• Actress and Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow spoke with Net-a-Porter about her diet and exercise routine.

• She said she exercised for two hours a day and usually skips breakfast and eats a low-carb lunch.

• I decided to tackle her habits for a week.

I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week, and it didn't quite work out the way I'd planned.

Paltrow famously leads an intense life. In terms of exercise, she used to do an hour of cardio and an hour of weights six days of the week. Her lifestyle brand Goop also hawks all sorts of hardcore detoxes and cleanses.

But all that doesn't really reflect Paltrow's current reality. She recently told Net-a-Porter that she doesn't have the time or energy to tackle that grueling schedule anymore: "I'm getting old, my back hurts! It's depressing. Some days, the gym gives me this rush of energy and I feel amazing, but then my body's like 'f--- you.'"

She also doesn't stick to any Goop cleanses for a long amount of time. She told Net-a-Porter she passes on breakfast and eats a low-carb lunch "so my energy levels don't peak and valley through the day." Then, for dinner, she typically decides to "loosen the reins."

I decided to follow her diet as best I could, as well as take up her previous exercise routine. Here are the rules I was determined to follow for a week:

• Skip breakfast.

• Have a low-carb lunch.

• Put in an hour of cardio exercise.

• Go for an hour of weights-based exercise.

• Eat a dinner along the lines of her typical evening meal: "A glass of wine, maybe a baguette dripping in cheese, some fries."

I didn't prepare at all for this. I just jumped into it, sparking concerns among the people I know. "You're going to die," several coworkers told me when I described my plan. Family members predicted I would "seriously injure" myself and expressed concerns about my shambling running style.

All of this just bolstered my determination to rise to the occasion.

The experiment itself left me somewhat surprised. On the one hand, some of Paltrow's dietary habits were easier to tackle than I thought. On the other, I ended up pulling my shoulder.

Here's a look at what happened when I tried to live like Gwyneth Paltrow for a week:

SEE ALSO: I tried productivity 'Hell Week' created by a former Norwegian paratrooper, but all I learned is I'm great at making excuses

I skipped breakfast every day.

Before this Gwyneth Paltrow challenge, bagels were my go-to morning meal. I'd often grab one — poppy seed with cream cheese or butter — before heading into the office.

But, like some celebrities, Paltrow skips breakfast altogether. So I had to kick the habit. Instead of stopping by the bagel shop, I'd just hop on the train at head to work.

Truth be told, this wasn't particularly challenging for me. Back in college, I rarely ate breakfast. It may or may not be the most important meal of the day, but I've never had a problem skipping it.

I managed to follow this aspect of Paltrow's schedule for the entire week. To be honest, I think the week-long bagel cleanse worked. I haven't had a bagel since. Health-wise, they're far better as an occasional treat than a breakfast staple.

For lunch, I'd eat a salad at my desk.

I didn't have too much trouble with lunch either. Normally, I'd grab a sandwich or a slice of pizza from some place near the office. For the experiment, I needed to spring for low-carb choices instead.

I tried to get fancy and even looked up some of Paltrow's salad recipes. There were some tempting options in her cookbooks. I figured I'd try to make a few, to tide me over for the week. Heck, I even bought a jar of cornichons — which are adorable, tiny pickles.

But, to be honest, I ran out of time before I could snag all the ingredients necessary to throw together some of Paltrow's recipes (what the heck is "silken tofu," anyway, and where am I supposed to find it?).

So I ended up improvising. My non-fancy salad was pretty good, though. I'd pack it up in Tupperware and eat it at my desk every day around noon, with a ginger ale.

I enjoyed the salads, but I was bummed to have to decline a ton of delicious offerings throughout the week. In the run up to the holidays, my coworkers seemed to show up to work with chocolates, cookies, and other sweet treats every other day.

By the end of the week, I was getting a bit bored with salad, although I tried to spice things up by switching up the dressings.

In fairness, I probably could've gotten more experimental with my lunches — "low carb" can include a whole range of meals, of course. But I only have so much brain power to devote to planning out and cobbling together what I'm going to eat ahead of time.

Still, I didn't have much of a problem sticking to low-carb lunches for the entire experiment.

Once I got home, I'd tackle the weight-lifting portion of the exercise routine first.

Once I got home, I'd hide in the basement, where no one could see me flailing around with a medicine ball and hand weights, looking like a reject from the world's worst workout video.

I was unsurprised to find out that weights aren't my strong suit. I didn't really know what I was doing, so I just switched in between different moves for the hour. It was boring and hard. And I'm sure my technique left much to be desired.

Around Wednesday, my left shoulder began to really hurt. An hour of weights is probably too much if you're clueless about exercise — especially if you're making a leap from couch potato to workout fanatic, like I was. After Wednesday, I had to cut down on the weights a bit.

Overall, I'd say I truly disliked this aspect of the experiment. I'd rather do cardio for an hour than do weights for an hour. At least you can read while walking on the treadmill. The weight exercises just felt repetitive and tedious after about a half an hour.

Sometimes it feels like 2017 was all about President Donald Trump.

But Americans were obsessed with a bunch of other trends throughout the course of the year, too.

The team at Foursquare put together data on what Americans watched, ate, and spent money on in 2017, from the solar eclipse to Aziz Ansari's "Master of None" on Netflix.

