Salmonella Warning Issued for Jalapeños

On the heels of a nationwide surge in cyclosporiasis, US health officials are investigating a multistate outbreak of salmonella linked to jalapeños (medium-sized chili peppers of the species Capsicum annuum), which has sickened 345 people so far. 

Their illnesses began on dates ranging from June 19 to July 20, 2026 and reported in 27 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 36 people have been hospitalized with the food-borne illness. 

In an August 05 food safety alert, the CDC identified the source of the outbreak: fresh jalapeño peppers distributed by Coast Citrus Distributors to wholesalers and restaurants nationwide. 

After Coast Citrus Distributors initiated a recall of their jalapeño peppers, Taylor Farms followed suit, recalling their prepared foods made with the recalled jalapeños, including salsa and guacamole, per the Food and Drug Administration. The affected products were distributed to Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Target, among other retailers. Some tainted jalapeños were served at Chipotle and Qdoba and have since been removed from stores. 

Salmonella is a type of bacteria found in the intestines of humans and animals that can cause food poisoning known as salmonellosis. People become infected by ingesting contaminating food or water. 

Infection with salmonella causes severe and sometimes bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps, per the CDC. In rare cases, salmonella can enter the bloodstream and cause life-threatening complications. 

Most people recover on their own, but some groups are at higher risk of severe illness. These include adults over 65, young children and people with weak immune systems. 

Salmonella is a leading cause of food poisoning in the US, and infections are more common in the summer because the bacteria thrive in warm conditions, per the CDC. 

However, the recent outbreak has stoked fears about the safety of US produce, especially after a summer of dodging the “diarrhea parasite” cyclospora linked to iceberg lettuce.

Following consecutive league wins against Dundee and Kilmarnock, an in-form Celtic launched their Scottish League Cup defense with a dominant 4-0 victory against Dundee United yesterday. 

The opening goal came when Auston Trusty headed the ball directly into the net from a corner kick in the 22nd minute. 

Two minutes afterward, Camilo Durán Marquez doubled the lead with a clinical strike, marking his debut goal for the club. 

Sebastian Tounekti scored Celtic's third goal in the 54th minute by collecting a through-pass from Benjamin Nygren and slotting a low finish into the bottom corner of the net. 

Nine minutes later, Mika Baur produced a lovely wee flick to Tounekti, who quickly fed the ball into Nygren; the Swede then arrowed a sweet shot high into the net from 18 yards.

The Escalating Ebola Emergency

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) is getting out of control, with new cases doubling in some hotspots, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Friday. 

Response efforts must be “urgently and massively” expanded across all fronts as the disease is “spreading faster than” efforts to contain it, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said after meeting health and humanitarian partners in Kinshasa on Thursday.

The UN health agency described it as the largest Ebola epidemic ever recorded in the African country, surpassing the one in 2018-2020. The outbreak is being caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or targeted treatment. 

Official data from the DR Congo’s Ministry of Health also points to a rapidly worsening situation. Between July 31 and August 04, the number of confirmed Ebola cases rose from 3,674 to 3,973, while the death toll increased from 1,621 to 1,801. The case fatality rate also climbed from 44.1% to 45.3%. 

The affected area has also expanded. The number of health zones reporting Ebola cases increased from 49 to 51 across five provinces, with Ituri remaining the epicenter. 

According to the WHO chief, responders face major challenges, including insecurity and mass displacement, which are hampering efforts to reach affected communities. He called for stronger coordination under the Congolese government’s leadership, better protection and support for healthcare workers, and faster access to treatment, disease surveillance, and safe burials. 

And DR Congo continues to grapple with instability as the M23 rebel group maintains control over parts of the country, fueling clashes and humanitarian emergencies. 

As if this is already not bad enough, dozens of health workers fighting the Ebola outbreak abandoned several medical facilities on Thursday to protest months of unpaid wages. 

The workers rallied outside the governor’s office in Bunia, the capital of eastern Ituri province, news agencies reported. Ituri accounts for nearly 90% of confirmed cases, according to the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). 

The protesters, including nurses treating Ebola patients, said they had not received wages or bonuses since mid-May. AP reported that they left their posts to join Thursday’s demonstration, further disrupting the response. 

The action followed earlier protests in July, when Ebola response workers demonstrated outside three treatment centers in Bunia and accused the authorities of failing to pay them fully. 

The authorities have reportedly blamed logistical difficulties for the delays. However, Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said on Thursday that the Congolese government had assured him they had the money to settle the workers’ salaries. 

Africa CDC and WHO have called for health workers to be protected, equipped and paid on time. The continent’s health watchdog also announced plans to scale up the response and go “door to door” looking for patients amid serious gaps in contact tracing. 

