‘Menopause gold rush’? Boom in hi-tech products as stigma starts to recede

For any bodily function you want to measure these days there is a gadget – a wristband for step-counting, a watch to track your heart rate or a ring for measuring sleep.Now the march of wearable tech is coming to the aid of what some say is a long underserved market: menopausal women.One startup has recently launched a high-end cooling bracelet that kicks into action during a menopausal hot flush. The device is one of a growing number of lifestyle products being launched in this area, which some experts say is growing as stigma around menopause recedes. Companies are developing everything from apps offering dietary advice to devices that track symptoms, hormones and body temperature

Paying kidney donors won’t solve the problem | Letters

It is hard not to feel a certain sadness reading arguments for legalising the sale of kidneys that rely more on provocation than on engagement with how healthcare systems actually work in the UK (The big idea: Should we sell our kidneys?, 25 January).Kidney failure is devastating, and the shortage of donor organs costs lives. About 7,000 people in the UK are currently waiting for a kidney transplant, and six people die every week while waiting. It is therefore concerning to read an argument that implicitly accepts continued late diagnosis of kidney disease and progression to kidney failure as an inevitability, rather than recognising the urgent need to raise awareness of kidney disease and prioritise its prevention before lives reach crisis point.Furthermore, the notion that altruism in the UK has reached its limits, justifying a legal market for human organs, is not supported by public attitudes, social evidence or ethics

Creature comforts in times of grief | Letters

I can empathise very closely with Amy-Jane Beer (Country diary, 27 January) and her moving encounter with a singing robin. Thirty years ago, on the night when my father died, we returned to the family house and were greeted by the unmistakable sound of a robin’s song.This threnody that greeted our return from the hospital was heard in bitterly cold February conditions – and this was after midnight. As a seasoned birdwatcher, it seemed very unusual to me to hear this song at that hour, but I couldn’t help attributing some deeper significance to it.Adrian HughesCastell Caereinion, Powys In the weeks and months after my husband died in October 2024, like Amy-Jane Beer, I’m sure I was “visited”

On Polymarket, ‘privileged’ users made millions betting on war strikes and diplomatic strategy. What did they know beforehand?

In the early hours of 13 June, more than 200 Israeli fighter jets began pummeling Iran with bombs, lighting up the Tehran skyline and initiating a 12-day war that would leave hundreds dead.But for one user of the prediction market Polymarket, it was their lucky day. In the 24 hours before the strike occurred, they had bet tens of thousands of dollars on “yes” on the market “Israel military action against Iran by Friday?” when the prospect still seemed unlikely and odds were hovering at about 10%. After the strike, Polymarket declared that military action had been taken, and paid the user $128,000 for their lucky wager.But was it just luck?Polymarket is an online platform where people can bet on just about anything, from what the most-streamed song on Spotify will be to how many times Donald Trump will say “terrible” that day

‘Chilling’ hacking network is targeting vulnerable children, charity warns

A leading UK online safety charity has issued a “public warning” about a hacking community that is targeting vulnerable children for sexual abuse, self-harm and suicide.The Molly Rose Foundation (MRF) said online networks linked to a global ecosystem labelled the Com were carrying out extreme exploitation, cyberbullying, violence and abuse – and called for a coordinated global response from governments, regulators, law enforcement and tech companies.The warning follows the publication of a report by the online risk consultancy Resolver in partnership with the MRF, which was founded by the family of Molly Russell, a British teenager who killed herself in 2017 after viewing harmful content online.“The growing threat posed by Com networks is the most chilling and urgent threat to children online today and it requires a swift and comprehensive response,” said Andy Burrows, MRF’s chief executive, who described the report as a “public warning”.“These groups prey on children’s vulnerabilities to coerce and groom girls on gaming and messaging platforms, inflicting appalling harm and cruelty including acts of self-harm, livestreamed abuse or even suicide

NHS medical negligence persisting in England ‘despite 24 years of warnings’

Medical negligence in the NHS keeps harming and killing patients because governments and health service bosses have not acted on 24 years’ worth of warnings, MPs have said.In a scathing report published on Friday, the public accounts committee (PAC) excoriates the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England for allowing the cost of mistakes to balloon to £3.6bn a year.Between them, the two bodies have failed to take “any meaningful action” to address the problem in England, despite four PAC reports from as early as 2002 advising them to do so, the committee says.“It feels impossible to accept that, despite two decades’ worth of warnings, we still appear to be worlds away from government or [the] NHS engaging with the underlying causes of this issue,” said Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the influential cross-party committee