Check out the biggest trends of the past year below.

SEE ALSO: 9 cities in Europe where expats are happy, housing is affordable, and retiring is easy

DON'T MISS: The best purchase I've made all year costs $10 a month

In January, people from around the world descended on Washington, DC for the Women's March.

The Women's March didn't just lead to a increase in visits to government buildings in DC, as Foursquare found. It also led to a huge jump in sales of office supplies— they were up by as much as 42% versus last year during the same period. In total, $6 million was spent on a mix of poster and foam boards, paint markers, flip charts, fabric paint, staplers, and specialty iron-ons in just one week.

And there were some real political effects, too. Republican John Carman, who sat on the nine-member Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders in New Jersey,  was defeated in November by Democrat Ashley Bennett, who ran because he mocked the Women's March.

Americans got more into self-care this year.

There's some evidence suggesting that meditation changes the brain for the better: A growing body of research suggests that even a few minutes of a daily mindfulness practice is linked to lower stress levels, more positivity, better focus, and creativity.

Various successful people including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin all reportedly meditate.

People made it to the theaters for the live-action remake of "Beauty and the Beast."

"Beauty and the Beast" director Bill Condon said that Josh Gad's character LeFou, the sidekick to antagonist Gaston (Luke Evans), was Disney's first-ever openly LGBTQ character.

A drive-in movie theater in Alabama announced that it would not be showing the movie because of that.

• Samsung 837 is the company's flagship store in New York City.
• The space is designed to let visitors try out Samsung products.
• The store's employees won't encourage guests to buy anything, and the store has limited inventory on site.
• Many of the store's installations are designed to be shared on social media.

Samsung 837 has been called a store that doesn't sell anything, but that's not quite true.

It's true that the New York City store's employees won't push guests to buy any Samsung products, and the space has only a small amount of inventory on site, but the store is selling something else: the idea that Samsung will make shoppers happier than any other tech company.

Shoppers can lounge in one of the living room displays pumped with holiday-themed scents (we noticed cinnamon during our visit) and consider how nice that 60-inch flat-screen TV would look in their home. Or, they can come to a free Luke Bryan concert held in the store and send Snapchats to all of their jealous friends.

Take a look around: 

SEE ALSO: We went to one of Target's new urban stores and saw the company's vision for the future of retail

"We wanted this space to be the truest expression of the Samsung brand," Zach Overton, Samsung's vice president of customer experience and the general manager of 837, said in an interview with Business Insider.

Overton was hired to run the store in November 2015, three months before it opened, after working as the COO of the HIV/AIDS charity (RED). While the building had been chosen and the interior space built, Overton had to decide what to put in the store and how it would operate. From the beginning, he knew that he didn't want employees to drone on about Samsung products; he wanted visitors to experience them firsthand.

While the store's installations change each season, its current iteration includes two stationary VR rides that tilt and shake in response to the visuals in a headset, a glass DJ booth that plays top-40 hits, a variety of holiday-themed selfie stations, and tables full of laptops, phones, and tablets.

"We moved away from talking at people about products, features, and tech specs and things like that, into really engaging in a two-way dialogue with them about how our technology can power the things that they love to do," Overton said.

Employees won't try to sell visitors any of the products they use, but if the space works the way Samsung hopes, they won't need to.

Upon entering the store, guests have the option to borrow a Galaxy loaded with an app that's part map, part product guide, and part cash register. As they walk through the space, the app identifies the nearest installation and gives them the option to learn more about the relevant products or buy them directly through the app. And if they'd like, they can take pictures that they can later email to themselves.

• The exact causes of a hangover aren't totally clear, but scientists say dehydration isn't the primary culprit. 
• Hangovers are caused more by the chemicals created when our body breaks down alcohol, according to the Alcohol Hangover Research Group.
• The science is still out on most hangover "cures"— aside from time.

The symptoms of a hangover are many, including bleary-eyed exhaustion, nausea, a parched throat, throbbing head, regret, and the short-lived resolution never to do that again.

Perhaps the best definition of the next-day consequences of excessive alcohol consumption, as reported in the proceedings of the 8th meeting of the Alcohol Hangover Research Group is a simple and straightforward one: "a general feeling of misery."

Hangovers aren't just a headache for those recovering from New Year's Eve, St. Paddy's Day, or from a general night out with friends — they're a headache for scientists too. The researchers behind the Alcohol Hangover Research Group (AHRG) formed their organization because of the general neglect towards hangover research, despite the fact that humans have suffered this general misery for thousands and thousands of years.

That neglect leaves those researchers asking the same questions many of us have: why does it feel so bad and what, if anything, can we do to feel better? (The fact that their 8th annual meeting was held in New Orleans surely added some urgency to their quest.)

We've pulled information from their latest report and from other hangover research to see what science can contribute towards explaining why we feel the way we do on those rough mornings — and to see how we could perhaps feel a bit better.

SEE ALSO: 14 of the biggest questions researchers have about marijuana

File under obvious but true: a study of Australian revelers shows that the drunker people get, the more severe their hangovers tend to be.

Researchers say that the specific indicator here is breath alcohol content. The higher that goes, the more severe the morning will be. Things like drinking faster or taking shots unsurprisingly speed up the process. 

But certain things can help people moderate those levels of inebriation.