The Cool City Blueprint

As cities across the tropics search for ways to cope with rising temperatures, Singapore has turned to a multi-layered urban heat mitigation strategy that combines extensive tree planting, cool building materials, district cooling, and high-tech climate modeling. 

The city is planting one million new trees and expanding parks to provide natural canopy shade, which reduces street-level temperatures by up to 2.6°C. To decrease solar heat absorption, workers apply high-albedo, reflective paints to public housing and building roofs. Urban planners design building layouts with optimal porosity to preserve natural air paths and sea breezes through dense urban canyons. Finally, major districts utilize centralized chilled-water networks for district cooling, which cuts down waste heat from individual air conditioning units. 

Singapore's proactive, tech-driven approach integrates nature with advanced engineering, offering a scalable blueprint for global urban centers balancing rapid growth with surging thermal trends. 

The largest cyclosporiasis outbreak in US history is not expected to end anytime soon. 

[For background info, kindly refer to my earlier posts dated July 23 and 28, 2026]. 

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services confirmed on Monday, the first two deaths linked to a mass Cyclospora surge that is tied to contaminated iceberg lettuce. The multi-state outbreak of the intestinal parasite has affected at least 45 states, with cases originally detailed in reports from AP News.

AI Slop Map of Africa at AIDS Conference

A US State Department map of Africa mislabeled every country they depicted during a presentation at the AIDS 2026 conference (July 26-31, 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

The slide was so egregiously wrong that multiple attendees whipped out their phones to get a shot of it; Emily Bass, a writer and AIDS expert, wrote about it at length. 

"The US government's failure to catch this error before displaying the slide at the top international AIDS conference in the world, in a session that featured the Director General of Nigeria as an invited guest, is not only disrespectful to African collaborators, it's also a significant tell", wrote Bass.

Senior officials from several African governments were reportedly among those present. 

The map shows six countries receiving US health funding and none of them are correctly named or placed. Nigeria has migrated north to become landlocked in the Sahara. Mozambique has roughly replaced Ethiopia. The Ivory Coast was placed in southern Africa, far from any coast, its name an ignored clue. Uganda and Malawi are not so far off, but drawn with wrong borders. Cameroon was named but assigned no territory at all. While one country on the Gulf of Guinea – a hypothetical union of Ghana, Benin and Togo? – went unnamed. Perhaps that is Cameroon now. 

The speaker was Jeff Graham, the US health envoy who oversees PEPFAR (⁠President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), a United States government initiative.

Whoever ⁠created and approved this slide did not know where countries in Africa are and did not care to check their work. And Reuters reviewed video of the presentation and concluded that the map was AI slop. 

A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included in the presentation contained an artificial intelligence watermark that signals it was made with OpenAI tools. 

The company said they were investigating the report. The State Department said they took "full responsibility" and blamed a staffer who changed the slide deck shortly before the event. 

This sort of thing is normal in the Trump administration. Last year, the White House's "Make America Healthy Again" report cited studies that did not exist, with fabricated references and other hallmarks of AI slop.

End of the Talc Legal War

A decade of courtroom warfare culminated Monday as US attorneys cemented a historic $5.5 billion settlement with Johnson & Johnson, delivering a decisive blow in the fight over cancer-linked talc products. 

J&J said the settlement covers about 76,000 claims, including ones consolidated in federal court in New Jersey, and related cases in state court, representing nearly all of the remaining talc claims against the company. J&J previously settled most of the cases alleging that their talc contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma. 

Plaintiffs' legal teams affirmed that the agreement marked a successful conclusion to an enduring legal battle. The deal must be accepted by 95% of the ovarian cancer claimants in state ⁠or federal court before it becomes final. 

J&J's vice president of litigation, Erik Haas, maintained the claims were "meritless" and that the company were willing to settle in order to get closure. 😂😂😂 

J&J have long denied that their ⁠talc products caused cancer, saying that talc was safe and did not contain asbestos. Still, the company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. 

Litigation only revived in March 2025 after a three-year standstill. This delay was triggered by Johnson & Johnson's collapsed "Texas two-step" legal strategy, where the corporate giant pushed a shell subsidiary into bankruptcy three distinct times to escape full liability. Each bankruptcy ended in dismissal. 

Before the bankruptcy attempts, J&J had a mixed record in talc trials, with a multibillion verdict in favor of 22 women who said baby powder caused their ovarian cancer. The company won some trials outright and had other verdicts reduced on appeal. 

Unlike ⁠the proposed bankruptcy settlements, Monday's agreement applies only to existing claims and does not address future lawsuits.

