In 2024, the US Congress approved “up to” $1.339 billion for the NASA Orion spacecraft. Congress came close, in other words, to refusing to seat an elected president. It’s hard to accept a team member’s constructive feedback on your sales presentation if you almost came to blows in the break room over immigration policy. The support team continued to use the spacecraft in 2021 to study the heliospheric environment (plasma, dust and gas) and to study other Kuiper Belt objects. Sparks stressed that the new find does not prove the existence of plumes; it provides evidence that “they may be present” and points to future avenues of study. The power system that provides electricity and heat for Perseverance through its exploration of Jezero Crater is a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG. For example, many of the helicopters you see, a lot of s­maller power plants and even the M-1 Tank use gas turbines. It combines the power of isochronic tones and binaural beats to promote deep relaxation and enhanced focus. Many also include something called inverse kinematics, which allows for very complex motions, like walking, that are hard or impossible to get right with typical hierarchical motion (called forward kinematics).

Most states protect an employee’s right to take time off to vote. Most states require CNAs to take a training class and to be certified. In most states your certification is valid for two years, after which it must be renewed. You must take the certification exam again if you have not worked as a CNA in the past two years. When you were a kid, you may have performed the trick where you lit paper on fire using the sun and a magnifying glass. Using the car-in-the-sun example, we can look at Earth’s atmosphere as a giant, spherical car window. When we learn that a co-worker shares an opposing or even offensive political opinion, our instinct is to look for all the ways in which they are different than us, says Hale. Also, look for areas of common ground – for instance that both of you love your country, your kids or your families. That common ground can be as simple as a shared desire to make the world a better place for yourselves or for your children.

But if you seek common ground instead, it’s possible to preserve respect for the person even if you don’t respect their opinion. At VitalSmarts, Hale and other leadership trainers teach bosses and workers how to have “crucial conversations,” the kind of tough workplace discussions where “the stakes are high and emotions run strong.” The end goal of these conversations isn’t about changing somebody’s mind or behavior, or even persuading people to see things your way. According to a survey taken during the heated 2016 presidential campaign season, 79 percent of respondents ranked “co-workers” as the least likely group they’d talk with about politics, even less so than neighbors or complete strangers. It brings together people from all sorts of different backgrounds and perspectives, and unlike slinging insults with strangers on Twitter, you have to see your co-workers the next day. Instead of clamming up about politics completely, Hale says there are ways to talk politics with people who share opposing viewpoints that can actually build mutual trust and respect instead of tearing those bonds apart.

If you can talk about politics at work and walk away feeling heard and respected, if not agreed with, then you’ve made your entire workplace culture a little healthier. Joseph Grenny, co-founder of VitalSmarts and author of “Crucial Conversations,” told the Harvard Business Review that learning how to talk productively and respectfully about politics can help us “manage other difficult conversations at work,” like disagreements over a business strategy or workplace policy. Since political conversations often get heated, a co-worker might feel like he’s being singled out and harassed for his views. And if you wear a T-shirt, button or bright-red baseball hat that supports a political campaign or issue, that might violate your office’s dress code. You can’t allow an employee to wear a MAGA hat to work and then ask someone else to remove a pride sticker from their cubicle. Does it mean that work should be a politics-free zone? In Texas, it’s a crime for employers to punish an employee for missing work to vote.