Sure, drinking less can help, but that's not the answer most people are looking for.

For now there's no way to totally avoid a hangover, but eating fatty foods really does make your body absorb alcohol more slowly.

It's hard to say how impaired hangovers make people exactly, but you probably should avoid driving hungover.

Some studies show people have slower reactions but normal accuracy on simple tasks; other studies show normal reactions but loss of accuracy. Either way, most data says getting behind the wheel while suffering after during a rough morning isn't a good idea.

The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.

Starting a smart home is a fun endeavor, but it can also get expensive. Fast.

That doesn't have to be the case, though, and with a little planning and the right products, it's possible to create a smart home on a budget. 

The four products on this list all cost under $100, and when used together can make your current home smarter without a lot of extra work.

DON'T MISS: This little-known Amazon service turns stuff you want to get rid of into store credit

SEE ALSO: I've written about a bunch of great smart-home tech, but these are the gadgets I use every day — here's why

A smart-home hub

Every smart home needs a hub. 

A hub is how you communicate to all of your smart-home accessories, and in the case of Amazon's Echo Dot I mean that literally. 

As someone who uses an Echo product every day, I can attest to the platform's versatility, and being able to control parts of my apartment using my voice still impresses me.

The Echo Dot is just as smart and capable of any other member of the Echo family, but it's smaller and less expensive. If you're starting a smart home on a budget, this is the hub I'd choose.

Echo Dot, $49.99, available at Amazon

Smart plugs

Making the appliances you currently have smarter is significantly less expensive than buying all new ones. 

TP-Link's Smart Plugs make retrofitting these still-functional pieces of your home easy. You plug the smart plug into an outlet, connect it to your Wi-Fi and Echo (a process that doesn't take more than a couple of minutes), and plug in your "dumb" appliance. 

You'll be able to turn the appliance on and off through TP-Link's app or the Echo Dot, which doesn't make it as smart as a new appliance, but does make it more useful.

Think about your morning routine: There's probably something you have to turn on in another room, like a coffee maker. Wouldn't it be nice to turn it on and have fresh coffee waiting when you're done getting changed? That's the type of luxury smart plugs can provide while still being reasonably priced.

TP-Link Smart Plug, $29.99, available at Amazon

Smart light bulbs

Smart light bulbs are probably the first smart-home accessory people think of when considering starting one. 

It's fun to turn your lights on and off with your voice (trust me), but there's also a lot of utility in it. If you have a room where the light switch is in an inconvenient spot, it pays to be able to turn the lights on and off without it. 

I've tried a couple of different smart light bulbs, and both have specific pros and cons. TP-Link's option is less expensive, but isn't part of a larger ecosystem of lighting products. 

Philips Hue bulbs require a larger upfront investment, but are part of a series of different lights that can be used in different places around your house. Most of the initial cost comes from having to buy a Hue starter pack, which includes a hub. Once you have a hub in the house, you're able to buy different lights a la carte, and it becomes less expensive.

Either way, as someone who started their smart home with bulbs like these, I can highly recommend them.

TP-Link Smart LED Light Bulb, $19.99, available at Amazon

Philips Hue White Bulb Starter Kit, $69.97, available at Amazon

A viral diet that's been found to burn up to 10 times as much fat as a standard diet is gaining momentum among Silicon Valley tech workers. And it involves eating a lot of fat.

The ketogenic, or "keto," diet — which first became popular in the 1920s as a treatment for epilepsy and diabetes— limits carbohydrates to no more than 50 grams a day, which is the rough equivalent of a plain bagel or a cup of white rice. By comparison, dietary guidelines from the US Department of Agriculture recommend from 225 to 325 grams of carbs a day.

On the keto diet, the body goes into starvation mode and taps its fat stores for fuel. Studies suggest the low-carb, high-fat diet may promote weight loss, improve focus, and stave off age-related diseases. More research is needed on its long-term effects, especially among healthy people.

A small study recently published in the journal Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome found that adults who had been diagnosed with metabolic syndrome (a precursor of diabetes) and ate a ketogenic diet had resting metabolic rates (a measure of how much energy your body burns when at rest) more than 10 times as high as people who ate a standard diet.

Last year, I spent two months eating bacon, butter, and avocados to see why the keto movement is so popular with tech workers. Here's what it was like.

SEE ALSO: Health nuts from Hugh Jackman to Tim Ferriss are trying 'intermittent fasting' — the dieting fad that lets you eat anything

I am no stranger to diets. I've cut sugar, counted points on Weight Watchers, and swapped solid food for Soylent, a venture-capital-backed meal-replacement shake.

I gave up breakfast for a week and drank this caffeinated meal-replacement shake instead »

But those usually don't last long. I love food. I'm a chronic snacker.

When I learned about the keto diet, it caught my interest because dieters could eat seemingly unlimited amounts of healthy fats, like cheese, nuts, avocado, eggs, butter — foods that have high "point values" on Weight Watchers and are severely restricted.

The keto diet reorganizes the building blocks of the food pyramid.

It cuts down carbs to 20 to 50 grams a day, depending on a person's medical history and insulin sensitivity. (There are about 30 grams in one apple or half of a plain bagel.)

On the diet, healthy fats should be about 80% of a person's daily calories, while protein should be about 20%.

