Science and Tech

Sharp rise in problematic teenage social media use, study says

Sharp rise in problematic teenage social media use, study says

Getty Images A major international study suggests there has been a sharp rise in what it calls “problematic” social media use among young people since the pandemic. Researchers came to the conclusion after surveying almost 280,000 children aged 11, 13 and 15 across 44 countries. The Health Behaviour In School-aged Children (HBSC) study found, on average, 11% of respondents engaged …

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Will the US presidential election define the future of crypto?

Will the US presidential election define the future of crypto?

Getty Images While Trump has been forthright about his views on crypto, Harris’ position is much less clear The cryptocurrency industry is “rife with fraud and hucksters and grifters”, one of the United States’ top financial regulators has told the BBC. The chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says the “investing public around the globe …

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Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in FTX crypto fraud

Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in FTX crypto fraud

Caroline Ellison has been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has been described as one of biggest financial frauds in US history. Ellison, 29, was a top executive at the firm and is also the ex-girlfriend of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in …

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TSB says sorry for payment problems

TSB says sorry for payment problems

Getty Images TSB has apologised to customers who did not receive payments after a technical issue, and says the problem has now been resolved. Many customers had taken to social media to say they had not been paid their child benefit on Tuesday, while others said they had not received their salaries. The bank said all customers who were due …

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CrowdStrike: What was the impact of the global IT outage

CrowdStrike: What was the impact of the global IT outage

Getty Images GP services in England and Northern Ireland faced huge disruption following IT problems caused by a software update by CrowdStrike GPs couldn’t treat patients, people were stranded as planes couldn’t get off the ground, and small businesses lost much-needed sales. Two months on from the global IT outage on 19 July, its full impact is only now becoming …

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Mangroves: The challenge of preserving coastal forests

Mangroves: The challenge of preserving coastal forests

Vishal Jaiswal Vishal Jaiswal turned a childhood hobby into a profession Vishal Jaiswal has been flying drones since he was young. Now 27, that childhood hobby has become his profession. A recent project involved mapping part of the Sundarbans, a vast area of mangrove forests where the waters of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers spill into the Bay of …

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Telegram will now provide some user data to authorities

Telegram will now provide some user data to authorities

The messaging app Telegram has said it will hand over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to authorities who have search warrants or other valid legal requests. The change to its terms of service and privacy policy “should discourage criminals”, CEO Pavel Durov said in a Telegram post on Monday. “While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with …

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MrBeast: Inside the scandal facing King of YouTube

MrBeast: Inside the scandal facing King of YouTube

Steven Kahn Half a billion fans, a multi-million dollar personal fortune and a global business empire. It would take a lot to dethrone YouTube’s biggest influencer Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast. But a 54-page court document could be his toughest test yet. Five female contestants on upcoming Prime Video show Beast Games are launching legal action against his production company MrB2024 …

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Tamagotchi gets first UK store as global sales double

Tamagotchi gets first UK store as global sales double

Getty Images Tamagotchi is having a moment – again. The egg-shaped toy housing a virtual pet was one of the biggest crazes of the 1990s. And several attempts to reignite the brand over the years appears to have now paid off for owner Bandai Namco. Global sales more than doubled between 2022 and 2023, it tells the BBC, and Tamagotchi …

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