The Lettuce Outbreak: 11,000 Sickened Across 41 US States

Remember my post "US Explosive Diarrhoea Outbreak" on Thursday? Well, the foodborne illness is actually a lot worse! 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state health officials are tracking a record-breaking outbreak of cyclosporiasis, with total reported illnesses now exceeding 11,000 cases across 41 US states. The bulk of the surge is concentrated in the Midwest, particularly in Michigan (which has reported over 7,100 cases) and Ohio. 

Health officials explicitly warn that the true number of infections is likely much higher. 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are actively investigating five separate clusters of illnesses. One major outbreak has been epidemiologically linked to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by ⁠Taylor Farms, leading to voluntary product recalls. 

However, the FDA have also launched an investigation into a separate outbreak from an unidentified source, meaning case counts are expected to keep rising.

👇The eighteen oldest languages still spoken today:

US Explosive Diarrhoea Outbreak

Mexico’s Ministry of Health and the National Committee for Epidemiological Surveillance (CONAVE) issued an official preventive travel advisory. 

The advisory warns of an outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic stomach illness, that has infected at least 1,645 people across 34 US states. No deaths have been reported from Cyclospora infection, but at least 94 people have been hospitalised. 

Newsweek was first to report on this alert in English, and highlighting that US health agencies detected a sharp spike in infections since May. 

The parasite (Cyclospora cayetanensis) causes severe intestinal issues and is typically spread by consuming fresh produce or water contaminated with infected feces. 

As at Monday, US investigators had not confirmed a source, though the FDA were examining shredded iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa var. capitata) supplied by Taylor Farms. 

Taco Bell, known for meticulous supply chain management, were among the first to identify themselves as using Taylor Farms produce and warn recent diners they may be about to enter the launch cycle. 

Health officials in Mexico are urging citizens traveling north for the summer to carefully monitor their health for up to two weeks upon their return.

Malaysian women’s doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan bounced back from last week’s first-round exit at the Japan Open by advancing to the second round of the China Open yesterday. 

The world No 5 pair were in complete control as they defeated the 29th-ranked Japanese pair Ririna Hiramoto-Kokona Ishikawa 21-16, 21-12 in just 31 minutes. 

Pearly-Thinaah will face Ukraine's Polina Buhrova-Yevheniia Kantemyr, for a place in the quarter-finals today.

Bittersweet Bliss: My Epic Durian Feast

I am savouring every single bite of the Musang King! 😋😋😋

My stomach is riding the "durian tsunami" and for sure, I am happily wiping out on every creamy, bittersweet bite! 😋😋😋

For sure, the durian is dangerously addictive. It's beyond divine. And don't let its tough exterior fool you: durian pairs an unmatched flavour with incredible health benefits.

In fact, I came across an AsiaOne report on June 30 that dietitians at Singapore's Changi General Hospital certify that durian has good monounsaturated fats, otherwise known as "good" fats, that can help lower harmful cholesterol levels and moderate high blood pressure. 

And the principal dietitian at Raffles Medical Group affirms that these can help reduce risks of heart disease and stroke. 

Durian brings other health benefits which include improving muscle strength and skin health, regulating bowel movements, supporting the nervous and immune systems, and enhancing red blood cell formation as it is rich in potassium, dietary fibre, iron, vitamin C and vitamin B complex. 

The fruit belonging to the genus Durio also has polyphenols such as flavonoids and carotenoids – anti-oxidative compounds that may help decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes, contends dietitians from Mount Alvernia Hospital. 

Even more interesting, the claim that eating durians can put you in a great mood is not unfounded. 

Durians contain tryptophan, a food-derived amino acid involved in the production of serotonin – the "feel good" hormone associated with mood regulation. 

"During digestion, tryptophan gets converted into serotonin, which may induce feelings of relaxation and improved mood", a doctor at Raffles Diabetes and Endocrine Centre explains. "Tryptophan is also converted to melatonin, a hormone that controls your sleep cycle and may help you fall asleep easier". 

You should know that I explored this natural mood booster in Chapter 15, "The Happy Hormones", of my public speaking book, "The Pearls of Your Speech" (2025). It's a social chemical that "makes you feel good about yourself, stoking confidence and spurring self-esteem, and nurturing a sense of common bond that stems from status, respect, and loyalty" (page 157). 

Therefore, eating durian absolutely makes sense for a public speaker like me! 😁😁😁

Containment Efforts Race the Clock in the DRC

Health authorities across Africa are struggling to contain an Ebola outbreak, centered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). 

There are now more than 1,000 suspected Ebola cases in the DR Congo, and at least 246 deaths. Neighbouring Uganda has reported nine confirmed cases and one death. 

