What do these companies have in common? Pinterest, Groupon, Mailchimp, Uber, Slack, WhatsApp, Airbnb, Square, Instagram, Google, and PayPal. (Hint: It’s more than just tech.)

The coming months will be a critical time for Wisconsin’s congressional delegation to put partisan and regional differences aside as decisions are made to seed tech innovation “hubs” in cities outside the nation’s major metros on the East and West coasts.

The running joke among scientists and others engaged in nuclear fusion research is that genuine progress toward producing energy is 20 years away … and has been stuck 20 years out for decades.

The term of art is “range anxiety,” the uneasy feeling that hangs over many drivers of electric vehicles when they hit the road for longer trips. When and where will they find the next charging station? Unfortunately for many of them, Wisconsin is a bigger source of range anxiety than most states — at least, for now.

“Climate refugees” is a term most Americans associate with historically dry places such as sub-Saharan Africa or the Middle East. It may become a domestic reality in the years and decades ahead, with challenges that may upset some people on the receiving end of migration — and opportunities that excite others.