By Victoria Waldersee and Andreas Rinke MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) -German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lauded the German car industry's efforts at

A Twitch streamer was left stunned after he livestreamed himself shaving his hair for charity, only to find an indent on his head from wearing his gaming headset. The gamer, who goes by Curtoss on streaming platform Twitch, went live on 3 June to raise money for the charity organisation, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. While shaving his head for charity, viewers witnessed Curtoss’s shock when he discovered that his head shape had completely changed due to his prolonged headset use. “The shaver’s working like a champ,” Curtoss said, as he began shaving his hair down the middle of his head. Within seconds, he noticed an indent across the top of his head. “Dude, I have an indent like right here, this is where my headphones go!” he told viewers. “I have a f***ing headphone indent on my head! What the f***?” “I always thought that was just my hair,” he added. It didn’t take long for Curtoss’s reaction to go viral on social media. He shared a clip of his mid-shave discovery to his TikTok, while on Twitter, a video of his head indent received more than 42 million views. Surprisingly, Curtoss wasn’t the only one to find an indent on their head from wearing headphones. “Welcome to the club,” replied one Twitter user, who shared photos of two gamers with indents on their skulls. “We all got one of those at one point or another,” another gamer joked. “Tell me why I’ve just rubbed my head to make sure I don’t have one,” shared one person, while another wrote: “New fear just unlocked” “This is why I will never wear a headset for prolonged time periods,” said someone else. So, can prolonged headphones really cause permanent damage? Yes and no. While there are risks to wearing headphones for long periods of time, head indents are temporary. In fact, Headphonesty reports that it takes at least 135 kg to cause a minor fracture to the skull. However, streamers can get “headphone hair” from wearing a headphone headband for too long, wherein the headset puts too much pressure on the head and flattens the hair. But much like indents on the scalp, hair should gradually return to its original shape in just a few minutes. In order to help get rid of headphone dents on the scalp or hair faster, gamers can gently massage the dent and the surrounding area. A hot shower might help return the head to its original shape, but taking breaks from wearing headphones is the most effective way to avoid causing a dent in the scalp. @curtoss please don't call it "Brain Valley" ?♂️ #twitch #livestreamfails #gamer ♬ original sound - nintendo loser While gamers and Twitch streamers don’t need to worry about changing the shape of their head, prolonged headphone use can lead to permanent hearing loss. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 50 per cent of people ages 12 to 35 are at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged and excessive exposure to loud sounds, including through headphones. According to the American Osteopathic Association, many headphones and MP3 players today can produce sounds up to 120 decibels, which is equivalent to a sound level at a rock concert. At 120 decibels, hearing loss can occur after only about an hour and 15 minutes. Experts suggest that people should exceed no more than 60 per cent of maximum volume when using headphones. The Independent has contacted Curtoss for comment. Read More Ukrainian schoolboy to buy home for his mother after selling Minecraft server Male characters in video games have 50 per cent more dialogue than female counterparts What is Discord, the chatting app tied to classified leaks? Mother sparks debate over parent who wouldn’t give her daughter a slice of cake How to protect pets from wildfire smoke amid air quality alert ‘Fearful’ Shannen Doherty reveals her cancer has spread to her brain

MALVERN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 13, 2023--

Football fans on social media have discovered a favourite new meme, and it features Jamie Carragher as you’ve never seen him before – as a broadband salesman. Users have been having a little fun on photoshop after a picture of the former Liverpool star holding an ipad and wearing a lanyard around his neck went viral. He was presumably snapped outside a media centre somewhere preparing for commentary on a game, but people couldn’t help but compare him to a salesman looking to stop people on the street and flog them a new deal on their internet provider. In one of those wonderfully organic trends that still happen from time to time on Twitter, people shared their own versions of the pic. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Carragher seemed to like the trend too, and even retweeted a selection of them. It’s hardly the first time Carragher has been making us laugh this year, after the former Liverpool player cracked people up in the BT Sport studio attempting to pronounce Inter Milan’s full name. Micah Richards was left with tears streaming down his face after a hilarious interview following a Champions League game, when Inter Milan player Rafael Leao had a little difficulty understanding Carragher’s accent. At the time, he appeared to do what many of us have done in a foreign country and speak more slowly and in a different accent in a bid to make ourselves understood. Carragher tried his best, but it was his pronunciation of the Italian club name “Internazionale” which tipped his co-hosts over the edge. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Stellantis NV and Toyota Motor Corp. blasted a Biden administration plan to squelch auto pollution, saying it would