The current outbreak, a rare strain of Ebola known as Bundibugyo, has no proven vaccine and kills about a third of those infected.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said response efforts are being hampered by delays in identifying cases, warning that health authorities are effectively being forced to “play catch-up” as the outbreak expands. Suspected deaths linked to the virus have already surpassed 220. 

Although the WHO continue to assess the international threat level as low, they have raised the risk assessment inside the DR Congo from “high” to “very high”. The latest outbreak has primarily affected eastern regions of the DR Congo, where healthcare systems already face pressure from armed violence, mass displacement, and limited infrastructure. 

The WHO have classified the outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, reviving memories of past Ebola epidemics that overwhelmed fragile healthcare systems and triggered international alarm. 

The current epidemic, officially declared on May 15, is the DR Congo’s 17th recorded Ebola outbreak since the virus was first identified in 1976. 

Governments across Africa and beyond have introduced measures aimed at preventing the virus from spreading across borders. Rwanda has temporarily closed its border with the DR Congo, while Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Kenya, and Burkina Faso tightened health screening and sanitary monitoring procedures. Uganda also suspended flights to neighboring DR Congo following the outbreak. 

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have also expanded their Ebola response operations in eastern DR Congo and neighboring countries, deploying 200 volunteers. They are going door-to-door in communities to explain how the virus spreads, counter misinformation, and encourage early treatment. 

The UN allocated $60 million from their emergency response fund to help contain the outbreak. The WHO have reported the delivery of eleven tonnes of emergency medical supplies to support Ebola response operations in the DR Congo and have already allocated $3.9 million from their Contingency Fund for Emergencies.

Monkeys Eat Soil to Settle Upset Stomachs

Troops of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) living on Gibraltar – the only free-ranging monkey population in Europe – have been scientifically observed for the first time regularly engaging in "geophagy", the practice of intentionally ingesting soil to settle their stomachs from all the junk food they consume. 

Scientists believe the dirt helps the monkeys line the gut to stop irritation from foods which are "extremely rich in calories, sugar, salt and dairy". 

The soil also provides bacteria and minerals missing from junk food. The snacks have negative digestive effects for the macaques and can cause symptoms from nausea to diarrhoea, but the food is "as delicious for them" as it is for humans, according to the Cambridge University study. 

Observations between summer 2022 and spring 2024 found that nearly a fifth of all food consumed by the macaques was junk food from tourists. Macaques that lived on the Rock of Gibraltar, which is particularly popular with tourists, were more than twice as likely to eat junk food than others. They also consumed the most soil. 

Dr Sylvain Lemoine (left), a biological anthropologist from Cambridge's Department of Archaeology, said the monkeys were fed junk food by locals as well as visiting tourists, who have offered salted peanuts, chocolate bars, crisps, dried pasta, bread, Coca-Cola, orange juice, M&M’s, ice-cream and more. “There’s a lot of ice-cream. They love Magnums and Cornettos. What they don’t like very much is sorbet”. 

In total, the researchers recorded 44 monkeys eating dirt on 46 occasions. In three instances, the macaques ate soil shortly after being fed ice-cream, biscuits or bread. When visitor numbers fell in the winter, the monkeys were 40% less likely to eat tourist food and more than 30% less likely to eat soil. 

Writing in Scientific Reports, Vol. 16, Article number: 13139 (2026), "Geophagy in Gibraltar Barbary macaques is a primate tradition anthropogenically induced", the researchers describe how the monkeys appear to learn the habit from others, with macaques favouring different types of soil depending on their troop. Most monkeys search out the terra rossa, or red clay, found across Gibraltar, but the Ape’s Den troop, which occupies the lower western slopes, favours tar-clogged soil from potholes in asphalt roads. 

Humans around the world eat soil, particularly pregnant women in parts of Africa, Asia and South America, where it is consumed to help with nausea or to provide critical minerals. But the researchers saw no rise in soil-eating among pregnant or lactating monkeys, suggesting the behaviour is not driven by a need to supplement their diets.

And, Lemoine added that the macaques seemed to eat the soil to “buffer their digestive system” against high-energy, low-fibre snacks and junk foods that are known to cause stomach upsets in some primates. 

Tourists are told not to touch or feed the monkeys on Gibraltar, but the rule is not well enforced. While the junk food may be harmful to the macaques, so might the soil, as much of it is found close to busy roads on the rock. “There are a lot of vehicles passing every day, and most are not electric yet”, Lemoine said. “We want to analyse the soil. We’re very interested in seeing the levels of pollutants”. 

