News Topic: Life trends
Evidence for alien life?
NEWS SUMMARY US President Donald Trump has announced that US agencies will release all government files “related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and any and all other information connected to these highly complex but extremely interesting and important matters”. The announcement came after former US President […]
Retro Christmas decorations make a comeback
NEWS SUMMARY Retro Christmas decorations are trending again. The trend started last year, but in 2025 it has gone over-the-top. People are filling their homes and trees with bold, mismatched ornaments, tinsel, foil garlands, paper chains and brightly coloured lights, so it looks like Christmas has exploded in the room. Many hunt for nostalgic décor […]
Australia’s social media ban for under-16s
NEWS SUMMARY Australia has introduced a law banning social media use for anyone under 16 on major platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Users must prove their age using ID or facial verification. Some teens are already finding ways to bypass the system, such as using photos of adults or VPNs. Companies must ensure the […]
Word of the year 2025: vibe coding
NEWS SUMMARY Collins Dictionary has named ‘vibe coding’ its Word of the Year for 2025. The term refers to using artificial intelligence to convert natural language into computer code, allowing people to instruct a machine on their desired actions instead of writing all the code themselves. It was coined by an AI expert Andrej Karpathy […]
Matcha craze
NEWS SUMMARY The demand for matcha, powdered green tea leaves, has been growing rapidly. This surge has been driven by social media trends and Japan’s tourist boom, but it is also linked to shrinking supplies caused by heatwaves and the declining number of farmers in Japan. Some shops have been limiting purchases to manage shortages, […]
One engineer, four jobs
NEWS SUMMARY Soham Parekh, an Indian software engineer, shocked Silicon Valley after it was revealed that he secretly worked four full-time remote tech jobs at once. Despite doing really well in interviews and getting jobs with salaries up to $200,000, his performance was poor and his excuses (from floods to drone strikes) were suspicious. Startups […]
