• Last month, China unveiled a mosquito-like spy drone designed for covert military operations.
• The drone's size and weight could limit its uses on the battlefield, military analysts told BI.
• It could still prove to be an effective new surveillance tool, experts say.

Last month, China's National University of Defense Technology unveiled a new spy drone designed to look like a mosquito.

Showcased on the state-run CCTV-7 military broadcaster, the micro-drone appeared to be roughly the size of a human fingernail and featured tiny, leaf-like wings and thin, wiry legs.

While it may not look as impressive as some of the bigger unmanned systems coming out of Ukraine, its stick-thin body is said to be equipped for a range of covert surveillance and military operations.

"As a drone to surveil buildings, especially on the inside, I can imagine it being quite useful for video feeds," Herb Lin, a senior research scholar at Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation, told Business Insider.

But its small size may limit its uses on the battlefield.

"If it's real, and powered conventionally (with a battery), its longevity in the air will be limited by battery capacity," Lin said. "Also, it's very light, and therefore easily buffeted by winds. These factors suggest it isn't particularly useful for wide-area surveillance."

Drones can be highly sensitive to weather, in particular strong winds, rain, snow, cold weather, and fog.

And the smaller an aerial drone is, the more susceptible it is to such conditions, Samuel Bendett, an advisor with the Center for Naval Analyses and drone expert, said. "Even indoors, there can be conditions that could interfere with this drones' performance, such as even a slight breeze, an air flow from an AC, an open window, or other obstacles."

Communications are another issue to consider, Bendett continued, as the drone's size means it's unlikely to be able to carry much advanced equipment.

"While it is technically possible to build a tiny UAV like the one displayed by the Chinese developers, its actual performance is likely to greatly vary," he said.

Others say that the new drone is a sign of China's continuing innovation in the sector.

Michael Horowitz, a senior fellow for technology and innovation at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it showed "Chinese researchers in particular want to push forward technological innovation in drones."

It remains unclear how real the capability is, how soon China could field the tech, or the type of missions it could use them for, he added.

• After graduating from Yale, I moved back in with my parents in a low-income building in Brooklyn.
• When I was growing up, I became close with all my neighbors who struggled with poverty.
• Returning home after living on an Ivy League campus has been confusing.

Four years ago, when people asked me which part of college I was most excited for, I always said having my own room.

Yale's dorms were a welcome change from the living conditions in my Brooklyn neighborhood. On the outside, the place my parents rented looked like any other two or three-family house, but inside, every floor was leased out to multiple families.

My upbringing was many things: love and a chorus of voices that included a Vietnam War veteran, four children, and an expert crocheter. They were all my neighbors — many of them low-income. Every evening, we gathered for communal dinners, sharing stories and laughs. But privacy was never part of the equation.

I left that environment for the private world of the Ivy League, living in dorms that radiated privilege.

And then I blinked, and last May, I graduated. After four years, I stepped out of the privilege, access, and relentless ambition that Yale had afforded me and returned to my family's Brooklyn home.

Moving home after college was a jump back to reality

When I arrived at my apartment after graduation, the first thing I did was hug one of the younger tenants, a 10-year-old girl I consider my sister. She waited for me at the door with flowers — a belated graduation present, she said. Later that evening, with her mother's permission, we took the N train to her favorite spot: Coney Island Beach and Boardwalk.

We had to make a pit stop at Coney's Cones, of course. Inside, she stood on her tiptoes, squinting at the selection of gelato and sorbet. "Eyeglasses," I wrote in my notepad of things to buy for her. I leaned down and whispered, "Don't look at the prices. Get anything."

Once we were seated, I asked how things had been. She told me that they were the same. At school, she enjoys math but dislikes writing, and the staircases in the projects still reek of cigarettes, but at least the neighbor's cat comes by once in a while to play with her.

"It's kind of lonely without you here," she suddenly blurted.

