Forget Bill Gates’ strategy: This is the best Wordle starting word according to MIT researchers
Sorry Bill Gates, but AUDIO isn’t the best word to start with when you’re playing Wordle.
We are drowning in numbers, and we no longer understand what they mean. Every day, headlines bombard us with figures meant to inform: billions in spending, trillions in debt, percentages signaling growth or decline. But for most of us, these numbers blur together. They register as “large” or “small,” but almost never as real. And that is more than a math problem. It is a civic one.
INFORMS has awarded Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) its 2026 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science, for reengineering how global cloud infrastructure is planned and delivered, applying advanced analytics and AI to orchestrate complex fulfillment decisions across its rapidly expanding data center network.
In the rush to adopt artificial intelligence, many employers are now requiring that employees use AI tools. As you’re using AI, be intentional and selective. It’s critical that you know yourself. Research published in Management Science found that AI is most valuable for people who understand their own abilities and limitations. Assess yourself, so you can factor this into your process for incorporating AI into your work.
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Sorry Bill Gates, but AUDIO isn’t the best word to start with when you’re playing Wordle.
John Howell speaks with Dr. Sheldon H. Jacobson, Founder Professor in Computer Science at the University of Illinois. He joins the show to discuss his piece on how the electoral college system needs to be changed, but not just yet. Further, Dr. Jacobson says we need to repair our relationship between parties, and changing the constitution at this point would do the opposite of that.
As the deadline for the two largest U.S. freight rail unions and rail carriers to reach an agreement near, concerns amid an already strapped supply chain grow.
Join NC State University Industry Expansion Solutions (IES) on September 27th at 11:00 a.m. for the Navigating Supply Chain Challenges webinar where Rob Handfield will share knowledge about how manufacturers can navigate current supply chain challenges.
Two and a half years since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re still feeling its effects on the travel industry in big ways.

OR/MS Today is the INFORMS member magazine that shares the latest research and best practices in operations research, analytics and the management sciences.
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