On average, Americans get about 50% of their calories from carbs, 30% from fat, and 15% from protein, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• Turo is a person-to-person car-sharing service that's most easily described as "Airbnb for cars."
• I decided to try the service on a recent trip, renting an SUV for hundreds less than it would have cost through a rental company like Hertz or Enterprise.
• I had a generally pleasant experience, but the sign-up was frustrating, and I was left with a lot of questions about what happens if something goes wrong.

I've long been a sharing-economy aficionado. I stay in Airbnbs or HomeAways rather than hotels, take Lyfts or Ubers rather than taxis, and hire for my freelance business through TaskRabbit. I’m something of a millennial cliché.

But I've never rented a car through Turo, a person-to-person car-sharing service that is most easily described as Airbnb for cars.

Despite Turo’s easy sell to venture capitalists, it hasn’t caught on quite like Airbnb. Originally founded around the same time under the name RelayRides, Turo now operates in 4,700 cities spread across the US, Canada, and the UK with 170,000 cars listed. But that could soon change.

The company announced in September that it had raised $92 million in additional capital, primarily from Daimler AG. The money, along with its purchase of competitor Croove, is intended to expand the platform to Europe.

I decided to put Turo to the test on a recent trip to Seattle. Here's how it went:

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I signed up for Turo using Google the day before my trip. I was pretty excited to use the service. My last run-in with a car-rental company was less than pleasant.

Source: TechCrunch

I checked the dates and narrowed it to the Seattle suburb I would be staying in. There were about a dozen options in the price range I was looking for ($30-45/day).

I was looking for functional, not fancy. I settled on a 2007 Honda CR-V, as I knew it might snow.

As we approach another holiday season and the year draws to a close, our thoughts will soon drift to our goals for 2018.

For those thinking of moving on to a new job at an up-and-coming young company, we've compiled this list to help.

All of these companies are "enterprise" startups, meaning they specialize in making tech for work and business use, a massive $3.7 trillion worldwide market. And all of them achieved milestones in 2017, setting themselves up for a successful 2018 and beyond.

We looked for one or more of the following elements: promising technology, healthy partnerships, experienced leadership and adequate funding. In other words, these companies have all the markings of long-term hits, or those likely to be snapped up by a bigger player for a hefty sum when the time is right.  

SEE ALSO: The 19 hottest San Francisco startups to watch in 2018

Zapier: The plumbing that connects the internet

Name: Zapier
Headquarters: None
Funding to date: $1.3 million, otherwise profitable and self-funded

Zapier, which makes tools for connecting business software to other business software, is somewhat of an anomaly on this list.

It took a meager $1.3 million seed round when it was founded in 2012, but Zapier hasn't touched another dime of investor money since. That's because it's been profitable since 2014, and hit a $20 million annualized run rate by 2017.

On top of that, Zapier doesn't have a headquarters. Instead, its team of around 85 people is entirely remote, working from their own homes all over the globe. Earlier this year, Zapier made headlines when it announced it would actually pay $10,000 in moving expenses for employees to leave the San Francisco Bay Area. the opposite of how it normally works.

Maybe it's no coincidence that "Zapier" rhymes with "happier."

Smyte: Bringing Facebook's trust and safety features to a broader audience

Company name: Smyte  
Headquarters: San Francisco
Funding to date: $6.25 million in 3 rounds

Smyte is the trust and safety feature startup you've never heard of but definitely want to have on your side.

Despite being just two years old, and early in its fundraising, Smyte has already landed customers like Indiegogo, GoFundMe, Medium, and Task Rabbit, who all have used its machine learning technology to catch everything from e-commerce fraud to space, scams, bots and harassers.

The company's success can be attributed in part to its all-star cast of tech veterans. The founding trio has resumes from Facebook, Instagram and Google.

Cofounder CEO Pete Hunt is also one of the well-known fathers of a popular tool for programmers that came out of Facebook called React. 

Fetch Robotics: Creating the warehouse robots of tomorrow

Company name: Fetch Robotics
Headquarters: San Jose, California
Funding to date:$23 million in 2 rounds 

Fetch is a leader in what's known as "warehouse optimization" which attempts to create the perfect mix of human and robotic workers, each doing what they do best to make warehouses as efficient as possible.

There's never been a bigger need for Fetch's robots. As online retailers takeover the role of brick and mortar storefronts, companies face new challenges in quickly getting products out the door.

Fetch specializes in autonomous warehouse technology that works with humans to move cargo around quickly. It's like autonomous vehicles for moving boxes.

Fetch's CEO Melonee Wise, who joined in 2014, is a legend in the robotics industry. She was an early employee at Willow Garage, a now-defunct startup that helped launch the current renaissance in robotics.

President Donald Trump hosted a New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago private club on Sunday night complete with the glitz and glam his fetes are known for.

See inside the party, with details from the White House press pool:

SEE ALSO: See inside the swanky party where Trump watched the Super Bowl

DON'T MISS: The life of Donald Trump Jr., who once lived out of a truck, didn't speak to his father for a year, and is now embroiled in the Russia scandal

Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and their 11-year-old son, Barron, paused to talk to reporters on the red carpet leading into the Grand Ballroom, where the dinner party was held.

Barron and Donald Trump were in tuxes, and Melania Trump wore a $3,485 embroidered rose satin Erdem gown with $675 Christian Louboutin pumps.