I tried to explain that I had to leave for college, that it wasn't about her. I wanted to say something — to fix her loneliness, her abandonment — but my mouth was just a home for my teeth. I reached for her hand, and we exited the café, heading toward the line to purchase Ferris wheel tickets.

I couldn't help grow solemn. The sad reality of building relationships with other tenants is that there is nothing more we wish than to see each other leave the situation we find ourselves in. No one wishes to live in the projects forever. This means saying goodbye at some point — and leaving loved ones behind.

I'm now thinking more about what it meant to be at Yale

An elite education doesn't guarantee stability or a sense of belonging, especially not for first-generation graduates navigating the job market. We often lack a safety net and carry the weight of family responsibilities. What my Ivy League education does offer is a chance: the foundation to build a future for myself and my family.

Still, many of my neighbors and friends remain where they've always been, caught in cycles of poverty, domestic trauma, and systemic injustice. The pandemic only further crippled those living at or under the poverty line.

College was never the finish line. It was the beginning of a more complicated story — one in which I must navigate ambition with memory, privilege with purpose, and personal advancement with a renewed commitment to support others in my community through their struggles, especially those without access to open doors.

But the truth is, it took a village for me to get to Yale, and many of my greatest supporters were not related to me by blood.

I'm trying to reconcile my future with my family's and neighbors'

Inside the Ferris wheel gondola, just as we were about to reach the top, my apartment-mate proudly took out a fluffy purse that I had bought for her 8th birthday. It was heavy, full of coins. She told me that her mother began paying her 50 cents for taking out the trash or washing the dishes, and one of our neighbors occasionally hires her to water his plants.

"Wow, you're rich," I said, nudging her playfully.

We laughed, and the setting sun caught our faces. In the distance, the waves rolled back and forth, and I wondered how many more times I'd get to share these moments with her before the world pulled us apart again. I won't let it.

• Sierra is TJX's outdoor lifestyle brand, selling apparel, gear, home goods, and pet products.
• It's still relatively small, but TJX said the chain could grow to 325 locations.
• Business Insider visited a store for a closer look at T.J. Maxx's younger, sportier sibling.

Shopping for outdoor lifestyle stuff is normally a quick way to burn a lot of cash.

Whether at Dick's Sporting Goods or REI, well-made apparel and gear usually come at a premium price — even with the occasional coupon or sale.

My consumer experience with activewear (and inactivewear), shoes, and other accessories led me to believe the relationship between quality and price was somewhat fixed.

That was before I discovered Sierra.

I gave my local store in Madison, Wisconsin, a look for the first time a few years ago.

I've done plenty of shopping at Sierra's more widely known siblings, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods, and I never really felt the spark that keeps die-hard Maxxinistas coming back. Yes, the discounts at those stores seem large, but I'm not always able to tell if the price is actually a good value — especially if I don't recognize the brand.

Scanning the racks at Sierra was a different story, however. These were brands that I knew and trusted, like Smartwool, Carhartt, and more.

Each time I came back, I wondered why the Sierra brand wasn't more widely known relative to TJX's other brands and even other outdoor retailers.

It turns out, the reason is pretty simple. The brand was, and still is, fairly small and a more recent addition to the TJX portfolio.

Originally called Sierra Trading Post, the company started as a catalog company in 1986 in Reno, Nevada. It later moved to Wyoming and launched its e-commerce business in 1999.

TJX acquired it for $200 million in 2012. The first TJX-owned stores were located in Denver, followed by its first East Coast location in Burlington, Vermont.

In 2018, with a fleet of a few dozen stores, TJX relocated the company's headquarters to its main offices in Framingham, Massachusetts, and dropped the "Trading Post" from the name. The brand has since been on a growth spurt, on track to have 137 US locations by the end of this year.

In the longer term, TJX said it expects the brand to have 325 locations, more than triple the number of stores it had a year ago.

That gives Sierra the fastest growth rate of any brand in the TJX portfolio, though in fairness, T.J. Maxx and Marshalls have more than 2,500 US locations combined, so their growth is slower.