More than 150 leading companies warned the EU's plans to regulate artificial intelligence risk harming Europe's competitiveness and do not go far enough to tackle challenges, in...

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 20, 2023--

Over on Reddit, the protest continues. It's been almost a month now since thousands of

How often do you think about your belly button health? Probably not enough, at least according to Dr Karan Raj. Dr Raj is one of the most popular health experts on TikTok, regularly keeping his 5.2 million followers updated with videos discussing all manner of things in the medical world. One of his clips has exposed just how dirty our belly buttons can get – and highlighted just how dirty they can become if not properly cleaned. The video is informative – but you might want to look away if gross stuff makes you queasy. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter As he explained that if not properly maintained, the body can produce a “belly button stone” made up of all sorts of gunk. @dr.karanr #duet with @crinc_3 natural ornaments! #schoolwithdrkaran The video begins with a short section from fellow TikToker @crinc_3 which features the caption: "My partner told me they'd never cleaned their belly button because it hurt. So I cleaned it." "All flesh holes can build up with sweat, dead skin cells, oils, clothing fabric, bacteria and forbidden cheese,” Dr Raj said, commenting on the footage. "If not washed out on a regular basis, this material can accumulate and harden into an omphalolith – a belly button stone.” He added: "Belly button stones come in a wide array of colours, it's usually black but can be a light brown." The clip sparked a big reaction from TikTok users, with one writing: “I didn't have a fear of belly buttons until I saw the one behind your head.” Another said: “who else is checking their belly button right now LOL.” One more added: "Not me cleaning my belly button straight after watching this.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Nasa has revealed chunks of a distant asteroid that were transported back down to Earth. The dark, dusty sample comes from a 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid, and might include the “building blocks of life”, the space agency said. Already, the material from the asteroid Bennu has been found to include high-carbon content and water, the space agency said. But it will be distributed around the world with a view to finding out everything from the history of our solar system to how life came about. Scientists and space agency leaders showed photos and video of the asteroid material - returned to Earth last month - at a live streamed event at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. The display came after a capsule containing an estimated 250g of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu, touched down in the Utah desert near Salt Lake City on September 24. Nasa has said it was “the biggest, carbon-rich asteroid sample ever delivered to Earth”, and its contents have now been hailed as “scientific treasure”. Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said the sample will “help scientists investigate the origins of life on our own planet for generations to come”. He added: “Almost everything we do at Nasa seeks to answer questions about who we are and where we come from. “Nasa missions like Osiris-Rex will improve our understanding of asteroids that could threaten Earth while giving us a glimpse into what lies beyond. “The sample has made it back to Earth, but there is still so much science to come - science like we’ve never seen before.” Almost 60 million miles away, asteroid Bennu is a 4.5-billion-year-old remnant of our early solar system and scientists believe it can help shed light on how planets formed and evolved. The spacecraft launched on September 8 2016 and arrived at Bennu in December 2018. It dropped the samples off sealed in a capsule last month. “Already this is scientific treasure,” said the mission’s lead scientist, Professor Dante Lauretta, of the University of Arizona on Wednesday. In a statement, he added: “As we peer into the ancient secrets preserved within the dust and rocks of asteroid Bennu, we are unlocking a time capsule that offers us profound insights into the origins of our solar system. “The bounty of carbon-rich material and the abundant presence of water-bearing clay minerals are just the tip of the cosmic iceberg. “These discoveries, made possible through years of dedicated collaboration and cutting-edge science, propel us on a journey to understand not only our celestial neighbourhood but also the potential for life’s beginnings. “With each revelation from Bennu, we draw closer to unravelling the mysteries of our cosmic heritage.” Nasa‘s mission goal was to collect was 60 grams of asteroid sample. But when the canister lid was opened, Nasa said scientists discovered “bonus material” covering the outside of the collector head, canister lid, and base. There was so much extra material it slowed down the process of collecting and containing the primary sample, Nasa said. Scientists are not sure exactly how much of Bennu they brought back because the main sample chamber has not yet been opened. Mr Lauretta said: “It’s been going slow and meticulous, but the science is already starting.” He said there is “a whole treasure chest of extraterrestrial material” still to be examined. During Wednesday’s press conference, Osiris-Rex sample analyst Daniel Glavin added: “This stuff is an astrobiologist’s dream, I just can’t wait to get at it. “We’re going to learn so much about the origin of the solar system, the evolution and potentially how even life started here on Earth.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse this month will be last until 2046 Prada to design Nasa’s next-gen space suits for Artemis astronauts 1.2 mile-high ‘dust devil’ spotted on Mars by Nasa’s Perseverance rover Rover captures one-mile-high whirlwind on Mars Earth hit by a huge solar storm that would devastate civilisation, trees show Scientists see afterglow from huge planets crashing into each other for first time

