The Know Daily - Thursday 8 May 2025

_{Read in 4m 55s ∙ Listening to MGMT ∙}

Solar-powered clinics are bringing better healthcare to remote villages in India. The Selco Foundation is helping provide reliable electricity and mobile connectivity for video consultations, diagnostic tests and vaccine storage. It’ll reduce travel time and costs for villagers seeking medical care 🩺

📱 Profile protection

Online profiles are being scaled back as people discover how their data is being used and ways to protect it.

What’s the story?
A report by Statista found that 39% of respondents were concerned about how companies use their personal information. Sensitive details shared online are collected by data brokers and sold to advertisers, being a prime opportunity for scammers. In fact, an Ofcom survey found that half of the respondents had been affected by a scam. Another key factor influencing the shift in people’s online presence is how AI uses information and images from their social media profiles to train models, as well as its ability to impersonate people you know.

Got it. So what personal info can companies access?
Big tech companies collect things like phone numbers, payment details, driving license and National Insurance numbers from users, according to another recent report. They found that Google collects the most personal data, whilst Apple is the “best company for data privacy”.

What’s being done about it?
The UK’s regulator for online safety, Ofcom, has put in place online safety rules over the last year, which will be further developed into 2026. They require social media platforms, messaging apps and search engines to reduce the risk of users’ data being used fraudulently and them accessing harmful content, as well as outlining how people can better protect themselves.

What can I do personally?
To help protect your online profile, here’s some handy tips, including:

• Check your social media profiles to look at the privacy of posts, especially when you’ve been tagged

• Use a virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts your data over the internet from third parties

• Create strong passwords for all of your important websites and social media platforms, ideally with two-factor authentication

• Ask companies what information they hold about you and request it to be deleted

🚆 Teenage train drivers: The UK government is considering lowering the minimum age for train drivers from 20 to 18 to address a shortage. 

• The bigger story: With 87% of night-before train cancellations made because a driver is unavailable, the Department for Transport said the move would help ensure reliable services. Whilst some critics have raised concerns about lowering the age, the Rail Safety and Standards Board said its research “determined that 18-year-olds are capable of safely becoming train drivers”.

☕️ Slow sips: A café in Barcelona appears to be cracking down on digital nomads by charging more for a coffee if they stay too long – this comes amidst a growing trend amongst cafés imposing stricter rules on remote workers.

🦌 Ecosystem engineers: Elk could be reintroduced to Britain for the first time in 3k years thanks to a rewilding project in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

🩺 Female health: Health experts have called for more UK clinical trials to focus on finding new treatments for women after discovering a gender gap. 

🎢 Disney development: The Walt Disney Company has announced plans to open its first theme park in the Middle East, Disneyland Abu Dhabi.

🤖 Tactile tech: Amazon has unveiled Vulcan, a warehouse robot that can identify items by touch – it aims to reduce physical strain on workers and get deliveries out quicker.

🏝️ Best beach: This Italian beach has been crowned the world's best for 2025, celebrated for its pristine beauty and conservation efforts.

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Trivia answer: C) A final shortlist of designs for the national monument have been revealed, which will be built in St James’s Park.

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