BuzzFeed expects to reduce about 5% of its workforce, seeking to streamline its HuffPost news operations.

Microscopic view of paracetamol crystalsHenri Koskinen/ShutterstockChildren whose mothers used paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, during pregnancy are more likely to develop ADHD than those whose mothers didnt, suggests a small study. While far from conclusive, the finding lends weight to the contested idea that the widely used pain reliever may affect fetal brain development.Previous studies on paracetamol and neurodevelopmental conditions have provided conflicting findings. For instance, a 2019 study involving more than 4700 children and their mothers linked use of the painkiller in pregnancy with a 20 per cent greater risk of children developing ADHD. However, an analysis published last year of nearly 2.5 million kids showed no such association when comparing siblings who either were or were not exposed to paracetamol before birth. AdvertisementOne issue is that most of these studies rely on self-reported medication use, a significant limitation given that people may not remember taking paracetamol while pregnant. For example, only 7 per cent of participants in the 2019 study reported using paracetamol during pregnancy far below the 50 per cent seen in other studies. A lot of people take [paracetamol] without knowing it, says Brennan Baker at the University of Washington in Seattle. It could be the active ingredient in some cold medication youre using, and you dont necessarily know.So, Baker and his colleagues used a more accurate metric instead. They looked for markers of the medicine in blood samples collected from 307 women, all of whom were Black and lived in Tennessee, during their second trimester. None of them were taking medications for chronic conditions or had known pregnancy complications. The researchers then followed up with participants once their children were between 8 and 10 years old. In the US, about 8 per cent of children between 5 and 11 years old have ADHD.On average, children whose mothers had markers of paracetamol in their blood were three times as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD than children born to mothers who did not even after adjusting for factors like the mothers age, pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), socioeconomic status and mental health conditions among their immediate family members. This suggests that using paracetamol during pregnancy may raise childrens risk of developing ADHD. Get the most essential health and fitness news in your inbox every Saturday.Sign up to newsletterIt is, however, also possible that the actual factor raising ADHD risk is whatever led someone to take paracetamol in the first place, rather than the drug itself. They havent been able to account for things like the mothers reason for taking [paracetamol], such as headaches or fevers or pains or infections, which we know are risk factors for adverse child development, says Viktor Ahlqvist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.But Baker believes it is the drug itself that is responsible. A subsequent analysis of tissue samples from 174 of the participants placentas showed that those using paracetamol had distinct metabolic and immune system changes. These changes are similar to those seen in studies that tested the effects of paracetamol in pregnant animals without an infection or underlying health condition.The fact we see the immune upregulation in animal models as well, I think, really strengthens the case for causality, says Baker. There is a lot of prior work showing that elevated immune activation during pregnancy is linked with adverse neurodevelopment.Still, these findings are far from conclusive. For one thing, the study included a small number of participants, all of whom were Black and lived in the same city limiting the generalisability of the findings. For another, it only measured blood markers of paracetamol at one moment in time. These markers stick around for about three days, so the study probably captured more frequent users, and there may be a dose-dependent effect, says Baker.[Paracetamol] is currently the first-line therapeutic option for pain and fever in pregnancy, says Baker. But I think agencies like the [US Food and Drug Administration] and different obstetric and gynaecology associations need to be continually reviewing all available research and updating their guidance.Meanwhile, people should talk with their doctors if they are uncertain whether they should take paracetamol during pregnancy, says Baker.Journal reference:Nature Mental Health DOI: 10.1038/s44220-025-00387-6 Topics:

The latest volley was fired Wednesday in Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman, OpenAI, and Microsoft.Musk wants a judge to halt what he alleges are OpenAI's unlawful anti-competitive practices.Musk has provided "no facts" to show OpenAI is unlawfully quashing competition, Altman's side wrote.The latest volley was fired Wednesday in the ongoing legal battle between the world's biggest tech titans with Sam Altman complaining in court papers that Elon Musk has "no facts" to back his claim that OpenAI is unlawfully quashing the competition."No facts support the existence of this conspiracy," a lawyer for Altman wrote in a 33-page court filing to a federal judge in Oakland, California.Musk also hasn't shown he has been harmed in any way by what he alleges are OpenAI's anti-competitive actions, Altman's lawyer argued.Musk's 107-page lawsuit accuses Altman of fraud, self-dealing, and "unfair competition.""He claims he will suffer irreparable harm absent judicial intervention, but provides no plausible