Sierra's tiny stature means it barely receives individual mention in TJX earnings calls beyond annual announcements of planned store openings, per equity research platform AlphaSense.

Out of the spotlight, Sierra has nevertheless been busy.

Foot traffic data from Placer.ai found that customer visits doubled between 2019 and 2022, driven in part by a pandemic-era rush to spend more time outside. While some of that increase is a result of simply having more stores, visits per store were also up, Placer.ai said.

In one of Sierra's rare mentions, TJX CEO Ernie Herrman characterized the store's assortment as "moderate to very high end " in 2022. My experience certainly supports his assessment.

Some recent treasure-hunt finds include the pair of Fjällräven pants I got, the pair of Lodge cast iron enamel dutch ovens in my kitchen, and an ever-expanding collection of insulated drinkware from Yeti, Stanley, and Hydro Flask.

High-quality items from known brands have also given me the confidence to try unfamiliar offerings from the store's assortment, and I am rarely disappointed. Hydrapeak's mugs may not have the current cultural cachet of Stanley's cups, but they do a solid job for a fraction of the price.

Sierra's selection can be somewhat limited compared to a traditional retailer's, but I almost always find something worthwhile. I now make a point of checking Sierra before or after trips to REI and Dick's.

Neither of those competitors is sleeping on Sierra, though.

In addition to its Public Lands stores, Dick's has recently experimented with clearance stores like the Warehouse Sale and Going Going Gone. And the online REI Outlet offers deep discounts on many of the items the co-op carries in its stores.

Still, Sierra has been in the game for a long time online, and its physical presence is expanding at a rate that could see it match REI's store count in just a few years.

Another difference is that, unlike other national or regional outdoor lifestyle chains, Sierra's parent company is a powerhouse of off-price retailing.

TJX's fingerprints are all over Sierra's stores, and the combination of its tried-and-tested playbook with this retail category makes the small but mighty brand an exciting one to follow.

• This post originally appeared in the BI Today newsletter.
• You can sign up for Business Insider's daily newsletter here.

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. BI's Jake Epstein spent the night aboard a US Navy destroyer traveling from England to France. He said the space was tight, as he got a taste of what daily life is like.

By the way, you can get the latest on modern warfare, defense tech innovations, and more with BI's new Defense Flash delivered to your inbox every week. Sign up here!

On the agenda today:

• Inside Silicon Valley's $100 million salary divide.
• It's the age of the "Zillow Ban." Here's what homeowners should do.
• Amazon rolls out a stricter performance review process, BI exclusively reports.
• Wall Streeters told BI the hottest restaurants, bars, and clubs in the Hamptons.

But first: BI has the receipts on the impact of AI data.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Business Insider's app here.

This week's dispatch

Tallying the full costs of AI

To fulfill the promise of AI, data centers have sprung up around the country, using water, land, and electricity to deliver computing power for the booming tech.

A team of BI reporters and editors sought to quantify the spread of these centers and show the impact on their surroundings. I chatted with two lead reporters on the project, Hannah Beckler and Dakin Campbell, about their takeaways.

Hannah, Dakin, in a nutshell, how many data centers are there in the United States, and how fast is the boom happening?

There are 1,240 data centers either built or approved for construction in the United States. That's four times as many as there were in 2010.

What is the biggest worry with the spread of data centers — the green space they use, the water, the electricity? And if these concerns are urgent, why aren't towns pushing back?

Electricity and water use are large concerns because they are limited resources. But data centers often bring tax revenue, which towns use to build roads, schools, and fire stations. Public officials have been caught in the middle, with some towns pushing back and others openly welcoming the industry with tax breaks.

Are there benefits to data centers, both for nearby property owners and for the promise of AI?

AI could usher in tremendous benefits, from business savings to life-saving science. Many also argue that a leading AI industry bolsters national security. For nearby property owners, the benefits are typically the tax revenue their towns collect, short-term jobs in construction (which can also bring road congestion), and perhaps a few dozen longer-term tech jobs in their community.