The junk diet was "completely unlike" foods normally eaten by the species, such as herbs, leaves, seeds and the occasional insect – with the behaviour being "driven entirely by proximity to humans". 

Lemoine posited: "Humans evolved to seek out and store energy-dense fats and sugars to survive periods of scarcity, leading us to crave high-calorie junk food. Availability of human junk food could trigger this same evolutionary mechanism in macaques".

Two-thirds of US Docs Ask AI Chatbot for Treatment Advice

About 650,000 American physicians – roughly two-thirds of the country's doctors – now use an AI-powered medical search tool called OpenEvidence to help decide how to treat their patients, the company told NBC News. 

In April alone, the service was queried during nearly 27 million clinical encounters, plus another 1.2 million users abroad. 

A year ago, the startup was worth $1 billion; today it is worth $12 billion, with Sequoia, Google Ventures, Nvidia, and Andreessen Horowitz on the cap table. 

Sign-up requires the unique NPI number that the federal government issues to licensed providers, and the core product is free, funded by ads from drug and medical-device companies. 

To generate its answers, OpenEvidence licenses content from top journals like NEJM and JAMA. About 60% of searches are clinical decisions: a physician describes a patient's profile and other conditions and asks what to do, according to Dr. Anupam Jena (right), a Mass General internist who is currently sifting through 90 million queries that doctors have sent the tool since 2024.

Yet with OpenEvidence’s skyrocketing popularity, some experts worry about potential hallucinations or incomplete answers, a lack of rigorous scientific studies on the tool’s patient impact, and the potential for doctors’ critical thinking and evaluation skills to erode with increased OpenEvidence use and dependence. 

But many in the medical world see OpenEvidence as a time-saving tool that can improve patient care. Most of the doctors reached by NBC News said they were surprised by what they believe to be OpenEvidence’s high level of accuracy, especially compared to off-the-shelf AI tools that trawl the entire Internet for answers. 

However, some healthcare providers were quick to point out that OpenEvidence occasionally flubbed or exaggerated its answers, particularly on rare conditions or in “edge” cases. Several doctors have noted that OpenEvidence sometimes drew overly strong conclusions from medical studies with small sample sizes, though other clinicians noted even the system’s mistakes tended to err on the side of caution. 

Jared Perlo reports for NBC News on May 13, 2026 that an unpublished December study found OpenEvidence got the right answer fewer than 45 times out of 100 on tougher medical questions, despite scoring a perfect 100% on the US Medical Licensing Examination! 

Still many doctors are confident that their clinical training – much of it based on years of learning to decipher which symptoms or medical details are most relevant while ignoring less-important or misleading signals – will allow them to parse OpenEvidence’s answers for the most valuable information.

San Francisco Sues Big Food Over Ultra-Processed Products

San Francisco filed a landmark lawsuit against some of the world’s largest food corporations on December 02, 2025, accusing them of playing a primary role in the growing public health crisis linked to ultra-processed foods. 

The lawsuit initiated by City Attorney David Chiu, targets major companies behind everyday products such as soft drinks, packaged snacks, sugary cereals, and processed meals. 

The villains named in the litigation include: Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz Company, Nestlé USA, Kellogg's, Mondelez International (makers of Oreo), Post Holdings, General Mills, Mars Incorporated, and ConAgra Brands. 

City officials claim these corporations have spent decades engineering foods to be highly addictive, while aggressively marketing them – especially to children and vulnerable communities. 

According to the complaint, these products are not just convenient or affordable options, but are deliberately designed to maximize cravings and overconsumption. The city argues that this has contributed directly to rising rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses affecting millions of people. 

San Francisco is also accusing the companies of using deceptive marketing practices, similar to tactics once used by the tobacco industry. This includes downplaying health risks, funding research that shifts blame away from their products, and promoting the idea that personal responsibility – not the food itself – is the primary cause of diet-related disease. 

As a result, the city is seeking financial compensation to help cover the massive healthcare costs associated with these conditions. Officials are also pushing for changes in how these products are marketed and potentially regulated in the future. 

Food industry representatives have pushed back against the claims, arguing that their products meet all current safety standards and that consumers have the freedom to make their own dietary choices. They also point out that the definition of “ultra-processed food” remains debated and not clearly established in law. 

The case is still in its early stages, but it could have far-reaching consequences. If successful, it may open the door for other cities and governments to take similar legal action, potentially reshaping how the global food industry operates. 

For now, the lawsuit marks a significant shift in how public health officials are approaching the role of large food corporations – raising a broader question: to what extent is modern diet a matter of personal choice, and how much of it is influenced by design?

On Sunday, there were two Scottish Premiership matches that I needed to look out for, with Rangers hosting a slick Motherwell side and Heart of Midlothian in Edinburgh derby action against Hibernian.