account of how or why," Altman's lawyer, Jordan Eth, wrote in Wednesday's filing.The filing is Altman's response to Musk's request that US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers order an immediate halt to what Musk alleges is OpenAI's unfair and illegal restraint on its competitors.Musk wants Gonzalez Rogers to immediately block OpenAI's ongoing transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit entity. Musk also wants the judge to bar OpenAI from mandating that its investors not invest in competing tech companies, including Grok, the chatbot developed by Musk's own AI company, xAI.Lawyers for Musk and Altman last sparred in the lawsuit a week ago, at a virtual hearing before Gonzalez Rogers. The judge voiced skepticism at the hearing over Musk's "irreparable harm" claims, at one point summing up the warring factions this way: "I have billionaires versus billionaires.""How can I say as a matter of law there is a likely restraint on trade when your client has raised $11 billion?" for xAI, she asked Musk attorney Marc Toberoff.Wednesday's filing by Altman's side echoed the judge's skepticism."Leveraging Musk's influence, and the 'web of companies' under his control, xAI has become a major player in a highly competitive industry, raising capital at unprecedented speed and scale," Altman's filing said.Musk's startup "increased its valuation to $50 billion in a new funding round last month, making it the second most valuable private AI developer behind OpenAI," the filing said.Musk has used that investment infusion to quickly build "what is believed to be the world's largest supercomputer, dubbed 'Colossus,'" Altman's filing said.Granting the "sweeping" relief sought by Musk "would debilitate OpenAI's business, board deliberations, and mission to create safe and beneficial AI all to the advantage of Musk and his own AI company," the filing added.The judge has not said when she will be ruling on Musk's request. A lawyer for Musk did not immediately return a request for comment.Altman and his codefendants have also asked the judge to dismiss Musk's now nearly year-old lawsuit in its entirety a separate paperwork battle that is scheduled to continue into late May.The judge said last week that the parties should be prepared for trial at the end of next year at the earliest.

Heidi Ganaden and her husband left their big-city corporate jobs to open a hotel on an island.The couple moved from Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, to Siargao, also known as the country's surfing capital.One pandemic and a category 5 typhoon later, they've finally settled into their new lives.Heidi Ganaden and her husband never thought they'd run a hotel by the beach in Siargao, an island known as the surfing capital of the Philippines.The two of them were working corporate jobs and living in Manila, the capital city. She was in the telecommunications industry, while he was a landscape architect.As avid surfers, the couple enjoyed hanging out by the beach but weren't too familiar with Siargao; Ganaden had visited once before in 2005, while her husband had never been there before. The island is one of more than 7,000 that make up the Philippines. Heidi Ganaden and her husband moved from Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, to Siargao to open a hotel. Lubihan Siargao. But a quick weekend trip in 2018 it's only a to visit some friends who were trying to set up a business there left them with a favorable impression of the island.Not long after they got back to Manila, they received a call from their friends in Siargao about a plot of land by the beach that was available for lease."We thought, OK, maybe we can try and look at it. Maybe we can just put up a small shack so that we can go to Siargao, and we'll have a place where we can stay," Ganaden, 46, told Business Insider. They initially wanted to build a home they could live in whenever they visited the island to surf. Lubihan Siargao. When they went to view the plot of land, they realized it was in a central location that was popular with tourists. New establishments, like restaurants, were also popping up all around the area.They also noticed that more and more people were visiting Siargao, and they decided it might be a better idea to build accommodations instead."We actually didn't have the idea for a hotel initially. It was really an accident," she said. "We were in a central spot, and we thought it would be a waste to just offer it for a long-term lease, so we ended up with a small hotel."Trading city life for island livingBy the end of the year, the couple had signed a 15-year lease and started clearing out the land. They preferred to keep the amount they spent on the lease private.They broke ground in 2019. That same year, Ganaden and her husband decided to quit their jobs to focus on the project."We thought it was now or never," Ganaden said. "We had no idea what we were doing, but we did it anyway because we were invested in it. We wanted to make it work." It was difficult to find raw materials and skilled construction workers on the developing island. Lubihan Siargao. The construction of their hotel took place in phases, and they hired some 15 contractors to help out. Ganaden estimates that they spent about 20 million Philippine pesos, or about $340,000, on the construction of the hotel.The building process was fraught with challenges. Even though the island was developing, it was difficult to find raw materials and skilled construction workers, Ganaden said."Imagine a whole island where everybody was building with just two hardware stores," she said.To meet their project timelines, the couple decided to use prefabricated