Mobile phone use may be linked to low sperm count, Apple Watch ban in US?
Using your mobile phone frequently may be linked to a lower sperm concentration and total sperm count, new research suggests. However, the study by researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) did not find any association between use of the devices and low sperm motility (movement) and morphology (shape). The research also indicates that where the phone was kept – such as trouser pockets – was not linked to lower concentration and count levels. Sky News
A leading UK broadband provider has blocked access for its 5.7 million users to a website promoting suicide. Sky Broadband says the forum will automatically be barred if home users are using its standard filters. A second provider, TalkTalk, said the controversial site had now been added to its list of inappropriate content and could also be blocked by users. It follows a BBC investigation which revealed the forum has been linked to more than 50 deaths in the UK. Last week, we revealed British authorities had failed to act on multiple official warnings about the website – which we are not naming. BBC
WeWork, the office leasing company, is headed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a number of reports in the US overnight. The firm has been battling a substantial debt pile for years and earlier this year flagged ongoing concerns and worries to investors. Bankruptcy protection in the US would give the firm, which once badged itself as leading a workplace revolution, some time to perform open-heart surgery on its finances. Shares in the company crashed in after-hours trading on Wall Street yesterday, falling by more than a third. City AM
Apple Watches could soon be banned from being imported to the US after a stunning ruling from a trade court – that could make the popular devices a collectible after the holidays. Last week, the United States International Trade Commission issued a ‘limited exclusion order’ on certain Apple Watches that will eventually ban the smartwatch imports. The import ban and cease and desist on sales of Apple Watches is set to take effect on December 26. The trade court upheld a ruling from January that Apple violated Masimo’s patent on light-based technology for reading biomarkers such as blood-oxygen levels. Daily Mail
Rishi Sunak’s Bletchley Park summit is wasting time by overreacting to the dangers of artificial intelligence, Sir Nick Clegg has said. Sir Nick, the head of global affairs at Facebook owner Meta, said governments are “spending a huge amount of time on what remains a pretty speculative risk”. In a rebuke to Mr Sunak’s warnings about the threat of AI to humanity, Sir Nick said that “in a rational world”, more attention would be focused on immediate concerns surrounding the technology, such as election interference. Telegraph
The technology that is set to dominate the future – for good or ill – is now the word of the year. “AI” has been named the most notable word of 2023 by the dictionary publisher Collins. Defined as “the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs”, AI was chosen because it “has accelerated at such a fast pace and become the dominant conversation of 2023”, the publisher said. The use of the word (strictly an initialism) has quadrupled over the past year. The Guardian