For the future, what are the most important issues about data centers that people should be watching?

The largest tech firms understand that public opinion is mixed about their use of resources like power and water, and they are taking steps to improve their efficiency. It will be critical to see whether they will find ways to use less water and more renewable energy.

Big Tech's winner-take-all era

In Silicon Valley, companies like Meta and OpenAI are offering eye-popping pay packages to technical hires to secure the best talent in the AI race.

At the same time, however, rank-and-file tech workers are being laid off by the thousands. The result is an uneven shift that's going all-in on AI while squeezing other areas of innovation.

The great salary divide.

Also read:

• In Silicon Valley, it is the summer of comp FOMO as Meta and OpenAI offer tens of millions of dollars to lure top AI talent
• Mira Murati's secretive new startup is dangling $500,000 salaries for top talent

The "Zillow Ban" is here

Zillow's new policy blacklists any homes that are shared publicly by an agent without being posted to the local databases that inform the rest of the real estate industry. It's part of Zillow's ongoing battle against big brokerages to crack down on "exclusive inventory" — home listings that are shared in some places but not others.

The fight leaves homebuyers and sellers in a weird spot, but not a powerless one. The rules of the game are changing, and consumers should know exactly what they're getting from their agents and how much they'll be paying them, writes BI's James Rodriguez.

What homebuyers should do.

Amazon toughens up reviews

How do you measure culture? That's a question Amazon managers will now have to deal with, thanks to a new performance review process the Big Tech company is instituting.

Starting this mid-year review cycle, Amazon managers will use a three-tier system to rank how employees demonstrate the company's core values, which it calls Leadership Principles, in their work, per an internal memo seen by BI's Eugene Kim.

It's the first time company culture is formally part of reviews.

Hot spots in the Hamptons

The Hamptons have long been a favorite summer outpost for Wall Street's bankers and traders. BI spoke to current and former finance industry professionals, as well as some Hamptons locals and business proprietors, to find the buzziest spots out east.

Montauk's Surf Lodge was the most mentioned, but insiders also named scene-y restaurants like Le Bilboquet and low-key sites like Shinnecock, an ultra-exclusive golf club.

See the list.

This week's quote:

"You are in a job interview for the whole internship."

— Wendy Lewis, managing partner of KPMG's Richmond, Virginia office, on her advice for Big Four summer interns looking to stand out.

More of this week's top reads:

• Everyone is saying AI will reshape banking. A new report forecasts exactly how much.
• 4 signs the economy is in worse shape than we thought.
• What Diddy's guilty verdict and civil suits mean for his net worth, music catalog, and brands.
• Generative AI is making running an online business a nightmare.
• Most Americans aren't paying attention to a key part of retirement that has nothing to do with investing.
• Leaked docs show how Meta is training its chatbots to message you first, remember your chats, and keep you talking.
• 4 ways Trump's 'big beautiful' tax bill could affect your wallet.

• ChatGPT has entered the group text.

  ---

  The BI Today team: Jamie Heller, editor in chief, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.

• Antara Dave was hired by Microsoft after initially being rejected a year earlier.
• She improved her design skills and gained experience at Home Depot before reapplying.
• Dave emphasized critical thinking and AI knowledge for aspiring Microsoft designers.

This is an as-told-to interview based on a conversation with Antara Dave, a senior product designer at Microsoft who leads user experience for AI tools. She's worked at the company since 2022. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

Microsoft was and still is my dream company.

I applied one year before I got this job and was rejected. They gave some basic feedback on what I needed to learn, so I focused on that. I switched jobs at the company I was working, Home Depot, to get more of the real experience in design they were looking for.

When I applied again a year later, I did not have any referrals inside the company. I just applied to the Microsoft portal and got a call and went from there. After an initial job interview with the manager, I was brought in for a full interview day that lasted around five hours.