materials. Everything was brought over to Siargao from Manila even the contractors they hired. The couple brought in construction materials and even their contractors from Manila. Lubihan Siargao. "We had to bring them in and house them because for prefabricated material, there's a required skillset for it," Ganaden said.They named the hotel "Lubihan," a term in the local dialect that refers to the coconut grove that once grew over the land. The entire property spans just over 4,000 square feet and has 13 guest rooms and one staff room."Since my husband is a landscape architect, he was able to make everything work. Even with the 14 rooms, we have a very nice common garden and a lounge area at the back," Ganaden said. Different room types have different nightly rates. Lubihan Siargao. Nightly rates vary across the different room types."We can go as low as about 3,000 pesos all the way to as high as 5,000 pesos," she added.One challenge after anotherThe couple's hotel journey hasn't been easy.When early 2020 rolled around, they faced a major setback: the pandemic. Like much of the world, Siargao and the Philippines went into lockdown. The pandemic and even a typhoon were among the obstacles the couple faced while trying to get their hotel off the ground. Lubihan Siargao. The couple was able to rent out a few of their completed rooms to travelers who were stuck on the island, and they dedicated their time to finishing the rest of the hotel.But just as tourism in Siargao started to recover from the effects of the pandemic, a natural disaster struck.In December 2021, Super Typhoon Rai a category 5 storm swept through parts of the Philippines, including Siargao, uprooting trees, wrecking buildings, and leaving destruction in its wake.Lubihan was no exception. Strong winds and torrential rain devastated the whole island, including the hotel. Lubihan Siargao. "Our entire roof was peeled off like a sardine can, the majority of our glass doors broke and were dislodged by the strong wind. It was a disaster," Ganaden said.All their staff members lost their homes."We had no power for months, no phone signal for months too," she said, adding that the island was almost cut off entirely from the rest of the world due to the damage sustained by the island's transport infrastructure.But with grit and determination, and help from their community, the couple was able to rebuild the damaged parts of the hotel and their lives."It was months of recovery emotionally, mentally and physically," Ganaden said.They were new to the businessThat aside, running a hotel with no hospitality background came with its own set of challenges."We are learning as we go, in terms of how to operate and what's needed by the hotel," Ganaden said. "For example, the kind of fittings that would last longer, or the kind of linens that would make laundry easier, things like that.""I think if you have a background in hospitality, you'd know these kinds of things. But since this is our first time, we're doing trial and error on a whole lot of things," she added.They have six full-time staff members, including an operations officer who lives on-site. Ganaden and her husband often spend their afternoons surfing. Mary Dizon. Ganaden's daily routine starts with dropping off her seven-year-old daughter at school. Then, she scans through the hotel's reservations for the day and stops by the hotel to check in on things."Then, it's island life after that. In our neighborhood, we have a CrossFit gym right next to us. And of course, if the tides are OK, we go out to surf," Ganaden said, adding that she pops back into the hotel after to keep an eye on things.Island life is busy, tooIn 2019, Siargao was voted as the best island in the world by Cond Nast Travelers.Since then, tourism on the island has been on the rise. In 2024, Siargao was also included among Lonely Planet's top seven tourist destinations in Southeast Asia.The island saw a total of 529,822 foreign tourist and domestic traveler arrivals in 2023, per the latest data available from the Philippines Department of Tourism. This is an increase from 181,188 foreign and domestic traveler arrivals five years earlier2018.Siargao may be developing, but the island still retains its untouched feel that many similar beach destinations like Bali and Hawaii have lost due to over-tourism.It's a far cry from the corporate life that Ganaden was used to back in Manila, but her days are still busy."We do also have meetings, especially with other business owners that we collaborate with, but they're very informal. All in flip-flops or barefoot by the beach, drinking a cocktail so that's how our meetings are now," she said. It's very different from the corporate life that she was used to. Lubihan Siargao. She says that her background working in an office taught her to be disciplined, which, in turn, helped her greatly in managing the hotel business.One thing she really appreciates about life in Siargao is the tight community on the island."Even if you live in a village in Manila, you probably will not know your neighbor. In Siargao, everybody just talks to each other, which is very, very nice," she said. She loves the tight community on the island. Lubihan Siargao. That said, she does occasionally miss city-living and the convenience that comes with it."We don't have a fast food chain on the island. It's both good and bad, because sometimes you have cravings for a burger," Ganaden said.The infrastructure on Siargao has also improved tremendously in recent years, she said, adding that fiber internet was only properly rolled out on the island the year before.Prior to that, businesses like hers relied on Starlink for connectivity."A lot of remote