Is it true that… you should take vitamin C when you’ve got a cold?

The vitamin has many benefits, but research shows that people who take it are just as likely to get the sniffles as those who don’t

‘Vitamin C is important for your health in lots of ways,” says Daniel M Davis, the head of life sciences at Imperial College London. It is a strong antioxidant, helping protect cells from harmful unstable compounds that arise from toxins and pollution. It helps the body absorb iron, and is also used in the production of collagen. “But the idea that taking high doses of vitamin C – or drinking lots of orange juice – will stop you catching a cold, or help you recover faster, is a myth.”

Davis, the author of Self Defence: A Myth-Busting Guide to Immune Health, explains that the popular belief in vitamin C’s cold-fighting powers has persisted for more than 50 years, “pretty much solely because of the evangelical view of one man: Linus Pauling”.

Published: December 8, 2025, 8:00 am

HMRC owes me £2,200 but says it could be 33 weeks before it pays me back

A reader says they overpaid their national insurance, but seem to be lending the government money with no interest

I have two roles within the NHS, which has resulted in overpayments of national insurance each year.

Since Covid, the refund system has slowly ground to a halt. I was told in October that I am owed £2,200 and that it could take 33 weeks to receive the payment.

Published: December 9, 2025, 7:00 am

Australia’s world-first social media ban begins as millions of children and teens lose access to accounts

Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under ban

• How is Australia’s social media ban affecting you and your family?

• The social media ban explained: everything you need to know

Australia has enacted a world-first ban on social media for users aged under 16, causing millions of children and teenagers to lose access to their accounts.

Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and TikTok are expected to have taken steps from Wednesday to remove accounts held by users under 16 years of age in Australia, and prevent those teens from registering new accounts.

Published: December 9, 2025, 1:01 pm

‘Don’t pander to the tech giants!’ How a youth movement for digital justice is spreading across Europe

Gen Z are the first generation to have grown up with social media, they were the earliest adopters, and therefore the first to suffer its harms. Now they are fighting back

Late one night in April 2020, towards the start of the Covid lockdowns, Shanley Clémot McLaren was scrolling on her phone when she noticed a Snapchat post by her 16-year-old sister. “She’s basically filming herself from her bed, and she’s like: ‘Guys you shouldn’t be doing this. These fisha accounts are really not OK. Girls, please protect yourselves.’ And I’m like: ‘What is fisha?’ I was 21, but I felt old,” she says.

She went into her sister’s bedroom, where her sibling showed her a Snapchat account named “fisha” plus the code of their Paris suburb. Fisha is French slang for publicly shaming someone – from the verb “afficher”, meaning to display or make public. The account contained intimate images of girls from her sister’s school and dozens of others, “along with the personal data of the victims – their names, phone numbers, addresses, everything to find them, everything to put them in danger”.

Published: December 9, 2025, 5:00 am

EU opens investigation into Google’s use of online content for AI models

European Commission to assess whether Gemini owner is putting rival companies at a disadvantage

• Business live – latest updates

The EU has opened an investigation to assess whether Google is breaching European competition rules in its use of online content from publishers and YouTube creators for artificial intelligence.

The European Commission said on Tuesday it would examine whether the US tech company, which runs the Gemini AI model and is owned by Alphabet, was putting rival AI owners at a “disadvantage”.

Published: December 9, 2025, 2:38 pm

‘I feel it’s a friend’: quarter of teenagers turn to AI chatbots for mental health support

Experts warn of dangers as England and Wales study shows 13- to 17-year-olds consulting AI amid long waiting lists for services

It was after one friend was shot and another stabbed, both fatally, that Shan asked ChatGPT for help. She had tried conventional mental health services but “chat”, as she came to know her AI “friend”, felt safer, less intimidating and, crucially, more available when it came to handling the trauma from the deaths of her young friends.

As she started consulting the AI model, the Tottenham teenager joined about 40% of 13- to 17-year-olds in England and Wales affected by youth violence who are turning to AI chatbots for mental health support, according to research among more than 11,000 young people.

Published: December 9, 2025, 5:00 am

Palantir: the world’s ‘scariest company’? – podcast

How far will tech firm Palantir go to ‘save the West’? With Michael Steinberger and Johana Bhuiyan

Why do some consider Palantir the world’s ‘scariest company’ and who is its chief executive, Alex Karp?

Michael Steinberger, the author of The Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir and the Rise of the Surveillance State, describes Karp’s origin story to Nosheen Iqbal and the way that his political positions have changed over the years. The pair also discuss how Palantir was established as a company, the services that it offers, its close relationship to the US military and how Karp has been navigating the second Trump presidency.