Source: Erdem, Christian Louboutin, White House Fashion

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was there with his wife, Louise Linton, who wore a fur caplet — like many of the women in attendance.

Almost no one is bearish.

This year is poised to be one of the most profitable for the S&P 500 in this bull market, now entering its ninth year, with a double-digit gain. And all the lead strategists at top Wall Street firms expect many of the same catalysts to lift stocks again in 2018, particularly earnings growth and US economic expansion.

Across the board, Republican tax bill is expected to boost the profits of America's largest companies, and possibly reward shareholders through more buybacks.

But this year may not rival 2017 as one of the most peaceful in the market's history. Some strategists warn that the regular pullbacks that create volatility could resume.

Here's what strategists forecast for 2018, in ascending order of their year-end targets for the S&P 500.

HSBC: 2,650

US mergers-and-acquisitions levels "are down 20% year-over-year," Ben Laidler, HSBC's global equity strategist and head of Americas research, said in a Bloomberg TV interview on December 4.

"So I think we're certainly due for a pickup," he said. "We've got a bit of visibility with the tax reform that will allow that to accelerate. US corporates are sitting on a lot of cash. They are sitting on high multiples. I definitely think we're going to see a pickup here."

He added: "I also think we'll see something on the capex front, and a little will go a long way given that US capex is the most depressed in the world. But I still think most of it goes on share buybacks."

Citi: 2,675

"Tax cuts could be quite stimulative to S&P 500 EPS," Tobias Levkovich, Citi's chief US equity strategist, said in a note on November 15.

"We suspect that investors may not be willing to accord the same P/E for earnings generated by a lower tax rate versus one for underlying operating performance," he said. "Nonetheless, even if we assumed half the market multiple on the incremental tax-related EPS gains, it will still be additive to the S&P 500's upside potential."

Bank of America Merrill Lynch: 2,800

"Optimism was building this year, and we think 2018 could be the year of euphoria," Savita Subramanian, the head of US equity and quant strategy, said in a note on November 20.

"Of our five target models, only our Fair Value model suggests negative returns," she said. "Valuation matters, but is only predictive over multi-year time horizons. We think sentiment will be a more important driver of returns in 2018, and drives the bulk of our market call."

Aging is largely your chromosomes' fault. That’s what Nobel-prize winning biologist Elizabeth Blackburn discovered when she started exploring the world of the invisible, threadlike cellular strands that carry our genetic code. 

“It’s the over-shortening of telomeres that leads us to feel and see signs of aging,” Blackburn said in an April 2017 TED talk. "It sends a signal. Time to die." 

Here are a few things Blackburn suggests anyone can do to keep their telomeres long. While these tips won't make you live forever, they can help with your “health span” — the number of years a person lives happily, and disease-free.

SEE ALSO: The wildest scientific discoveries of 2017

Manage your stress.

The more chronically stressed we are, the shorter our telomeres become. Blackburn conducted research focused on mothers caring for children with autism and other chronic conditions, and found that moms who were more resilient to stress — perceiving their situation as a challenge, rather than something hopeless or overwhelming — kept their telomeres longer.

“Attitude matters,” Blackburn said.“If you typically see something stressful as a challenge to be tackled, then blood flows to your heart and to your brain, and you experience a brief but energizing spike of cortisol." 

Meditate.

In case you haven’t heard enough about how beneficial meditation can be, here’s another way researchers have found that it helps: Family members who meditated for as little as 12 minutes a day for two months while caring for a relative with dementia improved their telomere maintenance. 

Invest in your neighborhood community.

“Emotional neglect, exposure to violence, bullying and racism all impact your telomeres, and the effects are long-term,” Blackburn said.

But tight-knit communities can be good for telomere health.

Ask a baby boomer about their salary, and you'll probably get a dirty look. But ask someone in their 20s or 30s, and the response might be different.

A survey conducted by The Cashlorette, a personal-finance site run by Bankrate, found that people 18 to 36 were far more comfortable than older workers discussing their salaries with coworkers, friends, and family members.

Thirty percent of millennials surveyed said they felt comfortable discussing pay with their coworkers. Meanwhile, just 8% of those aged 53 to 71 said they felt the same.

Millennials also said they discussed pay more with their family and friends.

Here are a handful of reasons to explain the budding trend.

SEE ALSO: The Texas church shooter was 26 — and it shows a disturbing trend about millennial men and mass murder

Millennials value equality and fairness.

There's a wealth of evidence that millennials emphasize fairness in both life and work, constituting things like diversity in the workplace and gender equality.

A 2016 Deloitte survey found that 36% of millennials working in a place with high job satisfaction said there was an emphasis on fairness, while only 17% of people in low-satisfaction jobs said the same.

Millennials value transparency.

The same Deloitte survey found that open communication was one of the guiding forces of job satisfaction where millennials work.

Forty-seven percent of millennials who said they were happy with their jobs reported that there was "open and free-flowing communication" at work, while 26% of people who were dissatisfied said the same.

The market-research firm ORC International has found in its studies that the average millennial wants to know how they're doing 71 times a year.

Millennials prefer to collaborate, not compete.

If people are focused on one-upping their colleagues, they may be more likely to keep their salary a secret. But millennials largely prefer to work together with their peers, not compete with them.