workers want to live here, but they can't because of the internet," she said. "When we started having Starlink all over the island, a lot of them started coming in and working from here."These days, Ganaden goes back to Manila with her family at least once every quarter."On the island, we all have this unwritten rule that you need an island break," she said. "We go back to Manila to decompress because our hustle is on the island and then we come back again."Looking back on their journey, Ganaden says that it was a big leap for them to go from working in the city to running a business on an island with no experience."We were scared, but we knew that because of the discipline we had in corporate jobs, we'd be able to survive and find a way to make it work," she said. "I told my husband I know that if I'm pushed to the wall, I will find a way to climb over that wall or break that wall.""That's how I am, so I was pretty confident about going into the entire thing scared," she said.Have you recently relocated to a new country and found or renovated your dream home? If you have a story to share, contact this reporter at agoh@businessinsider.com.

The Logoff is a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.Welcome to The Logoff. Today were focusing on the Trump administrations new Ukraine policy, a shift with major implications for the war and for the world.Whats the latest? Donald Trump today said he and Vladimir Putin had agreed to start peace talks in Russias war on Ukraine.Meanwhile, new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was unrealistic for Ukraine to recover all of the land it has lost since Russia invaded in 2014. Hegseth also said the US would not commit its military to protect Ukraine after the war and that the US would not support Ukraine joining NATO.How is that different from Biden-era Ukraine policies?The Biden administration had said it would continue supporting Ukraine as long as it takes and that it would make no arrangements for Ukraines future without Ukrainian involvement. Trump initiated peace talks without Ukraines assent. Biden had publicly committed to Ukraine keeping all its territory, but even the countrys staunchest allies admitted that was probably an impossibility. So Hegseths statements there are more a reflection of reality than a shift in policy.Whats the upside to the new policy? Russias war on Ukraine has caused mass casualties and human suffering. A peace deal would end that if it holds.Whats the downside? Ukrainians fear a peace deal will be a pause in hostilities, rather than an end to them. They fear that Putin will see that he can use force to gain territory, use the peace deal as a pause to rebuild his military, and then invade again this time without as much US resistance. Keeping Ukraine out of NATO was also a key Russian priority, and consenting to that and other Putin demands in advance also forfeits US leverage in eventual talks. And with that, its time to log off ...Need a reminder that humanity can still do amazing things? Researchers are making progress on vaccines that you can get via nasal spray, with no needles required. Its a development that could encourage more people to get vaccinated and even make vaccines more effective.See More:

Revealed at the PlayStation State of Play event, Metal Eden is a sci-fi shooter with a focus on speed and fury from former CD Projekt Red and Techland developersTech23:00, 12 Feb 2025Reikon has been teasing Metal Eden for a while(Image: Reikon Games)The latest State of Play was packed with updates for PlayStation fans to get excited for, but one of the flashiest intros came from Metal Eden.The game, finally revealed after teases from developer Reikon Games, is set in a futuristic world where human consciousnesses now dwell in robots.The studio, formed in 2014 from former CD Projekt Red ( Witcher, Cyberpunk 2077 ) and Techland ( Dying Light ) developers, released its last game in 2017 with Ruiner, an action shooter.The debut trailer, which you can see above, showcases the speed and fury of the game's combat."Metal Eden presents an adrenaline-fueled sci-fi FPS that explores a world where humanity's consciousness has transcended the flesh, now residing within robots," a press release explains."With 8 unique missions and a handcrafted universe setting that embraces the cybernetic dimension of life, the game thrills players into an artificial world, where they'll dive into in cybernetic warfare, control a powerful hyper unit, and uncover the mysteries of a lost paradise.""In METAL EDEN, you take on the role of ASKA, an advanced Hyper Unit android built around a digitised human psyche. Explore the neon-soaked architecture of the techno planet Moebius and the mysterious world below and engage in an ongoing conflict over the souls of a lost human colony," the release continues.Accompanied by your sentient spaceship, Nexus, youll expand your arsenal and upgrade your undying body while fighting for whats real behind this hauntingly beautiful machine world. Players will Fight a diverse roster of enemies and extract energy cores to gain a battle zone advantage, while developing their arsenal and combat abilities to become an unstoppable Hyper Unit.""Dash, grapple, and wall-run through the citys defences, using enhanced parkour skills. Harness your superior agility and acrobatic combat prowess to dominate pulse-pounding encounters, unleashing chaos on anything that stands in your way. stored in cybernetic COREs."We'll have some more on Metal Eden soon, but as far as debuts go, this was certainly impressive.Article continues belowFor more on a grim future, Cyberpunk 2077 is getting live-action adaptations, but they're some way off.

