Amazon faces a safety debacle, here’s how your web activity is tracked, and more top insights

During the week, the Daily Rundown brings you the day’s trending professional news. On the weekend, we try to keep you current on the big ideas that can help you see what’s coming. Read on and join the conversation.

Amazon faces a safety fiasco: As the amount of third-party sellers offering their wares on Amazon has ballooned — accounting for 60% of all physical goods sales on the site in 2018 — the e-commerce giant has struggled to ensure these products are actually safe. A recent investigation by the Wall Street Journal found over 4,000 items on Amazon that were deemed unsafe or banned by federal agencies or inappropriately labeled. Even worse, as soon as Amazon removes these items, WSJ found the products would resurface on the platform, sometimes from a different third-party merchant. ? Here’s what people are saying.

So much for the illusion of privacy: The New York Times set out to show just how much our digital lives are tracked, using columnist Farhad Manjoo as a guinea pig. Their conclusion? There is no such thing as privacy on the internet. From the moment you log on, you’re assigned several long-numbered IDs that help companies follow you around the web. Your approximate latitude and longitude are shared across networks, as well as details like your screen resolution, operating system and more. Among the biggest trackers of them all? News sites, and Google. ? Here’s what people are saying. 

A robotic suit that helps us move faster: An engineering team from Harvard has developed a robotic exosuit that can boost a person’s ability to both walk and run, according to a new paper published in Science. The suit, which is made of soft textile materials and weighs 11 pounds, is equipped with sensors that can detect whether a person is walking or running and respond with the appropriate boost via electric motors and cables. The tech makes people feel 16.3 pounds lighter when walking and 12.6 pounds lighter when running. Such exosuits could assist soldiers, rescue workers and those with disabilities. ? Here’s what people are saying. 

The world is tilting toward windmills: Global investment in renewable energy sources is set to surge over the next 30 years, with $11 trillion going toward technologies like wind and batteries, according to Bloomberg. Europe is moving fastest and could be nearly fossil-free by 2050. Asia will see coal continue to rise for the next decade or so before peaking. In the U.S., fossil fuel companies’ share of the economy has rapidly declined in recent years, marking long-term challenges for the oil industry in an age of growing climate concerns. ? Here’s what people are saying. 

Helping wounds heal, by listening to them: Researchers at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland are developing sensors that can sit beneath bandages and report back on whether wounds are healing. The sensors transmit waves through a patient’s skin. Doctors can then gauge the strength of the healing tissue by measuring the time it takes for the sound waves to complete their journey. Such a method would not require doctors to remove bandages as frequently to inspect wounds, potentially aiding the healing process and saving time and money for hospitals and patients. ? Here’s what people are saying. 

One last idea: In our search for success, it’s all too easy to grow consumed with the quest for fame. But Fabien Cousteau, grandson of the legendary explorer Jacques, argues we’re better off focusing on the good we can do instead. 

“Doing something is much more important than being famous. Whatever your talents are, be it an accountant, an astronaut, or a sanitation worker, leave this place in a better place. Leave this place feeling like you’ve accomplished what you wanted to accomplish and in a way that makes you happy.”

Want to get ahead at work? Looking for advice from the pros? Share your burning career questions in the comments with #YouAsked and we’ll get experts to weigh in.

— Scott Olster