There was a one-hour interview where I presented my work to a bunch of people on the team, around 20 people. They also asked me questions about my project to understand how I made those design decisions. They wanted to learn how I approach and think about problems. There were a lot of questions on accessibility as well, because inclusivity is a big part of Microsoft, and they want to make sure that all the products that we make are accessible for all types of people.

The other three or four hours were one-on-one interviews with people in various roles. The last interview I had was with the "principal researcher" to make sure I matched up with their expectations. It was very raw and very honest. They want to know your personality and what things you have faced in the past.

They also dug deeper into my core values to ensure that aligned with the company. I've found Microsoft values diversity and inclusion, curiosity, good communication, collaboration, and accountability. Without curiosity, you are not going to learn. You also have to be very collaborative and friendly with each other. And of course, you are going to make mistakes, but you're expected to be humble and accountable.

What I did right during the interview

I actually enjoyed the entire interviewing process with Microsoft, and everyone was really friendly. But I was very nervous at the start because it was my dream company. As the interview process went by, I got more and more comfortable because it was not just them asking me questions. I was also asking them questions to learn about the company, the projects, the people, and the culture of the team.

One thing I did very well was my portfolio presentation because I had a lot of good visuals. There's a very good way to explain your thinking behind your projects with a lot of visual storytelling, starting with what the problem is, then how you tried to solve that problem, and what was the impact of the solution that you brought on. Was there any revenue impact or usability impact that improved? Showing the impact of a project matters more than anything.

I also think showcasing your personality and never hiding who you are helps. I was very authentic to who I am during the interview. They just want to see who you are.

One of my questions was, "Has there been a time where you were given critical feedback?" When I was at Home Depot, I had just joined the corporate world, and I was a little shy in expressing my ideas. After my initial few months, I was told, "You have great inputs, but you never share those. Why don't you share more?" So I told the interviewer at Microsoft how I handled that: I started raising my hand. I had one-on-one meetings with people so that I could be more comfortable sharing my insights and ideas.

They truly wanted to understand whether I'm aware of my strengths and weaknesses and how I'm working towards that, so I told them.

Advice for others who want to work at Microsoft

For others who want to get a job as a designer at Microsoft, develop your critical thinking skills. Design without critical thinking just becomes decoration. Design with critical thinking becomes impact.

I have a master's degree in engineering. Having any higher degree helps you build critical thinking because you are involved in all these complex projects. My ability to question and being OK with complexity, being uncomfortable, all of it is because I have been conditioned that way in my master's, because things were difficult and you had to find solutions and you had to talk with people.

In the era of AI, having knowledge of AI and LLMs is core now. You should also learn to "vibe code," which relies on AI to produce code. You don't necessarily need to know coding, but you need to know how to talk with an AI chatbot and know exactly how to give the right prompt.

The AI world is moving very fast, and everyone who wants to join Microsoft should start playing with all the different AI tools that are out there.

Do you have a story to share about your career or landing your dream job? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Chickpeas are rich in plant compounds that can lower your cholesterol.
• People who ate a cup of chickpeas per day for 12 weeks lowered their cholesterol to healthy levels.
• Here are some of the cheapest, easiest recipes they used.

Turns out, not all beans are created equal.

While black beans seem to be great at fighting low-grade chronic inflammation, chickpeas are more of a cholesterol-lowering powerhouse, according to recent research from Illinois Institute of Technology.

In a three-month study, researchers asked a group of roughly 24 prediabetic people to eat a cup of black beans every day, while another group of 24 with prediabetes was given chickpeas. In a third control group, participants cooked white rice.

By the end of just 12 weeks, the researchers noticed significant differences in inflammation levels for the black bean eaters, while chickpea eaters had a greater effect on their total cholesterol, moving from at risk (with an average total cholesterol around 200 mg/dL) into a heart-healthy range (186 mg/dL).

Chickpeas have cholesterol-lowering power

The reason why different beans house different health benefits probably has to do with the chemicals that color them and make each bean unique.

While the phytochemicals that make black beans black are known to have more anti-inflammatory properties, golden chickpeas have more of other plant chemicals called phytosterols, which are cholesterol-lowering compounds.