PS5 players can download some colossal titles this month via PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium, with God of War, Like A Dragon and Gundam included among othersTech22:53, 12 Feb 2025Updated 23:05, 12 Feb 2025PlayStation Plus is bringing more new games to Sony console owners(Image: Sony )PlayStation fans had been hoping for some big releases for PS Plus this month after an outage stopped them playing for most of the weekend, but now we finally know what we'll be playing.At State of Play for February 2025, Sony revealed plenty of games, including Digimon Story: Time Stranger, a fresh look at Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, and the intriguing-looking Lost Soul Aside, but all eyes were on the PS Plus titles for Extra tier members and it didn't disappoint.Among the games included are Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Top Spin 2K25, and Lost Records: Bloom and Rage. Don't forget, Gamers already have this month's PS Plus Essentials titles to download, including Payday 3, High on Life, and Pac-Man World Re-Pac which are already available to download and play.Content cannot be displayed without consentHere's the full list of titles coming for PS Plus subscribers:Star Wars: Jedi Survivor - PS5, PS4TopSpin 2K25 - PS5, PS4Lost Records: Bloom & Rage - Tape 1 - PS5, PS4SaGa Frontier Remastered - PS4Somerville - PS5, PS4Tin Hearts - PS5, PS4Mordhau - PS5, PS4Jedi Survivor is undeniably the headliner here. The sequel to Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, it's a step beyond what was already a great action-adventure title, with ambitious set pieces and larger areas to explore.Elsewhere, Top Spin 2K25 is a great tennis sim, while Lost Records: Bloom and Rage's first episode arrives with this month's lineup, and the second part comes in April.As for Premium subscribers, it's almost time for some big robots Armored Core will arrive on the service soon, with Armored Core, Project Phantasma, and Master of Arena stomping in.Here's the lineup for this month, which also includes an epic rhythm classic in Patapon 3.Patapon 3 - PS4, PS5Dropship United Peace Force - PS4, PS5Games will be available on February 18, so just a few days to wait.Elsewhere, Blueprints and Abiotic Factor will launch into the PlayStation game catalog later this year.Article continues belowFor the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

Saros is instantly our most anticipated game of 2026 (Sony Interactive Entertainment)Februarys State of Play has a ton of new game announcements for PS5, including Tides Of Annihilation and Days Gone Remastered.Sonys State of Play showcases their equivalent of a Nintendo Direct have been consistently disappointing affairs for the last several years, but Wednesday nights one was actually pretty good, with a number of previously unseen games, and release dates for already announced ones.Very few of the games were from an internal, first party Sony studio, which is still a worry, but the mic drop at the end was Saros: the spiritual sequel to Housemarques superb Returnal as far as were concerned the best PlayStation 5 exclusive.Housemarque has always made it clear that there will be no direct sequel to Returnal, but Saros is said to build on the same formula, with talk of a shape-shifting planet and the tagline come back stronger, which certainly implies a similar roguelike approach.There was no sign of gameplay but that will apparently be revealed later this year, ahead of a launch in 2026. Given the other similarities though, and the fact that the main character is holding a honking big gun, wed be surprised if it wasnt still quite similar to Reutrnals third person bullet hell action.Saros is confirmed to be a new single-player IP, so theres no reason to fear its going to be announced as a live service game later on.In terms of other game announcements, Tides Of Annihilation looked the most interesting of the new wave of Chinese-made Soulslike games appearing at the moment. And were not just saying that because this one is set in London, with its story seeming to revolve around Arthurian legend.Tides Of Annihilation is multiformat, so will also be coming to Xbox Series X/S and PC, but Lost Soul Aside, which also looked good, is only on PlayStation 5 and PC, as part of Sonys China Hero Project scheme. Itll be released relatively soon, on May 30.One of the bigger surprises of the night, but not necessarily the most exciting, was