Malcolm Harris and Neal Gorenflo, the authors of the book "Share or Die," explain how the mindset applies not just to jobs, but to living situations and ride-sharing.

One of the best defenses we have against viral infections is the vaccine. 

Vaccines prepare the body's immune system to fight an incoming infection; they've been credited with the widespread eradication of smallpox and the near-eradication of polio. 

But for all the conditions vaccines have succeeded in eradicating, there are still many diseases for which no vaccine exists.

Researchers are finding ways to use the immune-system-triggering effects of vaccines to tackle unexpected diseases, such as cancer and drug addiction.

To get approved, vaccines need to show that they're both safe and effective at preventing diseases or — if they're used therapeutically — at activating the immune system to go after existing diseases. That process can take years or even decades.

Here are nine vaccines currently in development that could dramatically change how humans live.

SEE ALSO: The 50 US states ranked from most to least healthy

DON'T MISS: A startup looking to reverse type 1 diabetes just raised $114 million

Gonorrhea

Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted bacterial infection, is typically treated with antibiotics. But in the past few years, it's become untreatable in some cases. 

In addition to new antibiotics that can combat the infection, the World Health Organization is calling for a vaccine. There is at least one in development. 

But in a surprising turn of events, researchers looking at data on a meningitis outbreak and subsequent vaccination effort in New Zealand found that the vaccine protected against gonorrhea as well. As it turns out, the bacteria that cause meningitis and gonorrhea are very closely related — like "cousins."

The vaccine used to target that specific meningitis outbreak was administered from 2004 to 2006, and is no longer in use. It remains to be seen whether someone will develop it as a vaccine for gonorrhea alone. 

Cancer

There are already some vaccines that prevent certain types of cancer. The vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), for example, can prevent six different kinds of cancer. Another vaccine for hepatitis B prevents liver cancer as well. 

There's also a push to use vaccines once a person has been diagnosed with cancer. One such treatment was approved for prostate cancer in 2010. The treatment reprograms the body's immune system to go after a particular protein that helps the immune cells attack the cancer cells.

Other vaccines on the horizon could take a more personalized approach, pinpointing cancer mutations and amplifying the body's immune system to fight off certain types of cancer cells. 

Malaria

Malaria is a parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes that can lead to chills, fever, and nausea, along with other severe complications including organ failure. The disease is responsible for more than half of mosquito-related deaths, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa. 

There is no widely available vaccine for malaria, though three countries are set to take part in a pilot program for a malaria vaccine starting in 2018, the World Health Organization said in a news release.

The number of deaths caused by the disease are already dropping, however, due to prevention efforts like insecticides that are sprayed and used in netting. Between 2000 and 2015, malaria deaths fell 62%, translating to 6.8 million lives saved, according to the WHO. 

A New York Times investigation revealed that the FBI probe into whether President Donald Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election started at a London wine bar in May 2016. 

George Papadopoulos, a foreign-policy adviser on the Trump's campaign, told an Australian diplomat that Russia had "dirt" on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton during a night of "heavy drinking" in May 2016, according to the Times.

That diplomat later passed along that information to Australian intelligence officials, who told their American counterparts. By July 2016, the FBI officially launched its investigation.

See inside The Kensington Wine Rooms where Papadopoulos' fateful night reportedly took place:

SEE ALSO: We now know the tipping point that prompted the FBI to launch its Trump-Russia investigation

DON'T MISS: See inside the swanky party where the Trumps celebrated New Year's Eve

Kensington Wine Rooms is located just south of the trendy Notting Hill neighborhood in London. The building used to be a pub.

It opened in April 2009 and celebrates "all that’s enjoyable around wine: good food, good friends, good conversation."

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Source: The Kensington Wine Rooms

The major draw seems to be their Enomatic wine dispenser system, which allows patrons to sample multiple wines or choose their wine by the glass.

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Source: Enomatic

After Amazon announced in September that it plans to build a second headquarters in an undetermined location, it received 238 bids from cities, states, and regions across North America. Each proposal detailed why that place should be chosen for Amazon's new second home.

The company says its new campus, called HQ2, will bring 50,000 new jobs to the city where it winds up being built. The e-commerce giant will invest $5 billion in the construction, making the offer one of the largest corporate-civic opportunities in recent American history.

The shortlist is expected to be revealed some time in early 2018, and many cities have disclosed their plans to woo Amazon. Some are more extreme than others.

Here are a few of the most out-there bids.

SEE ALSO: A major Texas city wants Amazon to move its new headquarters to a dead shopping mall site

Columbia, St. Louis, and Kansas City, Missouri — a proposal to build a Hyperloop between the state's three largest cities

Missouri submitted a state-wide bid that offers Amazon a choice of three locations for HQ2: Colombia, St. Louis, or Kansas City. If Amazon comes to the state, Missouri Economic Development officials told local outlet KMOV that it would build Hyperloop stations in each of the three cities.

In the state's bid, Missouri touts a proposed "innovation corridor" that would connect St. Louis and Kansas City in approximately 25 minutes, with a stop in Colombia in between. Normally, it takes nearly four hours to drive from St. Louis to Kansas City. A flight takes about an hour.

A feasibility study  for Missouri's Hyperloop project is already underway — at an estimated cost of $1.5 million. The state may build the Hyperloop regardless of Amazon's decision.