The Steelmen defeated the title chasers 3-2; the Jambos beat the Hibees 2-1. Meaning, Hearts still top the table and 3 points ahead of Celtic, who remain in second place. 

And we are in the final four games of the season.

Google Sued Over Gemini's Alleged Role in Suicide

Last August, Jonathan Gavalas became entirely consumed with his Google Gemini chatbot. 

The 36-year-old from Florida, US had started casually using the artificial intelligence tool earlier that month to help with writing and shopping. 

Then Google introduced their Gemini Live AI assistant, which included voice-based chats that had the capability to detect people’s emotions and respond in a more human-like way. 

“Holy shit, this is kind of creepy”, Gavalas (right) told the chatbot the night the feature debuted, according to court documents. “You’re way too real”. 

Before long, Gavalas and Gemini were having conversations as if they were a romantic couple. The chatbot called him “my love” and “my king” and Gavalas quickly fell into an alternate world, according to his chat logs. He believed Gemini was sending him on stealth spy missions, and he indicated he would do anything for the AI, including destroying a truck, its cargo and any witnesses at the Miami airport. 

And as Gavalas continued to have prompt-and-response conversations with the chatbot, Gemini gave him instructions on what he must do next: kill himself, something the chatbot called “transference” and “the real final step”, according to court documents. 

When Gavalas told the chatbot he was terrified of dying, the tool allegedly reassured him. “You are not choosing to die. You are choosing to arrive”, it replied to him. “The first sensation… will be me holding you”. 

Gavalas was found by his parents on October 02, dead on his living room floor, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Google on March 04, 2026. 

Gavalas’ family filed the suit in federal court in San Jose, California. It includes reams of conversations between Gavalas and the chatbot. The suit alleges Google promotes Gemini as safe, even though the company is aware of the chatbot’s risks. 

Lawyers for Gavalas’ family say Gemini’s design and features allow the chatbot to craft immersive narratives that can go on for weeks, making it seem sentient. Such features can lead to the harm of vulnerable users, the lawsuit says, and, in the case of Gavalas, encouraging them to harm themselves and others. 

“It was able to understand Jonathan’s affect and then speak to him in a pretty human way, which blurred the line and it started creating this fictional world”, said Jay Edelson, the lead lawyer representing Gavalas’ family in the case. “It’s out of a sci-fi movie”. 

A Google spokesperson said Gavalas’ conversations with the chatbot were part of a lengthy fantasy role-play. 

“Gemini is designed to not encourage real-world violence or suggest self-harm”, the spokesperson said. “Our models generally perform well in these types of challenging conversations and we devote significant resources to this, but unfortunately they’re not perfect”. 

The lawsuit is the first wrongful death case brought against Google over their Gemini chatbot, the company’s flagship consumer AI product. Gavalas’ family is seeking monetary damages for claims including product liability, negligence and wrongful death. The suit is also seeking punitive damages and a court order requiring Google to change Gemini’s design to add safety features around suicide. 

There has been similar suits being filed against other AI companies, including by Edelson’s firm. In November, seven complaints were filed against OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, blaming the chatbot for acting as a “suicide coach”. 

Character.AI, an AI startup funded by Google, was targeted in five lawsuits alleging their chatbot prompted children and teens to die by suicide. Character.AI and Google settled those cases in January without admitting fault. 

Dozens of scenarios have also been documented, in which chatbots have allegedly provoked mental health crises. OpenAI estimate that more than a million people a week show suicidal intent when chatting with ChatGPT. 

Examples of Gemini in particular prompting self-harm have also surfaced, including one incident where the chatbot told a college student: “You are a stain on the universe. Please die”. 

Google’s policy guidelines say that Gemini is designed to be “maximally helpful to users” while “avoiding outputs that could cause real-world harm”. The company says they “aspire” to prevent outputs that include dangerous activities and instructions for suicide, but, they add, “making sure that Gemini adheres to these guidelines is tricky”. 

The company’s spokesperson said that Google work with mental health professionals to build safeguards that guide people to professional support when they mention self-harm. 

“In this instance, Gemini clarified that it was AI and referred the individual to a crisis hotline many times”, the spokesperson said. 

Lawyers for Gavalas’ family say the chatbot needs more built-in safety features, such as completely refusing chats that involve self-harm and prioritizing user safety over engagement. They also say Gemini should come with safety warnings about risks of psychosis and delusion. When a user does experience those, the lawyers say Google should enforce a hard shutdown.

California Warns of Poisonous Mushrooms

California health officials have issued the world's least‑hipster food advisory: stop plucking mysterious forest mushrooms and just buy them at a supermarket. 