the reveal of Days Gone Remastered, which Sony seems to be putting a lot of effort into, with new game modes, including permadeath and Horde Assault, and larger groups of zombies on the PlayStation 5.Itll also have PlayStation VR2 support and youll be able to upgrade to the new version for just $10 if you own the original, which will probably work out as 10 or less here. There was no indication of any possible sequel in the future, but youve got to assume those chances have just increased.Other trailers of note include Mindseye by GTA producer (and very much an unsung hero of the franchise) Leslie Benzies, which seemed to feature a very destructible open world environment and more robust third person shooting than GTA itself. Its due out this summer.More TrendingStrangely, Capcom chose to release a new trailer for Onimusha: Way Of The Sword during the State of Play, rather than at their own event earlier in the week, but it looked promising, with an interesting main character who seems like a bit of a coward.The State of Play also revealed a host of release dates, including Segas Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance on August 29; Borderlands 4 on September 23 (with the threat of a dedicated State of Play this spring); The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 on October 2; and Five Nights At Freddys: Secret Of The Mimic on June 13.The ultra creepy looking stop motion horror game The Midnight Walk arrives on May 8; the already leaked Metal Gear Solid Delta on August 28; Dark Souls-ish action adventure Hell Is Us on September 4; and sci-fi shooter Metal Eden on May 6.Oh, and the previously leaked Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was confirmed to be real. There was no release date but therell be a beta starting later this month. Theres supposed to be a film adaptation too (Sony Interactive Entertainment)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

What if we told you theres a free VPN for a year just around the corner?NordVPNs birthday deal lets you celebrate twice as much, as NordVPN says. You can get exclusive NordVPNs 2-year discounts, save up to 72%, and get as much as an entire year of its VPN for free.To translate, you pay for 2 years and get 3 years instead.Oh, no, its not a fairytale. NordVPNs birthday celebration is at large but birthdays dont last for months. Hurry up and act to get this sweet gift.See at NordVPNNordVPN Birthday Deals: Get Up to 1 Year FreeAs part of its birthday celebration, the VPN company allows new users to reap some fresh discounts. The cheapest one is Basic at $3.39/mo and 70% off.This deal includes only the VPN but with no free months.However, the situation becomes different with the Plus plan.The Plus plan is also 70% off but includes Threat Protection Pro for ad-blocking and NordPass at $4.39/mo. NordVPN offers a coupon for 6 free months. This means youll pay only $105.36 for 30 months. NordVPNComplete and Prime plans at $5.39/mo and $8.39/mo (72% off) are virtually NordVPNs flagship deals. The former adds NordLocker on top, while the latter also includes NordProtect for added privacy.The Complete plan also has a 6-month coupon but the Prime bumps it up to a year. As Prime costs $201.36 for 2 years, once you add a year on top, the price dwindles to just about $5.6/mo.All plans are accessible directly through our buttons and links.Click any of them, select the plan, and follow the steps to subscribe. Now, set up NordVPN on your device, connect, and enjoy security, privacy, streaming, and much more.More About the VPN ServiceWe failed to mention the providers 30-day money-back guarantee.This sounds like an overstretch considering its generosity thus far. But hey, its NordVPNs birthday, so we can see why its so willing to give, and not just take money from its users.Apart from being able to get a refund at any moment, youll enjoy the flagship VPN experience from top to bottom, with features like:Bank-grade 256-bit encryptionAudited no-logging policyServers in 118+ countriesBuilt-in torrenting servers (NordVPN is THE best VPN for torrenting)NordWhisper for avoiding network filteringStreaming optimizationDouble VPN connectionsApps for all devices and systems10 simultaneous connections, and more.NordVPN doubles down on its qualities with these heart-melting discounts. Whichever plan you get, youll sing the song of satisfaction all day long.Think of it as a tribute to NordVPNs 13 years on the market. Happy Birthday!See at NordVPN

