AI agents are increasingly handling engineering, customer support, research, and operational work at early-stage startups, prompting founders to reconsider hiring decisions. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, leaders from Gusto, Insight Partners, and Leland will discuss how to build teams where humans and AI agents collaborate effectively while maintaining accountability and culture.
Belgian doctors successfully transplanted frozen testicular tissue back into the same patient years later, resulting in sperm production for the first time in humans. The breakthrough, achieved in December 2024, involved grafting tissue preserved since 2008 and could offer new treatment options for male infertility, though the sperm quality remains limited and in vitro fertilization would be required for conception.
Immiserizing growth, a concept proposed by Jagdish Bhagwati in 1958, describes a paradoxical situation where economic growth—particularly export-based expansion—can leave a country worse off due to deteriorating terms of trade. When export supply increases inelastically, world prices fall, and import prices rise simultaneously, the resulting decline in trade terms can outweigh growth gains, particularly affecting developing countries dependent on primary goods exports.