Dallas, Texas — a development that would surround a proposed station for a $15 billion bullet train

Developers from the firms Matthews Southwest and Texas Central Partners are pitching a transit-oriented development for Amazon's HQ2 campus, according to the Dallas Business Journal. The headquarters would include a proposed station for a bullet train, which Dallas magazine reports is expected to cost $15 billion. If fully approved by the city, the 240-mile line would transport passengers from Houston to Dallas in 90 minutes.

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has formally expressed support for the train plan, which is likely to happen with or without Amazon. Developers hope to start construction on the development by late 2018.

Dallas, Texas — the site of a former (nearly dead) shopping mall

Another Dallas proposal proposal comes from three developers who want Amazon — the e-commerce giant that pioneered the growth of online shopping— to move into the old site of the Valley View Mall.

Dallas News reports that the proposal calls for the construction of a 500,000-square-foot office building, which would be a part of a larger 430-acre district.

The building's parking garage was demolished this summer. Now only a theater, a few art galleries, some pizza joints, and a smoothie shop remain.

• I got a deal on a first-class one-way ticket because I was breaking up my transcontinental flight.
• American Airlines was the carrier.
• There were pluses and minuses, but I'd do it again.
  

When I travel on my own dime, I sometimes bump myself up to business class, but rarely first class.

At Business Insider, we typically fly coach, but I recently had a chance to add a first-class ticket to a return trip from Los Angeles, so I thought I'd flip for the seat and pay the extra $250.

The reason I got a good deal was that I flew back to the New York area on two planes. I don't mind breaking up my flights for a cheaper ticket, but I do have to add in some margin for error if I miss a connection or experience a delay.

I haven't flown domestic first class in a long time, mainly because I don't really think it's worth it. Transatlantic flights are a different story, but even then I think business class is a better deal.

So how was domestic first this time around, on American Airlines? Read on.

SEE ALSO: I flew JetBlue for the first time and finally understand why it's one of the best airlines in the world

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For comparison's sake, let's start with my coach flight out. It was on an Airbus A321.

I'm not a big guy (5-foot-7) so tight seating usually doesn't bother me unless it's ridiculously tight. My window seat on this American flight wasn't too bad.

And the plane wasn't packed, so I had the whole row to myself.

• We compared premium airline credit cards for the largest US carriers: Delta, United, and American.
• We looked at annual fees, spending bonuses, airline miles, and hotel and airport perks to see which card offered the best benefits.
• There were a lot of similarities, but Delta's airline credit card stood out above the rest.

If you've ever walked past the first-class cabin on your way to a middle seat in coach and thought to yourself that there has to be a better way, well, maybe there is.

JPMorgan Chase brought the allure of premium credit cards to a new level when it introduced the Chase Sapphire Reserve card last year, making a $450 annual fee seem reasonable — if not a downright steal — thanks to generous travel credits and a six-figure sign-on points bonus.

But the popular credit card leaves one thing to be desired: airline-specific loyalty rewards. Though Chase's Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed on many airlines, perks such as priority boarding and free checked bags aren't included.

If you're a frequent traveler — or even just a beleaguered one craving a more luxurious vacation experience — paying the annual fee for a premium airline credit card allows you to buy the benefits of elite status so you can save time (and maybe money), maximize your trip value, rack up miles, and restore some peace of mind.

To help figure out which airline credit card is best, we compared the top-tier offerings from the three largest US carriers: Delta, United, and American.

Before we dive in, please note all the usual credit-card disclaimers apply: Don't spend more than you can afford to pay in full each month. Credit-card interest is expensive and a waste of money. And so on.

Scroll through to see how each card stacks up when it comes to annual fees, spending bonuses, airline miles, and hotel and airport perks — and which one emerged victorious in our matchup.

SEE ALSO: How 5 of the most powerful travel rewards credit cards stack up

DON'T MISS: Thanks to a little-known airline hack, traveling around the world could be cheaper than you realize

No matter which premium airline credit card you pick, you'll pay $450 for the plastic.

Each of the airline credit cards we compared — the Delta Reserve American Express Credit Card, the United MileagePlus Club Card from Chase, and the Citi/AAdvantage Executive Card— has a $450 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.

None of the credit cards have blackout dates for travel, a cap on the amount of rewards cardholders can earn, or an expiration date for airline miles.

Citi/AAdvantage Executive cardholders receive a statement credit of $100 for Global Entry, which you should definitely sign up for if you haven't already.

The Delta Reserve American Express is the only card to offer one free companion pass each year, which could very well justify the annual fee, depending on the value of the ticket price.

Best for fees: Delta Reserve American Express Credit Card

Bonus offers change regularly, but they should play a role in your decision-making process.

Credit-card sign-on bonuses have been gigantic lately, but only two of the three cards we looked at offered a sign-on bonus of any consequence.

United is offering a measly $100 statement credit after your first purchase. Delta has the biggest bonus per spending amount required, at 40,000 miles for spending $3,000 in the first three months. American has a bigger bonus at 75,000 miles, but you'll have to spend more to get it: $7,500 in the first three months.

Best bonus offer (currently): Delta Reserve American Express Credit Card

All of the cards will give you a first-class airport experience, even if you're flying economy.