Published: December 9, 2025, 3:00 am

Trump clears way for Nvidia to sell powerful AI chips to China

Commerce department finalising deal to allow H200 chips to be sold to China as strict Biden-era restrictions relaxed

Donald Trump has cleared the way for Nvidia to begin selling its powerful AI computer chips to China, marking a win for the chip maker and its CEO, Jensen Huang, who has spent months lobbying the White House to open up sales in the country.

Before Monday’s announcement, the US had prohibited sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China over national security concerns.

Published: December 9, 2025, 8:29 am

More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters

Exclusive: Congress urged to act against energy-hungry facilities blamed for increasing bills and worsening climate crisis

A coalition of more than 230 environmental groups has demanded a national moratorium on new datacenters in the US, the latest salvo in a growing backlash to a booming artificial intelligence industry that has been blamed for escalating electricity bills and worsening the climate crisis.

The green groups, including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Food & Water Watch and dozens of local organizations, have urged members of Congress to halt the proliferation of energy-hungry datacenters, accusing them of causing planet-heating emissions, sucking up vast amounts of water and exacerbating electricity bill increases that have hit Americans this year.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:00 pm

Skate Story review – hellish premise aside, this is skateboarding paradise

Sam Eng/Devolver Digital, PC, PS5, Switch 2
An exquisitely fluid game of tricks, grinds and manuals is framed by a story that uncovers the poignancy of the infamously painful pastime

Skateboarding video games live and die by their vibe. The original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles were anarchic, arcade fun while the recent return of EA’s beloved Skate franchise offered competent yet jarringly corporate realism. Skate Story, which is mostly the work of solo developer Sam Eng, offers a more impressionistic interpretation while capturing something of the sport’s essential spirit. It transposes the boarding action to a demonic underworld where the aesthetic is less fire and brimstone than glittering, 2010s-era vaporwave. It is also the most emotionally real a skateboarding game has ever felt.

The premise is ingenious: you are a demon made out of “pain and glass”. Skate to the moon and swallow it, says the devil, and you shall be freed. So that is exactly what you do. You learn to ollie first, a “delicate, precise trick” according to the artfully written in-game text. Then come the pop shuvit, kickflip, heelflip and more.

Published: December 9, 2025, 10:00 am

‘Kids can’t buy them anywhere’: how Pokémon cards became a stock market for millennials

A surprising economic bubble is making it hard for anyone to buy Pokémon cards – especially children

Pokémon has been huge since the late 90s. Millions of people have fond memories of playing the original Red and Blue games, or trading cards in the playground for that elusive shiny Charizard (if your school didn’t ban them). The franchise has only grown since then – but, where the trading cards are concerned, things have taken an unexpected and unfortunate turn. It’s now almost impossible to get your hands on newly released cards thanks to an insane rise in reselling and scalping over the past year.

Selling on your old cards to collectors has always been part of the hobby, and like baseball cards or Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon cards can sometimes go for thousands of pounds. However, the resale market for Pokémon has climbed so high that even new cards are valued at hundreds, before they’ve even been released. The latest set, Phantasmal Flames, had a rare special illustration Charizard that was being valued at more than £600 before anyone had even found one. When a pack of cards retails at about £4, there’s a huge potential profit to be had.

Published: December 8, 2025, 10:00 am

‘It has to be genuine’: older influencers drive growth on social media

As midlife audiences turn to digital media, the 55 to 64 age bracket is an increasingly important demographic

In 2022, Caroline Idiens was on holiday halfway up an Italian mountain when her brother called to tell her to check her Instagram account. “I said, ‘I haven’t got any wifi. And he said: ‘Every time you refresh, it’s adding 500 followers.’ So I had to try to get to the top of the hill with the phone to check for myself.”

A personal trainer from Berkshire who began posting her fitness classes online at the start of lockdown in 2020, Idiens, 53, had already built a respectable following.

Published: December 8, 2025, 12:48 pm

England health officials identify newly evolved variant of mpox

Virus caught by person who travelled to Asia combines more severe form of mpox with less virulent type

Health officials have identified a new variant of mpox in England after a person who recently travelled to Asia was tested for the virus.

