Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have been linked to 32 harmful health effects, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer and mental health problems, according to the largest review into their impact. A systematic umbrella review published in the BMJ looked at the risks of exposure to UFPs such as sugary cereals, ready meals and fizzy drinks could have on physical and ...

Snapchat was flagged in nearly half of the crimes involving child abuse imagery over the past year, new figures reveal. Freedom of information requests submitted by the NSPCC children’s charity to 35 police forces showed Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp were named in around a quarter of cases of child abuse imagery crimes when police linked the case with an online ...

Photographers have captured images of humpback whales engaging in sexual activity for the first time – and the mammals being intimate were both males. The behaviour of humpbacks has fascinated scientists for decades – but a study published this week features the first photos of the species having penetrative sex, its authors have said. It was written by marine biologist ...

A new species of sea creature has been discovered in UK waters. Previously, there were only thought to be two species of the pleurobranchid genus of sea slug – none of whom had ever been seen in UK waters before now. But scientists from the Centre for Environmental Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) working in waters off the southwest of ...

Elon Musk, the multi-billionaire owner of Tesla and X, is suing artificial intelligence company OpenAI, accusing the firm of prioritising profit over developing AI for the public good. Mr Musk is bringing the suit against OpenAI, which he co-founded, and its chief executive, Sam Altman, for breaching a contract by reneging on its pledge to develop AI carefully and make ...

Lockdowns imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic saw changes in newborn babies that may have protected them against allergies, according to a study. Infants raised when coronavirus social distancing restrictions were in place were found by Irish researchers to have more of the beneficial microbes acquired after birth from their mother, which could act as a defence against disease. The scientists ...

Four astronauts have blasted off to the International Space Station for a six-month stint in orbit. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida on Sunday, carrying NASA’s Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, Jeanette Epps, and Russia’s Alexander Grebenkin. Footage showed the rocket’s nine Merlin engines roaring into life as it ascended from the ...

Apple has been fined €1.8bn (£1.54bn) by the EU for favouring its own music streaming service rather than rivals. Apple did not fully inform their device users there were alternative and cheaper subscription services for more than a decade, said the EU executive, the European Commission. Money blog: Holidays get cheaper as pound strengthens – except in these four countries ...

Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Threads suffered widespread problems on Tuesday afternoon, with users locked out of their accounts and pages failing to load properly.  Facebook outages reported on Down Detector shot up just before 3pm, with more than 300,000 problems logged. More than 25,000 Instagram outages were also reported via the website, which collates status reports from several sources, including ...

The value of the best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has reached a new high. For the first time ever one Bitcoin bought $69,202 (£54,404) on Tuesday afternoon, surpassing the previous high just below $69,000 (£54,242) recorded in November 2021. Money: Elon Musk loses title of world’s richest man It comes, as the previous high did, as a ‘halving’ event approaches, whereby Bitcoin ...