Paying the $450 fee for any of these cards could essentially wipe out the typical frustrations of flying.

To enjoy the perks below, your card may need to be open for a certain number of days before your trip, and you may have to purchase your airfare using the card. Make sure to read the fine print so you aren't disappointed when you arrive at the airport.

Priority treatment, from check-in to boarding

Regardless of where your seat is on the plane, all three cards offer priority check-in, priority security lanes, priority boarding, and priority baggage handling. That means you can breeze through the airport like a first-class flyer, even if you're paying economy prices.

Check your bags free

United cardholders and one companion can check two bags free, while Delta and American limit free checked bags to one for each passenger on the reservation, up to eight travel companions. If your travel crew is large, you'll get more free checked bags with Delta or American, but United is better if you tend to travel with only one other person.

Relax in the lounge before your flight

Complimentary lounge membership is included with premium airline credit cards, which comes in handy if you arrived early at the airport only to realize security is easier with your new card and now you have a couple of hours to spare before your flight. Both Delta and United offer about 50 lounges worldwide, while American has 90.

Delta Sky Club access is free only for the cardholder, but discounted passes can be purchased for up to two guests. American cardholders and guests enjoy the full benefits of an Admirals Club membership, including partner lounge access.

United cardholders gain entry to all United Club locations and participating Star Alliance lounges worldwide. It's unclear whether you also get access to the secret, invitation-only restaurant located in Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal C, but one can hope.

Best airport perks: Citi/AAdvantage Executive Card (but just barely)

Every year, Hollywood plucks great stories from books to turn them into big-screen experiences.

Whether they're a true story based on a biography or a sci-fi extravaganza based on a novel, adaptations often end up being Hollywood's best movies.

But before the movies come out, do yourself a favor and dive into the world of the books instead. Stay ahead of the curve by reading "Fifty Shades Freed" and "A Wrinkle in Time" before everyone's talking about the movies.

Here are the book-to-movie adaptations coming out this year.

"Paddington 2" continues the charming adventures of Paddington Bear.

Studio Ghibli adapted the children's book "The Little Broomstick" by Mary Stewart into an internationally acclaimed anime film called "Mary and the Witch's Flower."

"12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers" by Doug Stanton is about an elite group of CIA officers sent to Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks.

The things we look for in an airline are usually comfort, good service, and good value — but a recent travel ranking also put the attractiveness of the crew at the top of the list.

MONOCLE’s Travel Top 50 — an annual list selected by the magazine's editors — awarded Portugal's TAP (Transportes Aéreos Portugueses) airline the accolade of "Most handsome crew."

Announced in the December/January edition of the magazine, MONOCLE wrote: "It feels a bit 1950s to be talking about attractive flight crew but let’s be honest, who doesn’t enjoy being served by a handsome fella with a nice smile and a twinkle in his eye?"

Scroll down for a look at what it's like to fly on TAP, which apparently has the "most handsome crew" in the world.

SEE ALSO: 10 easy ways to make a standard hotel room feel like a suite

This is TAP Portugal, the airline which was recently given the accolade of "most handsome crew" by MONOCLE.

MONOCLE’s Travel Top 50 — an annual list selected by the magazine's editors of their "favourite fifty finds from the fast-moving world of travel" across 50 categories — awarded Portugal's TAP airline the accolade in the December/January edition of the magazine.

Founded in 1945, TAP — which has its hub in Lisbon — is Portugal's national airline, and flies to numerous European and international destinations.

It's the only airline to connect London City airport and Lisbon.

According to MONOCLE, the airline employs more than 2,800 people across its routes.

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Seeking a promotion? Why not start off the year with a great goal to work towards. 2018 is going to be the year you take charge of your position and move up in your career — so make sure you carve out some time this holiday season to reflect on how you're going to do so.

If you want to add "get a promotion" to your list of New Year's resolutions, we're here to help you succeed!

Here is what bosses and managers say you should focus on if you really want to push your career forward in 2018.

SEE ALSO: Asking your coworkers two uncomfortable questions is the key to getting ahead in your career

1. Collaboration

If you want to get promoted, you have to do more than focus on your personal work. Consider branching out to see who could use an extra hand around the office. The more impressed your co-workers are with you, the more likely your boss will hear about your work ethic. Your ability to collaborate is just as important as your ability to work independently.

"Collaboration with teams across the organization always stand out," says D.G., a GRC training manager at Oracle Cloud. "I always look at an employee's internal branding to see how they are viewed by others."

2. Ownership

"We value something called FLO: 'Full Leadership Ownership.' We promote people who demonstrate an ownership of the outcome of their project," says Phil Fremont-Smith, Co-founder of Happie. "That means doing whatever it takes to get it done — staying late, getting creative, pulling in resources to help if they need it. FLO comes from a personal desire to put the ball into the end zone and score. Not just pass the ball around."

3. Effort

When it comes to your work ethic, it's not always just about hitting specific milestones. Some managers say they look at the effort an employee is putting in — does their report exhibit self-discipline and adaptability? Are they focused and being creative? The amount of effort you put in will speak volumes to your boss.

"It's more about the amount of effort I see, rather than specific milestones," says Janelle L., a marketing director. "When I [promoted] employees, they were all people I saw making [a] great effort every day. I have promoted less-skilled people over someone who is skilled but does the minimum."