest of his life, occasionally showing up in hit movies like Michael Mann's "Heat" (1995) and Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004).

Cort died on February 11 following a long illness.

Tim Curry, 80

Curry is best known for playing Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the cult-classic musical "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," after originating the role in the original stage production.

Over six decades, Curry carved out a niche playing outlandish villains like Rooster Hannigan in the 1982 film "Annie" and Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries "It." Other notable roles include Wadsworth the Butler in "Clue" (1985) and Mr. Hector in "Home Alone 2: Escape from New York."

Curry suffered a major stroke in 2012, which required brain surgery. He said in 2025 that he was "still recovering."

Curry died at his Los Angeles home on August 26. No cause was given.

Eric Dane, 53

Long before becoming one of TV's most recognizable heartthrobs, Eric Dane was building his career with guest roles on series like "Saved by the Bell" and "Married… with Children."

He later gained wider attention with appearances on "Charmed" before landing his breakout role as Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan on "Grey's Anatomy." He most recently starred in HBO's "Euphoria," where he played Cal Jacobs, the father of Jacob Elordi's character, Nate Jacobs.

Dane has two children with his wife, Rebecca Gayheart. In April 2025, the actor said that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Dane died on February 19 at age 53, his publicist confirmed in a statement to Business Insider.

"He spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife, and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world," his publicist said.

Clive Davis, 94

A legend in the music world, Davis was responsible for elevating pop music to unthinkable heights by discovering talents like Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Whitney Houston, and Alicia Keys, to name a few.

Over his 50-year career, along with being an executive behind millions of album sales, he also won five Grammys, including two for Album of the Year ("The Bodyguard" soundtrack and "Supernatural" by Santana).

Davis died on June 22. No cause was given.

Robert Duvall, 95

Robert Duvall starred in a plethora of timeless classics, including "The Godfather," "The Godfather Part II," "Apocalypse Now," "THX 1138," "The Natural," "Days of Thunder," and "The Apostle."

Duvall will be best remembered for starring in three of director Francis Ford Coppola's iconic films: playing Tom Hagen in the first two "Godfather" movies and Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now," in which he delivers one of the most memorable lines in movie history: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."

Duvall was lauded for his acting talent, from not saying a word while playing Boo Radley in his first big screen role in the 1962 classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" to his portrayal of a country singer dealing with alcoholism in 1983's "Tender Mercies," which earned him an Oscar.

He died on his ranch in Virginia on February 15. No cause was given.

Brenda Fricker, 81

This Irish actress was a fixture on the stage and screen for six decades. But she's most known for showing up in the "Home Alone" sequel.

As The Pigeon Lady in 1992's "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York," Fricker has become a fixture for families during the holiday season for decades (and in 2020 became the subject of a popular meme).

But Fricker's acting talents go beyond playing a spooky wanderer of Central Park.

In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, as she was given the best supporting actress Oscar that year for her performance in "My Left Foot."

Fricker died on July 16; no cause was given.

Mark Fuhrman, 74

Fuhrman cemented his place in popular culture as one of the lead LAPD detectives on the 1995 murder case of O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Fuhrman found the famed bloody glove on the Simpson estate, and during the trial, he gained infamy when Simpson's defense team used his past racist language to discredit him as a witness.

Fuhrman retired from the LAPD after the Simpson trial and moved to Idaho, where he wrote true crime books.

Fuhrman died on May 12 of throat cancer.

Valentino Garavani, 93

For over six decades, one name has been synonymous with women's high fashion: Valentino.

The Italian designer launched his fashion business in Rome in 1960 and never looked back. Soon, every star wanted to be seen in his creations. They've been worn by icons like Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins, Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Sharon Stone, and more.

Though Garavani retired from designing in 2008, his label is still a red carpet staple, as is his famous shade of bright red dubbed "Valentino Red."

Garavani died on January 19. No cause was given.

Donald Gibb, 71

No one defined a bully for a generation more than Gibb's hulking fraternity character Orge in the "Revenge of the Nerds" movies of the 1980s.

Since the original raunchy comedy was released in 1984, Gibb's intimidating size and loud yells of "NERDS!" have become as memorable as the pocket protectors worn by the movie's geeks.

