Children under seven should not drink slushies containing glycerol, says regulator
Children under seven should not drink slushies containing glycerol because of the serious health risks they can cause, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said.Glycerol is a naturally occurring alcohol and sugar substitute that helps slushies maintain their texture by preventing liquid from freezing solid.Children who become ill as a result of drinking slushies develop glycerol intoxication syndrome, which causes symptoms such as decreased consciousness and low blood sugar.Other symptoms include lactic acidosis, which occurs when the body produces too much lactic acid, and hypokalaemia, or low potassium.Previously, the FSA, the food safety body for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, had advised that children under four should not have slush ice drinks containing glycerol, and that consumption should be limited to no more than one slushie a day for children aged between five and 10 years.
The FSA has revised its guidance before an expected seasonal spike in slush ice drink sales at children’s indoor play areas, leisure facilities and outdoor events over the summer holidays.This latest advice also applies to ready-to-drink slush ice drinks with glycerol in pouches and home kits containing glycerol slush concentrates.There have been nine confirmed cases of glycerol intoxication in young children who were admitted to hospital in the UK over the past three years.In March, paediatricians warned that children under eight should not drink slushies that contain glycerol, after a review of the medical notes of 21 children who became acutely unwell shortly after drinking one.Prof Robin May, the chief scientific adviser at the FSA, said: “As we head into the summer holidays, we want parents to be aware of the potential risks associated with slush ice drinks containing glycerol.
While these drinks may seem harmless and side-effects are generally mild, they can, especially when consumed in large quantities over a short time, pose serious health risks to young children.“That’s why we’re recommending that children under seven should not consume these drinks at all, and children aged seven to 10 should have no more than one 350ml serving.“We’re working closely with industry to ensure appropriate warnings are in place wherever these drinks are sold, but in the meantime we are asking parents and carers to take extra care when buying drinks for young children, particularly during warmer months when consumption of ‘slushies’ typically increases.”
AI firms ‘unprepared’ for dangers of building human-level systems, report warns
Artificial intelligence companies are “fundamentally unprepared” for the consequences of creating systems with human-level intellectual performance, according to a leading AI safety group.The Future of Life Institute (FLI) said none of the firms on its AI safety index scored higher than a D for “existential safety planning”.One of the five reviewers of the FLI’s report said that, despite aiming to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI), none of the companies scrutinised had “anything like a coherent, actionable plan” to ensure the systems remained safe and controllable.AGI refers to a theoretical stage of AI development at which a system is capable of matching a human in carrying out any intellectual task. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has said its mission is to ensure AGI “benefits all of humanity”
Zuckerberg says Meta will build data center the size of Manhattan in latest AI push
Mark Zuckerberg proclaimed that Meta would spend hundreds of billions of dollars on developing artificial intelligence products in the near future and, to that end, construct a data center planned to be nearly the size of Manhattan.The parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is among the large tech companies that have struck high-profile deals, and doled out multimillion-dollar pay packages to AI researchers in recent months – some as high as $100m – to fast-track work on machines that could outthink humans on many tasks, a concept known as “super-intelligence” or “artificial general intelligence”.Its first multi-gigawatt data center, dubbed Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026, while another, called Hyperion, will be able to scale up to 5 gigawatts over the coming years, Zuckerberg said.“We’re building multiple more titan clusters as well. Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan,” the billionaire CEO said
Internet-safe iPhone for children goes on sale for £99 a month
A neutered iPhone, stripped of web browsers and social media apps, is going on sale to parents worried about their children’s phone use, but the “peace and freedom” its creators promise will come at a steep price.The pared-back version of the top-selling handset, which will not allow internet searches, gaming or downloads of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other social media, is being offered in the UK for £99 a month by a US company that wants children to “reconnect with real life, not just reduce screen time”.At more than double the price of a typical two-year iPhone contract, Sage Mobile, an iPhone 16 handset loaded with custom software, will be a pricey way to avoid online harms. But it reflects growing parental dilemmas over the best way to start their children’s digital lives.Research has shown children with problematic smartphone use are twice as likely to experience anxiety and almost three times as likely to experience depression compared with those whose use did not resemble addiction
WeTransfer says user content will not be used to train AI after backlash
The popular filesharing service WeTransfer has said user content will not be used to train artificial intelligence after a change in its service terms had triggered a public backlash.The company, which is regularly used by creative professionals to transfer their work online, had suggested in new terms that uploaded files could be used to “improve machine learning models”.The clause had previously said the service had a right to “reproduce, modify, distribute and publicly display” content, and the updated version caused confusion among users.A WeTransfer spokesperson said user content had never been used, even internally, to test or develop AI models and that “no specific kind of AI” was being considered for use by the Dutch company.The firm said: “There’s no change in how WeTransfer handles your content in practice
Apple inks $500m deal for rare earth magnets with US mining firm
Apple has signed a $500m deal with a US firm for rare earth magnets, essential for manufacturing electronics, after China curbed exports of the scarce, vital materials.The backing from one of the world’s most valuable companies comes after MP Materials, which operates the only US rare earths mine, last week agreed to a multibillion-dollar deal with the US Department of Defense that will see the Pentagon become its largest shareholder. Both deals are aimed at mitigating supply chain risks after China limited the outgoing supply of rare earths earlier this year in response to Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs.The deal, announced on Tuesday, guarantees Apple a steady flow of rare earth magnets free from China – by far the world’s largest producer. For Apple, the cost to support US magnet production pales in comparison to the long-term risk that it could lose access entirely to the critical components, analysts said
Nothing Phone 3 review: a quirky, slick Android alternative
The Phone 3 is London-based Nothing’s latest attempt to get people to ditch Samsung or Apple phones for something a bit different, a little quirky and more fun.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.As the firm’s first high-end Android in several years, it has most of what you’d expect a flagship phone to have
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