What makes a genius? Is it science, genetics, or good old-fashioned luck? That's what journalist Claudia Kalb set out to research in What Makes a Genius?, her newest article for the May 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine. Kalb looked into the science of genius, researching and interviewing those trying to figure out just what elevates someone from being simply intelligent to transforming history. When it comes to common factors in genius, curiosity is certainly a big one. Others include intelligence, perseverance, productivity, and simple good fortune.

Watch a new clip from an upcoming documentary that explores the actress's fascinating history as a brilliant inventor - and her heartbreaking end.

In a rare interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that society, including the tech community, is not moving fast enough on issues like equal rights and diversity. ''I think the U.S. will lose its leadership in technology if this doesn't change,'' Cook said to The Plainsman, the student newspaper at his alma mater. ''Women are such an important part of the workforce. If STEM-related fields continue to have this low representation of women, then there just will not be enough innovation in the United States. That's just the simple fact of it. ''Diversity is ''incredibly important,'' Cook told the newspaper. He also touched on his platform as the most high-profile gay executive in technology.

The U.S. produces about 93,000 engineers a year at the bachelor's degree level, but only 30,000 of them are women or from underrepresented minority groups. The 50K Coalition seeks to graduate 50,000 diverse engineers by the year 2025. The Coalition is a collaborative of more than 40 organizations focused on this bold national goal. Watch this video to see how the Coalition will collaborate to create a comprehensive plan to change the public perception of engineering and encourage a diversified field of study, one that includes more women and members of other underrepresented groups.

Long before Melinda Gates was famous for her philanthropic work, she was yet another woman trying to make it in the male-dominated tech world. Gates started working at Microsoft in 1987, when it was still a small, scrappy company. But even for a woman with a degree in computer science and technical skills in her blood (Gates' father was an engineer) she still had trouble figuring out precisely how she fit into the male-dominated industry. Thirty years later, many women are still asking themselves that question. Women make up an even smaller share of computer-science majors than they did when she graduated, having fallen to 18 percent from 37 percent in 1984. With the formation of her own company, Pivotal Ventures, Gates is joining the bevy of voices in tech who are calling for change. I spoke with her about her experience at Microsoft, how she is approaching the issue of gender diversity in the industry, and why creating more inclusive companies is critical for the future.

Siri, Alexa, Amelia, Amy, and Cortana all have something in common. They may have been created by different companies, but they all share an identity: the female chatbot, or artificial intelligence. These AI systems may have had an innocent origin - aimed at helping users answer questions or monitor their life - but these chatbots have been increasingly targeted by X-rated inquiries. Despite the fact that they are artificial beings, their female voices and subservient nature have led many to believe that the AI industry suffers from a classic case of sexism. But it's not just in the use of these applications where sexism rears its ugly head. Similar to any other technology industry, the artificial intelligence industry is full of unnoticed bias by its mostly-male creators. And as the industry continues to grow, so do the problems. How can sexism in the industry be countered and avoided? First through acknowledging problems, then by a change in the viewpoints that are brought to the table.

On February 19 former Uber employee Susan Fowler wrote an explosive blog post describing her time as an engineer at Uber. She described severe sexual harassment, a hostile HR department that would not or could not help her, and a toxic work environment that eventually pushed her to leave the company. Her essay has received nationwide attention - and alarm. The reaction of many could be summed up as: It's 2017 and we're still dealing with this stuff?

These are the dark times for diversity: in an era of walls, barricades and divisive rhetoric, how can it can ever hope to thrive? But then maybe it was always doomed to failure. Even in happier, more inclusive times the drive for diversity has always had a decidedly chequered history. Progress over recent years has been sluggish at best. Google's data-driven diversity programmecost $2.65m but failed to significantly change the composition of its workforce. The organisation is as white and male as ever. Over the past two years, the number of women in technical positions has increased by just 1%; the number of African Americans has not increased at all. The announcement by Jeffrey Siminoff, Twitter's head of diversity, that he will resign at the end of this month , spoke volumes about the perceived failures of the company's diversity programmes. Google's diversity chief, Nancy Lee, stepped downlast year, indicating that the malaise may be becoming endemic.

While women make up about half of the college educated workforce in the US, they comprise only 29% of science and engineering jobs. This percentage continues to drop further into leadership ranks within these fields. Due both the pipeline problem, as well as other career and social barriers, most senior managers in the tech industry tend to be men. This past year, the percentage of women CEO's of Fortune 500 companies fell to 4%. Current managers can promote gender-inclusive leadership through a variety of methods such as shifting workplace culture and through an understanding of individual perspective. This perspective can be gained through establishing a reverse-mentorship program between a new hire and upper management. This post offers practical hands-on steps for both mentor and mentee.

Male alumni of elite universities can expect a substantial salary advantage over peers from less selective institutions. But the gender wage gap is wide enough to put women who graduated from even the country's best colleges behind men who graduated from the least selective ones. Statistics data on two cohorts of full-time employed graduates from four-year colleges and universities. One group of 3,840 people graduated with bachelor's degrees in 1992 and 1993, and reported their salaries a decade later. The other group of 4,670 people got their degrees in 2007 and 2008, and revealed their salaries four years after graduation. The authors report that, using a conservative model, graduates of the lowest-ranking schools in Barron's Profile of American Colleges - an annual assessment of schools' selectivity and competitiveness - earned an average of 21 percent less than those in the top tier. The impact of attending a top college on salary is so great, even graduates of second-tier schools earned about 11 percent less than their peers from the most selective group.