When you open your sleep tracker tomorrow morning, skip the sleep score and turn your attention to another number. A recent study has found time spent in REM sleep is a vital metric for understanding your longevity and illness risk — and most sleep trackers measure it. A 2026 survey published in PLOS Medicine analyzed data from over 95,000 people wearing a sleep trackers. The researchers linked increased amounts of Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep with a lower risk of 83 conditions, including heart failure and dementia. You might overlook REM in favor of juicier metrics like deep sleep and 3 a.m. wake ups, but this sleep stage is essential for your wellbeing. We asked sleep experts Dr. Hana Patel and Dr. Hanul Bhandari, what we need to know about REM sleep, including how to get more of it.

Apple’s ‘Pro and Tell’ event is just days away, and the tech world is practically vibrating over the rumors of a redesigned OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro. It sounds like a dream machine. But before you get your wallet out for it, we need to have a very grounded conversation about what that screen is actually going to cost you, and whether OLED is going to be a smokescreen for skyrocketing memory costs. I’ve been speaking with David Naranjo, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research, who just ran a Bill of Materials (BOM) analysis on what this leap to OLED actually means for the PC industry. And the data tells a fascinating story: OLED isn’t just making your laptop look prettier. It is fundamentally changing how much you are going to pay, and acting as a very convenient distraction for rising hardware prices.

As it does at the start of every month, Prime Video adds a boatload of new movies and shows. The new on Prime Video October 2026 line-up features some genuine classics, including “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark," “The Godfather" and “Blade Runner: The Final Cut." Yet it’s another Ridley Scott flick I want to recommend to you this week, though sadly there will be no C-beams glittering in the dark near Tannhäuser Gate this time out. Everyone also talks about “Alien” or “Gladiator” when discussing the legendary director's storied filmography, and for good reason. They’re both five-star classics. Yet it’s “Thelma and Louise” I’m pitching for your streaming consideration this week. Not only is this one of the great road movies, but I’d also argue it’s one of the three best films Scott has ever made. Following the titular leads as a planned weekend road trip soon goes horribly homicidal, the pair attempt to flee to Mexico with an armada of cranky cops in hot pursuit. A tender tale of female bonding under the most stressful of circumstances, with a strong script and a terrific supporting cast that includes Harvey Keitel, “Thelma and Louise” is easily one of my favourite Ridley Scott movies. Oh, and fans of shirtless Brad Pitt? Hop on in. This road trip is just getting started. Now let's get the GPS for Prime Video Boulevard.

Over the past 24 hours, two completely separate, absolutely massive cybersecurity disasters collided. First, Microsoft revealed that a nation-state hacking group used an autonomous AI agent to brute-force its way into thousands of cloud accounts in a matter of hours. Then, a critical vulnerability was discovered in PHP — the foundational code that runs roughly 70% of the entire internet — forcing major sites like Wikipedia to temporarily pull the plug on their own servers just to survive.

Google's massive AI expansion in Finland has come at a startling environmental cost. Approximately 250,000 trees have been cut down at one planned data center site, and Finnish authorities have ordered the company to halt work while environmental reviews are completed. According to a new investigation published Thursday by The Guardian, Google cleared roughly 330 hectares of forest in Muhos, Finland, as part of a €13 billion investment in AI infrastructure. That's an area larger than 450 American football fields. And that's only one location. Environmental experts estimate another 150,000 trees were removed at a second site in Otanmäki, bringing the estimated total to approximately 400,000. The controversy is raising difficult questions about the environmental price of the AI boom, particularly as Google, Microsoft and other technology companies race to build the infrastructure needed to power increasingly sophisticated AI models.

After spending much of season 2 making us wonder whether Joanne (Kristen Bell) and Noah (Adam Brody) would ever get their act together, Netflix’s “Nobody Wants This” season 3 is finally letting its central couple enjoy being a couple. They’re moving in together! They’re planning a future! Joanne is taking steps toward converting to Judaism! It’s all very exciting, and honestly, about time. But having watched all 10 episodes of season 3, I have a new complaint: Now, the show seems to be in quite a hurry to advance Joanne and Noah's relationship, so much that it barely has time to breathe. The romantic comedy series returns with plenty of the charm that made its first season such a hit. Bell and Brody remain an effortlessly likable pairing, and there are still laughs to be found in the awkward family dynamics and the business of dating someone whose background is different from your own. But while season 2 felt like it was spinning its wheels, season 3 has apparently decided to floor it. There are plenty of lovely romantic moments, but the writers seem to want to skip over the messy part of, you know, building a solid relationship.

The Sensate is a non-invasive vagus nerve stimulator (nVNS). A smooth, pebble shaped gadget that sends out electrical pulses along the vagus nerve to de-stress the nervous system. The idea is that during times of stress, you place the Sensate on your sternum, where it rests along the pathway of your vagus nerve. From here it sends out vibrational pulses and infrasonic resonance (low frequency soundwaves). These help stimulate your vagus nerve, which should lower sympathetic nerve activity (fight or flight) and increase parasympathetic nerve activity (rest and digest). You do this while listening to a calming soundscape via the app for between 10-30 minutes, as per Sensate’s recommendation. While there are physiological ways of stimulating your vagus nerve for free (for example, humming, meditation and brief cold water exposure), the Sensate is a low-lift option that produces an immediate calming effect. Do you need it? Probably not, especially not for $299. However, as someone who struggles with underlying stress and subsequent 3 a.m. wake ups, I do recommend it. I was even strongly tempted to wear it like an oversized necklace to a mildly fraught family lunch. But I abstained. Instead, I’ve been using the Sensate immediately after finishing work in order to decompress and transition into relaxation mode, and then once again before bed.