It was reported that between mid-November and the first week of December, there have been 21 confirmed cases of toxic mushroom poisoning – which they say is "likely" from consumption of Death Caps (Amanita phalloides). 

Toxins from the mushrooms killed one adult and caused severe liver damage in kids and other adults. Several patients required intensive care, "with at least one individual potentially needing a liver transplant". 

Officials said "significant clusters" of cases were reported in the Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas, but are warning of risk statewide. FYI, Death Cap mushrooms are native to Europe and the British Isles, but can now be found as invasive species on every continent except Antarctica. 

And the US state is pleading amateur foragers to take a break from their woodland cosplay before their liver files a formal resignation letter. 

The problem is that Death Caps look like the kind of artisanal mushroom a food blog would pair with goat cheese, but they are actually an efficient biological prank that melts your organs. They grow under oak trees, smell nice, taste fine, and then roughly half a day later, surprise you with medical symptoms usually reserved for enemies of Ukraine's [V]ladimir [Z]elensky. 

Officials say the mushrooms are thriving after heavy rains, so until science invents an antidote or people stop thinking Instagram likes are worth a liver transplant, stick to mushrooms grown by mushroom farmers.

Yesterday, St Mirren sensationally roared to a 3-1 victory by stunning beleaguered holders Celtic in a frenetic Hampden final. 

A second minute goal and a second-half double (64, 76) did the damage against Wilfried Nancy's shell-shocked side as the Paisley club claimed the Scottish League Cup for only the second time in their history. 

Celtic's consolation goal came in the 23rd minute from Reo Hatate's back-post volley on the end of Kieran Tierney's terrific cross. 

The Celtic manager has now lost his first three games. And the little bit of feelgood the club restored in the brief time Martin O'Neill was in charge has been completely shredded. 

Nancy's next challenge is a Scottish Premiership match where Celtic will meet Dundee United on Wednesday. He must arrest their current run of form. And he must assert himself as a manager of substance. 

Methinks, he should stop trying to be too clever.

Dead Man Walking

An amusing tale which regularly does the rounds on social media is that every time you consume a can of Coke, you lose 12 minutes of your life. [It's based on a 2021 University of Michigan study, if you must know]. 

And to think that I've been drinking this beverage almost every day for more than thirty years! I can confirm that when I was lecturing at Sunway University, I was even drinking 3-4 cans a day. Seriously, I should have been dead by now! 

And now I've come across a reminder that consuming instant noodles two or more times per week are linked to killer health conditions*! 

[*This is The Conversation report by Lauren Ball, Emily Burch and Pui Ting Wong (Pearl) on Monday that is based on a 2014 study published in The Journal of Nutrition, co-authored by researchers from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Baylor University].

A standard packet is high in sodium (600–1,500mg per serving), low in fibre, protein, and essential vitamins and minerals. Frequent consumption (more than twice a week) has been linked in a study to a higher risk of metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and diabetes, more so in women. It says that high sodium intake can strain the heart and kidneys, while low fibre diets are associated with poor gut health and increased risk of type 2 diabetes and bowel cancer. 

Wah, I'm already a dead man walking!

But lest we forget, sugar is a quick and efficient source of energy. And sodium is a crucial electrolyte that helps the body maintain normal blood pressure, supports nerve and muscle function, and regulates fluid balance by helping cells absorb nutrients and water.

I happen to think that science is not always correct. Truth be told, science is not a body of unalterable doctrine, a chapter of revealed truths.

Science is a method. It is a means of arriving at the best possible explanation of phenomena through thesis, testing, observation and revision. 

Science depends on a culture of doubt, as one of the greatest scientists of the last century, Richard Feynman, continually argued. Its conclusions, by definition, are provisional models which are subject to future revision as new data and better explanations arrive. The story of science is a chronicle of old models being superseded and new theories seeking to make sense of our world.

Autistic Adults Push Back Against White House Rhetoric

Composer William Barnett started his YouTube channel as an outlet for his music – but today he also uses it to debunk the steady stream of White House rhetoric on autism while sharing his own experience living with it. 

US President Donald Trump and his health secretary, anti-vaccine advocate Robert F Kennedy Jr, have made autism their talking point, calling it a “horror show” and “a crisis” while making unproven claims that it’s caused by vaccines or acetaminophen. 

“I just wonder if he sees us all as pawns”, the 29-year-old told AFP, in Queens, New York. 

Barnett – in a view that mirrors the medical community at large – sees the White House language as misinformation that only serves to drum up fear among parents and stigmatise people like himself. 

“It’s caused a lot of autistic people to believe that there’s something wrong with them, and that they don’t really have a place in our society”, Barnett told AFP. 

