Author: BBC

Part of the soundtrack to a day in southern California is the drone of petrol-powered gardening equipment.Noise is one of the main reasons that cities around the US, external are banning petrol landscaping tools or encouraging electric alternatives.These alternatives have the additional benefits of reducing carbon emissions, vibrations and the exposure of landscapers to pollution. In addition they can mean longer working hours, as they can be used at times when residents demand quiet.Today, I’m taking part in training run by the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA), an organisation supporting the transition towards electric landscaping equipment.To my surprise, the electric…

The cost of studio memberships can be pretty high, so people are increasingly organising their own free or affordable wellness-based gatherings – these can usually be found through local groups on social media, and on platforms like Meetup.Yoga teacher Anastasiia Mirraslavska, for example, hosts a meetup called Sunday Reset in London. Every month the group meets in a different city park to do yoga and meditate together, and they also come together for online meditation sessions over Zoom. Some of the sessions are paid-for – about £10 – and others are free.”I wanted to create a space where people could…

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent more than 81,000 letters warning cryptocurrency holders they may owe capital gains tax in the past year.A Freedom of Information (FOI) request seen by the BBC showed the number of letters sent by the tax authority had almost tripled since 2024.Investors could face fines or prosecution if they fail to declare profits they made from selling, even if they exchange one cryptocurrency for another.New powers due to be given to HMRC next year will make it easier to target wealthy crypto investors, with one analyst saying investigations will be like “shooting fish in a…

Kate Morgan explains why some Welsh women are travelling to London for abortions.

A wall of white granite towered above a small team of engineers gathered in a California quarry. The ancient, ultra-hard material before them was, to most things, completely impermeable.Then the rock-melting tunnel-boring machine (TBR) roared to life.”It’s kind of like igniting a rocket,” says Troy Helming, founder and chief executive of EarthGrid, as he describes the initially loud process of lighting up three plasma torches at the front of his company’s machine.Those torches, set within a spinning head, soon quieten down as they produce a stream of super-heated plasma reaching 27,000C – significantly hotter than the surface of the Sun.During…

Clancy’s mother, sister and former mother-in-law have testified in court as the trial continues.

The idea behind the trial is that if scientists can predict the areas of the atmosphere where contrails are likely to form, aircraft could avoid them.Google will use satellite images and flight data to identify where planes have previously produced contrails.This is then combined with weather patterns to forecast where the conditions for new contrails are likely to occur.The information will be passed to NATS, where air traffic controllers can direct pilots to avoid those areas. Rather than dramatically changing the route of a flight, the trial will mostly involve changing an aircraft’s altitude by around 2,000ft. This is something…

At least 30 children, most of them British, are feared to have been conceived by IVF treatment in northern Cyprus using the wrong sperm or egg donors.In each case, the parents suspect they did not get the donors they had selected.The figure is one of several new findings in a BBC investigation that, earlier this year, uncovered the first seven cases.All the parents say they carefully selected anonymous donors based on information such as their medical history, appearance, personality, education and hobbies.However, they have concerns the requested sperm and egg donors may not have been used in their fertility treatments.Half…

“Like” counts, for instance, have been part of Meta since its early years, when it was still called Facebook and that was its only platform.Today, likes are omnipresent on social media platforms. It is the main way in which people engage with text, photos and videos they see online. Yet, likes are increasingly viewed as a way to foster negative feelings, particularly among young people.Kaley, a young woman who prevailed in her lawsuit against Meta earlier this year, described during court testimony how she created dozens of accounts on YouTube and Instagram.She would use the system of accounts to create…

Prof Vaibhav Modgil, an andrologist and consultant urological surgeon for the NHS in Manchester, has seen these men coming into hospital after botched procedures.”When it does happen, it can be devastating for the patient,” he says.He recalls seeing men with “skin necrosis, where an area of the skin dies off it turns very black and then it sort of sloughs off.”So, men will go in thinking, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be brilliant’, but they might come out actually being even more dissatisfied than when they went in.”Alex, who did not want his real name to be used, travelled to Germany for…