This is why nutrition buffs often recommend eating a wide variety of different colored plants, including fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains. By eating a rich diversity of colorful whole foods, you'll enjoy the complex natural "food matrix" found inside each one, lead researcher Indika Edirisinghe told Business Insider.

"It contains protein, it contains lipid, it contains fiber, vitamins, minerals," and different combinations of each from bean to bean, he said. "Somebody can synthesize artificial bean by adding all the nutrients, but I don't think you're going to get the same effect."

Registered dietician Joel Ramdial, who was not involved with this study, is the director of nutrition at Southeast Missouri State University's department of sport sciences. He told BI that beans are one of the most dense and varied sources of dietary fiber you can find, making them a great ingredient to mix into your next meal.

"You can blend them up and mix them into things, you can roast," he said. "You can put them in soups, you can mix them into sauces."

In order to make it easier on research participants to include a cup of chickpeas per day in their diets, Edirisinghe and his team equipped their study volunteers with canned chickpeas, a measuring cup, and several easy recipes.

Here are 5 chickpea recipes scientists recommend to lower cholesterol:

Cool ranch chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 2 15 oz. cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. of ranch seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Dry chickpeas well with paper towels
3. Spread onto a large baking sheet in an even layer
4. Bake until golden and crisp, 30 minutes
5. In a large bowl, toss the hot chickpeas with oil and seasoning
6. Spread out onto the baking sheet and bake for five more minutes
7. Remove from the oven. Chickpeas will continue to crisp as they cool.

Tomato cucumber feta salad with chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large cucumber, chopped
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, preferably multi-colored, halved
• 1/2 white onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup of feta cheese
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp. of red wine vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 tbsp. of fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the cucumber, tomato, chickpeas, and onion
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Add to the large bowl and toss to combine.

3. Top with feta and cilantro

Honey sesame chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/3 cup of soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp. of rice wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. of fresh grated ginger
• Cooked rice, for serving
• Sesame seeds and sliced scallions, for garnish

Directions:

1. Put the diced onion, minced garlic, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, vegetable oil, red pepper flakes and ginger in a medium saucepan.
2. Add some water and bring to a boil
3. Reduce to simmer and cook for five to 10 minutes, until slightly thick
4. Add the chickpeas and return to a boil
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, until chickpeas are coated and sauce is thick

6. Serve over cooked rice, and garnish with the sesame seeds and sliced scallions, if desired

Chickpeas with leeks and lemon

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of chickpeas
• 4 leeks
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 branch of fresh rosemary
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, garlic, and rosemary over medium heat
2. Once the garlic turns fragrant and the rosemary starts to sizzle, remove the rosemary and set it aside
3. Add the leeks to the pan, along with a good pinch of salt
4. Cook, stirring often, until the leeks are soft and sweet but still green, around five to eight minutes
5. Add in the chickpeas, and continue to cook, turning the beans in the oil, for five more minutes. The chickpeas should darken slightly in color.
6. Using a microplane or zester, add a few scrapes of lemon zest into the pan, plus a squeeze of lemon juice
7. Stir to combine
8. Season to taste with lemon juice, zest, or salt as needed

Roasted chickpea gyros

Ingredients:

• 1 15 oz. can of chickpeas
• 4 pita flatbreads
• 1 cup of tzatziki sauce
• 2 lettuce leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1/4 red onion, cut into strips
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 tbsp. of paprika
• 1 tsp of black pepper
• 1/4 tsp of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Pat the chickpeas dry with paper towels, removing any skins that come off
3. In a large bowl, gently toss the chickpeas with the oil, paprika, black pepper, cayenne pepper, and salt
4. Spread the chickpeas onto a greased, rimmed baking sheet and roast for roughly 20 minutes, until lightly brown but not hard
5. Spread tzatziki on one side of the pita bread, then sprinkle in 1/4 of the chickpeas, and add your veggies
6. Fold and enjoy!