Gibb went on to star opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in his classic 1988 action movie "Bloodsport." He also landed guest star roles through his career on shows like "Quantum Leap," Magnum P.I.," "MacGyver," "Night Court," and "Cheers."

Gibb died on May 12 following health complications.

Glen Hansard, 56

Irish singer-songwriter Hansard was the frontman of the rock band The Frames and one-half of the band The Swell Season. But he was perhaps best known for writing and starring in the hit 2007 indie film "Once," in which he and his Swell Season bandmate Markéta Irglová play two struggling musicians who fall in love. The duo won an Oscar for best original song for the film's standout track, "Falling Slowly."

Hansard also embarked on a solo career; his 2015 album, "Didn't He Ramble," was nominated for a Grammy for best folk album.

Hansard died on July 29 in a motorcycle crash in Dublin.

Anthony Head, 72

Rising up through the UK stage scene in the 1980s, Head found fame when he was cast as Rupert Giles, who became a father figure to Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy Summers in all seven seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Most recently, he played the bitter former owner of AFC Richmond on "Ted Lasso."

Head's death was announced by his family on June 5. They stated the cause was "complications due to pneumonia."

David Hockney, 88

British painter David Hockney was renowned for his striking portraits and figurative pop art. Many of his best-known paintings, including 1966's "The Splash" and 1972's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)," were inspired by the bright colors and sun-dappled pools of Los Angeles.

Hockney moved to Los Angeles in the late '60s, and his work became synonymous with the warmth and leisure of Southern California. He was also one of the few popular artists at the time to depict openly gay scenes, and Hockney was outspoken about anti-gay censorship.

Throughout his career, Hockney split time between California, England, and France. He died at his home in London on June 12 at age 88, his publicist confirmed to The New York Times. No cause of death was given.

Jesse Jackson, 84

The Rev. Jesse Jackson was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement, a minister, and an activist icon who twice ran for president.

Born on October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson experienced Jim Crow segregation on public buses and at school firsthand. It would shape the rest of his life.

His fight for civil rights began in the 1960s, when he helped organize protests and demonstrations across the US and worked closely alongside civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

His decadeslong career as a leading civil rights activist included support for modern national movements, such as the push for voting rights, the fight against racism, and a higher minimum wage.

Jackson ran for president twice, both times as a democrat. He placed third for the party's nomination in 1984 and second in 1988. This marked the most successful presidential runs of any Black candidate prior to Barack Obama.

Jackson announced in 2017 that he'd been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. In November 2025, Jackson was treated in a Chicago hospital after complications from progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative condition.

Jackson died on February 17.

Yayoi Kusama, 97

Kusama was a famed Japanese pop artist who often used polka-dot motifs in her work, initially rising to prominence in Japan in the 1950s.

In 1959, Kusama presented her first solo exhibition in New York: a collection of abstract paintings that an ARTnews review praised as "strong, advanced in concept and realized."

Kusama later branched into sculptures, performances, and immersive installations. She continued to expand her influence and relevance into the social media era, when her mirrored "Infinity Room" installations became Instagram-friendly attractions that inspired many copycats.

Kusama died on August 14 in Tokyo. She was 97.

Bob Mackie, 87

As one of Hollywood's most renowned costume designers, Bob Mackie's eye set the style for decades.

Known as the Sultan of Sequins, the Rajah of Rhinestones, or the Guru of Glitter, a signature of Mackie's work was its use of sparkle, which made everyone from Cher to Elton John to Dolly Parton to Sabrina Carpenter shine on stage.

He also was the costume designer on "The Carol Burnett Show" for all eleven seasons through the 1970s. He won nine Emmys, a Tony Award, and was nominated for three Academy Awards for his work.

Mackie died on September 14; no cause was given.

Patrick Muldoon, 57

In the 1990s, you couldn't escape the piercing eyes of Patrick Muldoon.

He played Austin Reed on "Days of Our Lives" for most of the decade, and when he wasn't on the soap, he was over on "Melrose Place" playing the villain role of Richard Hart.

If being on two iconic shows wasn't enough, he also showed up on "Saved by the Bell" and had a role in the cult classic movie "Starship Troopers."

Muldoon died on April 19 after a heart attack.