Genome sequencing showed that the virus was a “recombinant” form containing elements of two types of mpox currently in circulation: the more severe clade 1, and the less virulent clade 2, which sparked the 2022 global mpox outbreak.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:19 pm

Rage room or yoga class? How to beat anger – podcast

At this time of year when stress levels are high, we can find ourselves being sent over the edge by frustrating post office queues, infuriating traffic jams and tension-filled family occasions. But what’s the best way to release our anger and find peace and calm this festive season? To find out, Ian Sample hears from science correspondent Nicola Davis, who recently tried out a rage room as a means of channelling her fury, and from Brad Bushman, professor of communication at the Ohio State University. Is venting the most effective way to overcome anger, and if not, what is?

Rage rooms: can smashing stuff up really help to relieve anger and stress?

Support the Guardian: theguardian.com/sciencepod

Published: December 9, 2025, 5:00 am

Ancient Egyptian pleasure boat found by archaeologists off Alexandria coast

First-century luxury vessel matches description by the Greek historian Strabo, who visited city around 29-25BC

An ancient Egyptian pleasure boat that matches a description by the first-century Greek historian Strabo has been discovered off the coast of Alexandria, to the excitement of archaeologists.

With its palaces, temples and the 130 metre-high Pharos lighthouse – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – Alexandria had been one of the most magnificent cities in antiquity. The pleasure boat, which dates from the first half of the first century AD, was 35 metres long and constructed to hold a central pavilion with a luxuriously decorated cabin.

Published: December 8, 2025, 9:00 am

Linguists start compiling first ever complete dictionary of ancient Celtic

More than 1,000 words used as far back as 325BC to be collected for insight into past linguistic landscape

It is not likely to be a hefty volume because the vast majority of the material has been lost in the mists of time. But the remnants of a language spoken in parts of the UK and Ireland 2,000 years ago are being collected for what is being billed as the first complete dictionary of ancient Celtic.

The dictionary will not be huge because relatively few words survive, but experts from Aberystwyth University say they expect they will end up with more than 1,000 words.

Published: December 8, 2025, 5:00 am

Starwatch: Brave the cold and the enjoy the Geminids meteor shower

Observers in dark locations away from street lighting can expect to see more than 100 meteors an hour

The Perseid meteor shower in August often catches the headlines because of the warmer conditions associated with watching the display, but to many astronomers the Geminids put on the better show.

The Geminids have been active since 4 December and they reach their climax this week with the peak of the shower taking place on the night of 13-14 December. The chart shows the view looking south-east from London at midnight as 13 December becomes 14 December.

Published: December 8, 2025, 6:00 am

Can you solve it? The forgotten Dutch invention that created the modern world

You saw it here first

UPDATE: Read the solution here

There are many contenders for “world’s greatest invention.” The wheel. The printing press. The steam engine.

According to a new book, however, that title should go to the mechanised sawmill invented by Dutchman Cornelis Corneliszoon in 1593.

Published: December 8, 2025, 7:10 am

Anatomical exhibition includes rare Victorian-era drawing of a black body

The work of surgeon and artist Joseph Maclise is the focus of a show at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds

It is an image of an unnamed black man with his eyes closed and his innards exposed. Drawn with care and precision, the image may be the only anatomical drawing of a black body made during the Victorian age.

Now it is part of a new exhibition that focuses on the work of Joseph Maclise, a surgeon and artist whose work – including his 1851 atlas Surgical Anatomy – made the human anatomy accessible to the general public, and who was the brother of the celebrated artist Daniel Maclise.

Published: December 9, 2025, 5:00 am

Could a drug for narcolepsy change the world? | Zoe Williams

There are apparently breakthroughs on the way for those with sleep disorders – which sent me down a rabbit hole of research...

I met a guy in pharmaceuticals who told me about a bunch of cool breakthroughs in sleep meds: mainly, we may be on the brink of a new Wegovy, but in this case it’s a drug to cure narcolepsy. I suggested the two things are not quite the same, given that obesity is a global epidemic and narcolepsy is fairly rare. He countered that the way the drug works might also have applications for insomnia; similar to the Post-it note having been invented by someone trying to create the world’s strongest glue.

Anyway, in the course of this, I discovered the test for type 1 narcolepsy, which is that you’re put in a room with zero stimulation – nothing to read, no one to chat to, perfect silence, perfect temperature – and timed on how long it takes you to fall asleep. If it’s under eight minutes, you’re narcoleptic. But the average, for a person with no complaints in that area at all, is 22 minutes. I was completely incredulous. This is a grip on consciousness more or less the same as a house cat. Bored? Go to sleep. Even a dog will have a quick look for something to eat first.

Published: December 9, 2025, 11:00 am