TikTok imposes sixty minutes screen time limit for teens
Teenagers under the age of 18 in the US must now type a password into TikTok after sixty minutes of daily use if they want to continue. It comes as the platform faces a possible ban and mounting privacy concerns. Young people in the US will have to input a...
Current in News
New online tool allows teens to remove explicit images
‘Take it Down’ aims to give back agency to teens and victims of revenge porn. Young people are often vilified for sharing explicit images of themselves online. ‘Everything on the internet lasts forever’ is often the warning cry of older generations. The reality is that many teens are coerced into uploading...
Snapchat announces its own integrated chatbot ‘My AI’
Snap has announced its own ChatGPT-style chatbot called ‘My AI,’ rolling out to paying subscribers and eventually everyone. This is billed as more a virtual friend, than all-powerful writing machine. Being ahead of the curve isn’t necessarily always best. In the realm of tech, sitting back and learning from rival...
Does the post-apocalypse shooter ‘The Day Before’ really exist?
‘The Day Before’ has been billed as a massive online post-apocalypse zombie shooter. It is the second most wish-listed game on Steam and has lapped up serious levels of hype. There’s only one catch – nobody is sure if it actually exists. When I mention video game disasters, what...
Could gene-editing be used to treat mental illness?
Just as the technology is promising new therapies for everything from heart disease to cancer, some researchers believe that tinkering with the epigenome could help reverse the damage done by trauma. In recent years, scientists have made strides towards treating diseases through gene-editing technology, their most promising breakthrough being the...
Could this mushroom one day replace plastic?
Researchers are studying the molecular structure of fomes fomentarius, a fungus with the remarkable ability to yield a wide range of materials with different properties. If you’re familiar with my writing, by now I’m sure you’re well aware of my deep-rooted obsession with all things mycelium. This is pretty understandable,...
Spotify lays off 6% of work force in latest tech cuts
Music streaming platform Spotify is to cut 6% of its 10,000 employee work force, after hiring aggressively over the pandemic period. It is line with other tech companies who have stripped back their workforces. Spotify will be letting 6% of its work force go after major cuts to improve company ‘efficiency’. CEO Daniel Ek has said that he was ‘too ambitious’ and expanded the company too quickly. It follows similar...
Scientists create ‘vagina on a chip’ to advance sexual health research
Medical conditions affecting people with vulvas are notoriously understudied, but recent developments in the field suggest that things might finally be about to change. Scientists at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University have created the world’s first ‘vagina on a chip,’ a development that could prove significant in bridging several knowledge gaps on women’s sexual health. It comes amid growing furore towards prevailing bias in the medical sphere, which still...
New study suggests vaping damages the immune system
Though scientists still know little about the long-term effects of e-cigarettes on the human body, they just found the devices to be causing significant cellular and molecular changes in the lungs. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that vapes are all the rage. Replacing one of the leading causes of preventable death worldwide, these days they are, quite literally, everywhere. Regularly seen in the hands of
Australia legalises therapeutic use of MDMA and psilocybin
In a world first, the country has officially recognised psychedelics as legitimate medicines. From July, authorised psychiatrists will be able to prescribe the drugs for treatment-resistant mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. For decades, scientists and researchers have sought to prove the extraordinary medical potential of psychedelic drugs. Time and time again these mind-altering compounds have shown genuine promise in alleviating some of the most intractable (and expensive)...
