Unmatched resilience and bravery. The best of humanity.

🚨 SUMMARY: The UK's social media ban for children from early 2027: - "User-to-user" apps where people create, share and interact with content (e.g. TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, X, Facebook) will be banned for under-16s - WhatsApp, Signal and YouTube Kids will be exempt - Under-16s will also be banned from livestreaming, messaging strangers on gaming apps like Discord and using disappearing messages - 16 and 17 year olds will face nightly social media curfews and limits on infinite scrolling with more details next month - AI "romantic companion" chatbots will be banned for under-18s - Adults can still access social media through age checks like facial recognition, digital IDs, passports and credit cards

🇨🇻😢 Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha: "I cried after the game because I grew up with my grandparents when I was a kid, and they could not be there. They passed away a few years ago. My mum could not be here either for a VISA issue, and the money we had to pay for it. We did not manage to do this in time." (@TheAthleticFC)

General Smedley Butler.

A moment we still can't quite believe.😳 We were watching two humpback whales behaving a little differently than usual. They were staying close together, surfacing frequently, and taking very short breaths as they moved up and down through the water. Something seemed unusual, so we kept watching. Then, after one slightly longer dive, a red cloud appeared beneath the surface. As the whales surfaced again, we suddenly realized there were now three whales. Except one of them was tiny, pale in colour, and staying close to its mother. We couldn't believe our eyes... we had just witnessed the birth of a humpback whale calf!

🚨🇬🇧 BREAKING: Petition to stop the social media ban. kids are having none of it. Let’s get some signatures on this petition to stop the social media ban. Anyone with half a brain knows this isn’t about child safety it’s about sneaking in Digital ID through the back door. Please sign and share 🙏🏼 🇬🇧🫡❤️ Petition: Do not ban social media for under 16s petition.parliament.uk/petit…

In any normal country this would be broadcast by the national news channels, but in Scotland the story gets buried

Scientists have mapped Earth’s vast underground fungal networks for the first time, revealing a staggering 68 quadrillion miles of fungal threads that help regulate the climate. A groundbreaking new study estimates that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi form an underground network stretching roughly 110 quadrillion kilometers (68 quadrillion miles), equivalent to nearly a billion times the distance from Earth to the Sun. These microscopic fungal threads create symbiotic relationships with over 70% of land plants, exchanging nutrients and water for carbon while locking away massive amounts of CO₂ in the soil. The research, led by the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN), used machine learning models trained on data from more than 16,000 global soil cores, combined with high-resolution robotic imaging of fungal hyphae. However, these critical networks face a serious threat from modern industrial agriculture. Fungal density in croplands is nearly 50% lower than in undisturbed ecosystems, largely due to tilling, chemical fertilizers, and fungicides. This loss reduces the soil’s ability to store carbon, weakens nutrient cycling, and increases chemical runoff. The findings underscore the urgent need to protect these hidden ecosystems. Researchers plan to present the data at the upcoming UN desertification summit to push for global conservation benchmarks. [Stewart, J. D., et al. (2026). Global density and biomass of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal networks. Science. DOI: 10.1126/science.adu4373]

Twenty-five years ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology made a bold move that most universities would never dare. Instead of locking its world-class course materials behind campus walls, MIT decided to put nearly its entire curriculum online, completely free for anyone with an internet connection. That decision gave birth to MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). What began as a bold experiment in 2001 has become one of the most significant educational initiatives in history. Today, OCW provides materials from more than 2,500 undergraduate and graduate courses across virtually every discipline: physics, engineering, artificial intelligence, economics, biology, mathematics, computer science, and many more. Anyone can access lecture notes, problem sets, exams, syllabi, and a growing library of video lectures, with no tuition, no application, and no account required. According to MIT, more than 500 million people worldwide have used these resources over the past 25 years. The impact has been profound. Students use it to ace exams, explore new fields, and launch careers. Educators around the globe integrate the materials into their own teaching. Many learners credit OCW with helping them pass professional certifications and unlock new opportunities. Beyond its direct benefits, OpenCourseWare helped spark the global open education movement, inspiring dozens of other universities to share their knowledge freely online. Even more impressive: the project was originally planned as a 10-year initiative. A quarter-century later, it's still expanding. MIT now aims to reach 1 billion learners in the coming decade, while enhancing the experience with powerful new AI-powered learning tools.

60% of all casks used in Scotch Whisky production come from Kentucky. Today, First Minister John Swinney visited Kentucky Cooperage and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel to see that connection first-hand and to keep up the momentum on removing tariffs on Scotch whisky.

Scots once again the cash cow for England, as we're set to pay £300m over 10 years for English Nuclear fiasco, as reactor prices double from their initial £20bn to £38bn Renewables are cheaper, faster to build, and far safer. thenational.scot/news/257282…

I don't care for soccer, so I haven't been watching. And then this slipped into my Tiktok feed. From Boston, Massachusetts. This is the best anthem, without a doubt. No-one is going to convince me otherwise, ever.

You're warm in the winter because of a black woman Alice Parker who pioneered central heating in 1919.🫡

Brave hero, we need warriors over here like him

Israel destroyed the mausoleum of Simon Peter, apostle of Christ, in the village of Shama in southern Lebanon 1,925–1,995 years years old . Christians of the world, Wake up!!

How about these viewing figures for a 02:00 kick-off?! An average audience of 1.8m, with a peak of 2.4m, stayed up late on in the night to watch BBC One's coverage of Scotland's first World Cup match since 1998! [@Digital_i_ / @LiamHamilton16]

Unforgettable night with the Tartan Army at Fenway Park in Boston. Spoke to police officers, bar staff, security merch sellers who said they'd never seen a set of fans like it 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Some videos of the good-natured mayhem here 👇

This man gave a disabled child an unforgettable moment when he took a selfie in front of his luxury car.

My lifelong friend Uisdean Murray took this flag to every Scotland games he attended. He died this year, far far too young. The Denmark game was his last game. Other Stornoway Tartan Army friends have taken his flag to the World Cup to honour him. Have a great night.

Remember folks never forget the importance of soft power. The world is seeing our beautiful people, country & culture- and loving it. ✊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