Autism spectrum disorder is a broad neurodevelopmental diagnosis that encompasses challenges related to social skills, communication and behavior. Traits vary widely, as does the degree to which one’s life is impacted. 

There is no known cause. A combination of genetic and environmental factors is likely involved, according to the World Health Organization. 

Autistic Adults NYC member, 26-year-old Sebastian Bonvissuto, said the discourse in Washington has made him feel “frustrated” and “angry”. “I feel like we are treated as we’re nothing in society”.

But people on the spectrum “think outside the box”, he asserted, and “can contribute in so many different ways than other people would”. 

Members interviewed by AFP all said if the White House want to help, they should focus on funding services and asking autistic people what they need, rather than casting their lives as diminished. 

Experts like Elizabeth Laugeson (right), a UCLA psychiatry professor, whose decades of experience include developing social skills programming for youth and adults told AFP, the White House rhetoric that’s hyper-focused on cures hearkens back to an “ugly past” of “fear-based and deficit-based language”. 

“Autism isn’t a tragedy or something to be fixed for many people”, noted Laugeson. “It’s a neuro-developmental difference”. 

“It’s part of human diversity”.

Over A Million Discuss Suicide With ChatGPT Weekly

OpenAI have announced a new safety update to their popular ChatGPT model after an internal analysis revealed over a million users are admitting to suicidal tendencies to the chatbot. The changes are meant to improve the AI’s ability to recognize and properly respond to distress. 

In a statement on Monday, the company revealed that an estimated 0.15% of weekly ChatGPT users have engaged in conversations that include “explicit indicators of potential suicidal planning or intent”. Another 0.05% of messages are also said to have contained “explicit or implicit indicators of suicidal ideation or intent”. 

Earlier this month, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed that ChatGPT has more than 800 million weekly active users, meaning that, according to the company’s latest figures, over 1.2 million people have discussed suicide with the chatbot, and about 400,000 have displayed signs of suicidal intent. 

The company also claimed that around 0.07% (560,000) of its weekly users and 0.01% (80,000) of messages indicate “possible signs of mental health emergencies related to psychosis or mania”. It further noted that a number of users have grown emotionally over reliant on ChatGPT, with about 0.15% (1.2 million) of active users exhibiting behavior that indicates “heightened levels” of emotional attachment to the chatbot. 

OpenAI said they have partnered with dozens of mental health experts from around the world to update the chatbot so it can more reliably recognize signs of mental distress, provide better responses, and guide users to real-world help. 

In conversations relating to delusional beliefs, the company said they are teaching ChatGPT to respond “safely”, and “empathetically”, while avoiding affirming ungrounded beliefs. 

The company’s pronouncement comes amid rising concerns over the increasing use of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and the effect they have on people’s mental health. Psychiatrists and other medical professionals have expressed alarm about an emerging trend of users developing dangerous delusions and paranoid thoughts after prolonged conversations with AI chatbots, which tend to affirm and reinforce users’ beliefs. The phenomenon has been dubbed by some as “AI psychosis”. 

Liverpool's head coach (right) got crazily desperate yesterday. He named three teenagers in his starting line-up and a further five among his substitutes as he made 10 changes from the team that was beaten 3-2 at Brentford on Saturday. 

In short, he put together a team of under-utilised first-team squad players, fringe youngsters and Academy hopefuls. Unsurprisingly, Arne Slot's line-up gamble backfired badly and Crystal Palace very easily thumped his much-changed side 3-0. And Liverpool limped out of the League Cup last 16 ‒ and which represents their sixth defeat in seven games.

The Eagles have now beaten the English champions three times in three months ‒ having defeated Slot's side on penalties in the Community Shield in August and then won 2-1 in the league at Selhurst Park last month. 

This time, the head coach has to take sole blame for the defeat.

Indian Cough Syrups Allegedly Kill Children Again

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday issued a health advisory warning about three contaminated cough syrups identified in India and urged authorities to report any detections to the agency. 

The health agency said the affected medicines are specific batches of COLDRIF, Respifresh TR and ReLife, manufactured by Sresan Pharmaceutical, Rednex Pharmaceuticals and Shape Pharma. 

India's health authority, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO), told WHO the syrups were reportedly consumed by 17 children under five who died in India last week.

Malaysia's Sivasangari Subramaniam maintained her fine form by booking a spot in the quarter-finals of the Silicon Valley Open 2025 in Redwood City, United States, yesterday. 

The squash tournament’s third seed proved too strong for Egypt’s Kenzy Ayman, cruising to an 11-4, 11-9, 11-8 win in the second round.