Facebook users in the US have just one more month to apply for a share of a $725 million privacy settlement. Meta agreed to pay the fine late last year, but those affected must explicitly ask for it by sending in a form. Those that don’t will miss out on any share of the vast settlement. The payment is part of an agreement, reached with Meta, to settle a lawsuit that alleged it allowed millions of its users’ personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Anyone in the US who has had a Facebook account at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, is eligible to receive a payment. To apply for the settlement, users can fill out a form and submit it online, or print it out and mail it. The deadline is August 25. It’s not clear how much money individual users will receive. The larger the number of people submitting valid claims, the smaller each payment will be since the money has to be divided among them. The case sprang from 2018 revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign that culminated in Trump’s election as the 45th president. Uproar over the revelations led to a contrite Zuckerberg being grilled by U.S. lawmakers and spurred calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts. Facebook’s growth has stalled as more people connect and entertain themselves on rival services such as TikTok, but the social network still boasts more than 2 billion users worldwide, including an estimated 250 million in the U.S. Beyond the Cambridge Analytica case, Meta has been under fire over data privacy for some time. In May, for example, the EU slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion fine and ordered it to stop transferring users’ personal information across the Atlantic by October. And the tech giant’s new text-based app, Threads, has not rolled out in the EU due to privacy concerns. Additional reporting by Associated Press Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

'One Dance' rapper Drake – real name Aubrey Graham – was left in an awkward situation on Saturday, when the musician with a reported net worth of around $250m (£200.7m) tried to donate just short of $500 to an online streamer, only for his VISA card to be declined. Graham was hosting a livestream when the incident occurred, over on the platform Kick - which seeks to rival popular streaming site Twitch. The stream itself was to promote the online cryptocurrency casino Stake, and it was when Drake wanted to gift $499.99 in subscribers to a streamer known only as Daisy that he experienced some problems. And it all unfolded while Daisy was broadcasting herself getting a foot massage. As you do. After entering a verification code to authorise the purchase, the dialogue box disappeared to show the payment hadn’t in fact gone through and Drake would have to try and pay again. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Embarrassing,” said Graham in a high-pitched, sing-song voice, as fellow rapper Lil Yachty smiled at the mishap next to him. Given Drake’s aforementioned net worth, it’s unlikely the musician himself is in any financial difficulty, and after looking at someone off-camera and being made aware of the situation, it wasn’t long before the card issue was resolved and he was back to splashing the cash. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the blunder from going viral on social media, as some were left shocked by how he said the word “embarrassing”, apparently: Others also noticed Drake was sporting fingernails with yellow nail varnish, with Marca reporting that UFC athlete Israel Adesanya - one of the artist’s favourite sportsmen to bet on – paints his fingernails as well. Well, at least Drake’s getting his card declined in style… Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.