Science and Tech

The UK’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation into Google to probe whether it has too much power in online search. Google accounts for 90% of web searches – the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is looking at whether it is using that dominant position to harm competition or choice for users. It is its first investigation after gaining new …

TikTok users in the US are migrating to a Chinese app called RedNote with the threat of a ban just days away. The move by users who call themselves “TikTok refugees” has made RedNote the most downloaded app on Apple’s US App Store on Monday. RedNote is a TikTok competitor popular with young people in China, Taiwan and other Mandarin-speaking …

TikTok has called a report that China is considering allowing a sale of the social media company’s US operations to Elon Musk “pure fiction.” The firm’s comments came in response to a report by Bloomberg that Chinese officials are weighing an option that could see its business in America being sold to the world’s richest person if the US Supreme …

Deepali Misra-Sharp Dr Deepali Misra-Sharp uses AI to help take notes This is the fifth feature in a six-part series that is looking at how AI is changing medical research and treatments. The difficulty of getting an appointment with a GP is a familiar gripe in the UK. Even when an appointment is secured, the rising workload faced by doctors …

Apple’s board has called on investors to vote against a proposal to end its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes. In comes after a conservative group, the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), called on the the technology giant to abolish its DEI policies, saying they expose firms to “litigation, reputational and financial risks”. Apple’s directors say the NCPPR’s …

The government is to set out plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) across the UK to boost growth and deliver public services more efficiently. The AI Opportunities Action Plan being announced on Monday will be backed by leading tech firms, which are said to have committed £14bn towards various projects, creating 13,250 jobs. It includes plans for growth zones where …

UK laws on internet safety are “very uneven” and “unsatisfactory”, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has said, following calls from campaigners to tighten the rules. On Saturday, Ian Russell, the father of Molly Russell, who took her own life at 14 after seeing harmful content online, said the UK was “going backwards”. In a letter to the PM, Mr Russell argued …

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is axing its diversity programmes, joining firms across corporate America that are rolling back initiatives criticised by conservatives, citing legal and political risks. The move comes just days after the tech giant, owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said it was ending a fact-checking programme criticised by President-elect Donald Trump and Republicans and elevated conservatives to key …

Pharmaceutical firms are turning to AI to find new molecules that might be able to tackle disease.

Reuters U.S. flag and TikTok logo are seen in this illustration taken January 8, 2025. TikTok will appear before the US Supreme Court on Friday in a last-ditch effort to overturn a ban, in a case testing the limits of national security and free speech. The popular social media platform is challenging a law passed last year ordering the firm …