Sam Neill, 78

With a career spanning more than five decades and including countless memorable performances in movies and television, Sam Neill was one of the most versatile actors of his generation,

The New Zealand actor starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the 1989 thriller "Dead Calm," played the loyal first officer opposite Sean Connery in 1990's "The Hunt for Red October," played the lead in John Carpenter's 1994 horror "In the Mouth of Madness," and most recently starred in the hit series "Peaky Blinders."

But Neill will be best known for playing the brave and all-dinosaur-knowing Dr. Alan Grant in the "Jurassic Park" franchise.

Neill died on July 13; no cause was given. Neill was battling a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer, but was cancer-free at the time of his death, according to a post on his Instagram account announcing his passing.

Tom Noonan, 74

Standing at a towering 6' 5", Tom Noonan was born to play the bad guy. And he did just that, starring as the villain in movies like "Manhunter," "RoboCop 2," and "Last Action Hero."

But this actor had more to show off. He showcased his comedy chops as Rodney Dangerfield's degenerate gambling friend in the 1983 comedy "Easy Money," and set up the heist for Robert De Niro in Michael Mann's 1995 classic "Heat."

His knack for storytelling also translated behind the camera. Noonan wrote, directed, and starred in the drama "What Happened Was," which won the grand prize at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival.

Noonan died on February 14; no cause was given.

Chuck Norris, 86

Few action stars have Chuck Norris' credentials.

Before he ever stepped in front of a camera, he was a martial arts champion and a black belt in Karate, judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, and Tang Soo Do.

His talents would become known the world over in 1972, when he faced off against Bruce Lee in "The Way of the Dragon."

Through the 1980s, Norris became one of the biggest action stars in the world thanks to movies like "A Force of One," "The Octagon," and the "Delta Force" and "Missing in Action" franchises.

In the 1990s, he took over the small screen, playing the lead in the "Walker, Texas Ranger" TV show, which aired in over 100 countries during its run from 1993 to 2001.

Norris was hospitalized on March 19 in Hawaii and died the following day, according to his family. No cause was given.

Catherine O'Hara, 71

O'Hara, who was best known for her roles in "Beetlejuice" and "Home Alone," got her start in the Canadian comedy scene, appearing in the now-legendary cast of "SCTV."

It would mark the beginning of a fruitful partnership with fellow actor Eugene Levy, who became her frequent costar and collaborator in memorable appearances in Christopher Guest films like "A Mighty Wind" and "Best in Show" and television series like "Schitt's Creek," which earned her an Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in 2020.

O'Hara's representation confirmed her death to Business Insider on January 30. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed in a death certificate viewed by People that O'Hara died of a pulmonary embolism, with rectal cancer listed as an underlying cause.

Hayden Panettiere, 36

Panettiere began acting as a child, landing one of her earliest major roles as Sarah Roberts on the ABC soap opera "One Life to Live," on which she appeared from 1994 to 1997.

As her career progressed, she became best known for portraying Claire Bennet on "Heroes" and Juliette Barnes on "Nashville."

Over the years, Panettiere had spoken openly about her struggles with alcoholism and postpartum depression. She detailed those experiences in her memoir, "This Is Me: A Reckoning," which was released in May.

Her representative confirmed to Business Insider on August 17 that Panettiere had died at 36 but did not disclose a cause of death.

Dolly Parton, 80

Parton released her debut album, "Hello, I'm Dolly," in 1967 and went on to pen country hits like "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene," both of which were released as singles in 1974.

In addition to her music, Parton was beloved for her flamboyant style and her philanthropy. She founded the Dollywood Foundation in 1988, a charitable organization focused on education and community initiatives in her home state of Tennessee. She continued to fund scholarship programs and donate to hospitals, public health initiatives, and disaster relief programs throughout her life.

Parton is known as the best-selling female country music artist of all time. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

Parton's 49th and final solo studio album, "Rockstar," was released in 2023. The tracklist included both original material and covers of classic rock songs, featuring an array of guests like Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Sting, Joan Jett, and Parton's goddaughter, Miley Cyrus.

News broke on August 25 that Parton died following unspecified health issues. She was 80.

Vincent Pastore, 80

This character actor found fame appearing in a string of mob movies in the 1990s, like "Goodfellas," "Carlito's Way," and "Men of Respect." But Pastore truly became a star when he was cast in the hit HBO series "The Sopranos."

As Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, Pastore was part of the main cast for the first two seasons of the show, playing Tony Soprano's mob enforcer-turned-FBI informant. Bonpensiero's shocking death was one of the most famous in the show's history and proved that no one was safe from getting whacked.

Pastore died on August 1. No cause was given.

Valerie Perrine, 82

Perrine found herself cast alongside the biggest stars of the 1970s.

She played the love interest opposite Jeff Bridges in 1973's "The Last American Hero" and Robert Redford in 1979's "The Electric Horseman." She earned an Oscar nomination for starring alongside Dustin Hoffman in 1974's "Lenny."

For most, she'll be remembered best for sharing the screen with Gene Hackman as the secretary to his evil Lex Luthor in 1978's "Superman." She also starred in the sequel. As Ms. Teschmacher, her loyalty to Luthor is questioned when she rescues Superman (Christopher Reeve) after he's chained with Kryptonite.

Perrine died in her home in Beverly Hills on March 23. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2015.

Sonny Rollins, 95

One of the most influential jazz musicians in history, Rollins recorded more than 60 albums over his seven-decade career.

His live album, "A Night at the Village Vanguard," is considered one of the greatest jazz albums ever made.

Rollins died on May 25; no cause was given.

Neil Sedaka, 86

Sedaka is responsible for some of the biggest pop songs of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Brooklyn native wrote over 500 songs, including classic hits like "Laughter in the Rain," "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," "Bad Blood" and the Captain & Tennille song, "Love Will Keep Us Together."

Sedaka died on February 27; no cause was given.

Gene Shalit, 100

Before there was Rotten Tomatoes or even Siskel & Ebert, movie lovers got their recommendations from Gene Shalit.

The iconic movie critic could be seen sporting his signature look of glasses, bushy hair, and big mustache as a staple on the "Today" show from 1973 to 2010. If he wasn't interviewing the biggest movie stars, he was reviewing movies with incredible puns ("'Ishtar' is Ish-terrible.")

His larger-than-life presence left a mark on pop culture: he was parodied as a Muppet and on countless episodes of "SCTV" and "Saturday Night Live."

Shalit died on June 12; no cause was given.

Duncan Sheik, 56

Sheik found success in the late 1990s with his hit song "Barely Breathing." He later pivoted from alt-rock to a career on Broadway, composing the music for the Tony-winning musical "Spring Awakening." His other stage credits include "American Psycho" (2013) and "The Secret Life of Bees" (2019).

Sheik died on September 17 after a cardiac arrest.

Kiki Shepard, 74

In her 15-year tenure as a co-host on "Showtime at the Apollo," Kiki Shepard was considered royalty at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater.

Known in the building as "Apollo Queen of Fashion" thanks to her dazzling outfits, Shepherd was a fixture on the show from 1987 to 2002.

Throughout her career, Shepard also appeared on TV shows like "Baywatch," "A Different World," "NYPD Blue," and "Grey's Anatomy."

Shepard died on March 16 after suffering a heart attack.

Gloria Steinem, 92

An icon in the women's liberation movement of the 1970s, Steinem dedicated most of her life to fighting sexism.

Starting her career as a journalist, she became a columnist for the newly founded New York Magazine in 1968. She cofounded Ms. magazine in 1971, which focused on women's issues. She also helped launch the Women's Action Alliance, which focused on tackling sexism.

Steinem was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

Steinem died on September 2, according to a post on her social media. No cause was given.

Béla Tarr, 70

Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr became a legend in the arthouse world for his unflinching work featuring several-minute-long takes.

With movies like "Family Nest" (1979) and "The Turin Horse" (2011), Tarr showcased his slow cinema style while focusing on marginalized characters living bleak lives. Tarr pushed the envelope with his style when he made "Sátántangó" in 1994, which had a run time of 450 minutes.

His work influenced several arthouse filmmakers, including Jim Jarmusch and Gus Van Sant's "Death Trilogy" ("Gerry," "Elephant," and "Last Days").

Tarr died on January 6 following a battle with a "long and serious illness."

James Tolkan, 94

You might not recognize the name, but if you're a movie fan, you know the face.

