Author: BBC

Dr Oscar is back with the latest health headlines.Can a 10-second finger workout help keep your brain healthy? Plus, the surprising ways stress can affect your body, and why humans can regenerate some tissues better than you might think.To watch this with subtitles go to BBC iPlayer and search for Morning Live from 01/07/2026

As one of France’s hottest days on record unfolded on 23 June, exasperated people painted white chalk on their windows to screen out the sun. Paris’s Eiffel Tower closed early.And in the town of Ergué-Gabéric, in Brittany, the punishing temperatures – around 40C – were too much for one electric transformer.The chunky metal box malfunctioned, initially leaving more than 100,000 people without power.It was a “heat related” incident, according to local authorities, external. Videos posted to social media appeared to show a plume of smoke rising from the stricken transformer. A spokeswoman for power company RTE confirmed to the BBC…

The guidelines recommend when to suspect PMOS, how to assess women and how to diagnose the condition.They also say PMOS should not be discounted in women who have been through the menopause. PMOS is thought to be more common in women of Black, Asian and mixed ethnicity, and healthcare professionals “should consider this when assessing symptoms”, NICE says.Living with PMOS can have a significant impact on mental health and quality of life too, and the draft guidelines say depression and anxiety are common. For those planning a pregnancy, advice on weight, diet, nutrition, exercise, sleep and mental health is recommended.…

The secure messaging app Signal introduced an identical service in 2024, external.”It is a good feature, but even if it does offer more privacy, remember WhatsApp is not a privacy-friendly app overall,” said Carisa Veliz, a professor at Oxford University and author of Privacy is Power.”It collects much metadata about users for marketing purposes. “We have to remember that WhatsApp is owned by Meta – one of the tech companies with the worst track records when it comes to privacy.”WhatsApp does not use the content of private chats for advertising. Those are protected by end-to-end-encryption, meaning the firm cannot read…

The health secretary says he would not give a date that he ‘cannot keep as a promise’ after being asked for one by the influencer and campaigner.

Three in five homes listed for sale since January remain on the market, according to property portal Zoopla, as high mortgage rates frustrate potential buyers.A lack of demand from buyers, as well as some high asking prices from sellers, have left homes in some areas unsold.Agreed sales were 7% below last year, Zoopla said, but the picture varied across the country with sales down 12% in Wales and 11% in the East Midlands.First-time buyers were most exposed to high mortgage rates, although there are now signs of greater competition among lenders who are lowering rates.A jump in mortgage rates in…

To go faster and deeper will require advances in drilling technologies.Companies are developing drilling equipment that is more stable when breaking through hard rock at high temperatures.Some firms are even aiming to penetrate rock without using standard drills. Quaise, a company with roots at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is using a technology called millimetre wave drilling. The frequency is similar to that of microwaves.Quaise’s application involves “sending electromagnetic waves in the microwave millimetre wave spectrum to essentially melt and vaporise through the rock,” explains Harry Kelso, Quaise’s communications manager.Traditional geothermal energy clusters around hotspots on the earth’s surface…

Dr Steven Montgomery, BMA’s Northern Ireland resident doctors committee chair, said the “better pay and better working conditions on offer in other countries means we are losing doctors when we really need to do all we can to keep doctors working here”.He said the “growing patient numbers without the necessary number of doctors needed to meet this demand and pressure” was a “perfect storm for our health service”.”We did not think we would have to take strike action again so soon after the last walk-outs, but we were left with no choice.”The onus is now firmly on government to engage…

South Korea has unveiled plans for at least $880bn (£666bn) of investments to build out the country’s chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the coming years.It is part of the country’s so-called Three Mega Projects to develop new chip production hubs, data centres and robotics technology.The plan is aimed at rejuvenating the economies of areas outside the capital Seoul, President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday.It comes as regional rivals like Taiwan, China and Japan are investing heavily in chip factories and other technologies as the AI boom pushes up demand for semiconductors.”We must secure the core elements of…

RSM UK’s tech senior analyst James Bull noted that the four largest US tech firms are expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on data centres and AI equipment in 2026.”That level of demand for memory chips has created a shortage the supply chain cannot keep pace with,” he said.With big tech and AI firms buying memory at scale, and able to pay a premium for longer contracts, manufacturers were also being incentivised to prioritise their orders over consumer electronics, Bull added.”Essentially, the MacBook on consumers’ desks is now competing for the same Dram as the data centres powering…