GoKawiil
Tech News
Court filings in an ongoing lawsuit against Meta have surfaced internal documents, after a judge ruled they were not protected by attorney-client privilege despite the company routing related correspondence through lawyers. The documents reportedly reveal internal plans and research touching on how Meta's products affect young users, adding to litigation alleging the company's products harm minors.
A systematic review published in August, co-authored by the writers, found that children and young people who vape face a wider range of adverse health effects than previously recognized. The authors report that e-cigarettes deliver nicotine as efficiently as or more efficiently than tobacco cigarettes, and that this efficiency likely explains both their usefulness as a quitting aid for adult smokers and their appeal as an entry point to nicotine addiction for young non-smokers.
A wave of wellness influencers, podcasters and tech startups are promoting nicotine—often via pouches or products combined with caffeine and nootropics—as a natural compound that boosts focus and guards against cognitive decline. A pulmonary physician-scientist who studies nicotine addiction says these claims stretch limited findings from cognition studies far beyond what human research actually supports.
A global analysis covering 204 countries found that nearly 3 billion people are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, contributing to roughly 1.7 million deaths each year. The research highlights that passive smoke exposure remains a major public health burden despite decades of anti-smoking campaigns.
A team of biologists and engineers placed tobacco hornworm caterpillars inside a completely soundproof anechoic chamber to study how the insects detect approaching predators despite lacking ears. Over a year of daily trials, researchers sent vibrations through a platform holding each caterpillar and used an accelerometer to measure precise movements, observing jumps, twitches and shudders in response to different vibration intensities. The findings point to tiny, highly sensitive hairs on the caterpillar's body as the likely mechanism behind its vibration-based sensing.
Mike Moore, the former Mississippi attorney general who helped broker the 1998 $246 billion tobacco settlement, is now advising state attorneys general pursuing similar action against social media firms. This follows Meta's roughly $17 billion settlement this week over claims it misrepresented how Facebook and Instagram harm children's mental health, a deal that included usage limits, age verification tools and parental controls. Moore, co-leading a nonprofit called Attention Initiative, wants a broader settlement covering more companies including TikTok and YouTube.
The ATF acknowledged that a standalone system separate from its main network was compromised, calling it a 'major incident' after the Qilin ransomware gang listed the agency on its dark web leak site. The agency said the affected system does not connect to its enterprise network or eForms platform, and is now working with the Department of Justice to investigate the breach.