Tolkan's tough-guy persona made a mark on movie history in films like "Top Gun" and the "Back to the Future" franchise.

In "Top Gun," he played Commander Tom "Stinger" Jardian, who famously gives Tom Cruise's character a tongue lashing, saying, "Your ego is writing checks your body can't cash."

In "Back to the Future" and its sequels, he played Principal Strickland, who had zero tolerance for "slackers."

Other credits include "Serpico," "WarGames," "Masters of the Universe," and "Dick Tracy."

Tolkan died on March 26; no cause was given.

Ted Turner, 87

Ted Turner changed the television landscape thanks to his maverick maneuvers to harness the 24-hour news cycle.

After taking over his father's advertising company in the 1960s at the age of 24, Turner embarked on a path to change the media landscape by buying up radio and TV stations around the South. He even bought sports teams including the Atlanta Braves MLB team and the Atlanta Hawks NBA team.

All of that programming would eventually become part of TBS, a "super station" that showed old movies, reruns, and Braves and Hawks games.

Turner then set his sights on the news. He founded CNN, the first 24-hour news channel, in June of 1980.

Over the decades, Turner gained celebrity status, particularly after marrying with Jane Fonda, a union that lasted from 1991 to 2001. In 1991, he was named Time's "Man of the Year." He sold his networks to Time Warner for $7.5 billion in 1996.

Turner died on May 6; no cause was given.

Bonnie Tyler, 75

Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler became one of the biggest artists of the 1980s thanks to her legendary power ballads.

Tyler was behind hits like "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Holding Out for a Hero," which was also featured on the 1984 "Footloose" soundtrack. Both songs were chart-toppers that have since become two of the best-selling singles of all time.

Over her career, Tyler was nominated for three Grammys and was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

Tyler died on July 8 in Portugal, where she was being treated for an illness, according to a statement posted on her social media.

James Van Der Beek, 48

Van Der Beek was beloved all over the world for his role as the titular teen Dawson Leery on the WB series "Dawson's Creek."

The series, which ran from 1998 to 2002, turned Van Der Beek into a star and a teen heartthrob. While "Dawson's Creek" was still airing, he'd cement his stardom playing the lead role of high school quarterback "Mox" Moxon in the 1999 coming-of-age drama "Varsity Blues."

Van Der Beek found steady work the rest of his career in movies like "Texas Rangers" and "The Rules of Attraction, and memorably played a fictional version of himself on the TV series "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23," and performed on "Dancing with the Stars" in 2019.

Van Der Beek learned he had stage 3 colon cancer in 2023, and publicly announced his diagnosis in late 2024.

Van Der Beek previously told Business Insider that the news came as a shock, given the subtleness of his symptoms and his efforts to stay as healthy as possible.

"I was doing everything," he said. "I was doing sauna, cold plunge, weightlifting, Pilates. I would dance and also do football training."

Van Der Beek died on Feb. 11.

Bob Weir, 78

Weir was one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead.

The singer-songwriter wrote and/or sang on songs like "Sugar Magnolia," "Playing in the Band," "Truckin,'" "I Need a Miracle," and "The Other One."

After the Grateful Dead disbanded in 1995, Weir went on to form several other bands, including Kingfish, Bobby and the Midnites, RatDog, The Other Ones, and, alongside John Mayer, Dead & Company.

In the summer of 2025, Weir was diagnosed with cancer.

Weir died on January 10.

Victor Willis, 74

Willis was the lead singer of the iconic disco band the Village People.

Along with being the lead vocalist and dressing as the police officer (and sometimes naval officer), Willis was also the cowriter on many of the band's hits, including "In the Navy," "Macho Man," and the song that will keep the Village People in pop culture lore until the end of time, "Y.M.C.A."

Willis left the band to embark on a solo career in 1979, then re-formed the Village People in 2017.

Willis died on June 30 following a "short but aggressive illness," according to the Village People Facebook page.

Frederick Wiseman, 96

For over five decades, Wiseman's brand of non-fiction storytelling put a spotlight on everyday people.

From high schoolers to hospital workers to Air Force cadets training for nuclear war, Wiseman's close to 50-film catalogue is an unvarnished reflection of America over the last half century.

Wiseman died on Februay 16, no cause was given.