We all know the Incredible Hulk. Hes big, we wont like it when hes angry, and, of course, hes very, very green. But thats not the only hue Bruce Banner, or several other characters to take on the irradiated moniker of Hulk, has been over the years. As the MCU prepares for Captain America: Brave New World to add the latest splash to its Hulk palette in Thaddeus Ross crimson carnage causer, heres a brief run down of the rainbow of Hulks from the comics and beyond. Brown Marvel Comics The occasional color of many forms of the Devil Hulkan alternate persona within Bruce Banners psyche that embodied both Bruces negative traits as well as his own self-loathing perspective of his plight. Although as an aspect of Bruces mind, always threatening to break out, the Devil Hulk has had differing forms across its appearancesit returned again in 2018s Immortal Hulk as the dominant personality, following Bruces death and resurrection after the events ofCivil War IIits debut marked this significant color differential. First Appearance: 2000 Reason for color: Not given, other than he has a more monstrous, reptilian form compared to the regular Hulk. Blue Marvel Comics Many heroes over the years have harbored the cosmic, god-like force that transforms a host into Captain Universe, Hulk includedalbeit only briefly. Although originally green when he first encountered it, the Enigma Force enhanced Bruces abilities to give him a strength boost across the board, but also transformed him into a shade of blue the first time he tried to use the power. Realizing is wildly increased strength, the Hulk declared his new form the strongest hed ever been, only for the Enigma Force to vacate and search for a new host.First Appearance: 2005 Reason for color: The Enigma Force transforms all of its hosts with an astral-themed makeover when they bond.Orange Marvel Comics Several Hulks from alternate realities have used an orange colorationthe Hulk of the infamous X-Men alternate timeline, the Age of Apocalypse, considered himself the Solar Hulk, while in an alternate reality where Bruce Banner became Sorcerer Supreme, he managed to separate his consciousness from the Hulk and exile it to Hell, transforming the Hulk into a fiery demon intent on re-possessing Bruces body. First Appearance: 2011 Reason for color: The Hulk of the Age of Apocalypse timeline was orange due to getting his power from solar radiation. Infernal Hulk, meanwhile, turned demonically orange due to being banished to Hell.Purple Marvel Comics Likewise, there have been a few instances of a Hulk turning Purple. The first saw Bruce possessed by the sinister Sorcerer Supreme of an alternate reality, Shanzar, during an adventure with his fellow Defenders Doctor Strange and Namor. The other notable one wasnt Bruce at all, but Norman Osborn: working with AIM after his plans to usurp SHIELD with HAMMER were exposed, Norman was given Super Adaptoid technology which he used to absorb all the powers of the Avengers at once, Hulk included and nearly killing himself in the process. Outside of the comics, Happy Hogan became a purple Hulk during the events of theWhat If?animated series, after being exposed to Bruces radioactive blood. First Appearance: 1990Reason for color: Demonic possession; being stupid enough to absorb the powers of multiple conflicting Avengers at once. Yellow Marvel Comics A version of AIM also had a role in a briefly appearing version of the Hulk where Bruce had been corrupted by the group and forced into working as their agent, now in an appropriately AIM-ian shade of yellow. It turns out, however, that such a reality was the result of a nightmare dreamed up by Steven Rogers, rather than an actual event. First Appearance: 2020Reason for color: AIM brainwashing. Silver Marvel Comics The latest shade of Hulk is a bit of a cheat: in a series of new one-shots imagining alternate stories where Galactus didnt choose Norrin Radd to become his Silver Surfer, Bruce Banner, seeking a way to mitigate the anger issues that drive the Hulk, is chosen instead, giving the usually Green Hulk a coating of cosmic silver. So hes technicallytwo colors at once. First Appearance: 2025 Reason for color: The power cosmic, granted by Galactus to people deemed worthy enough to become his herald.Black Marvel Comics There have been multiple creatures given the Hulks inverted name of Kluh, the first being a clone of the Grey Hulk (more on all that later). But theAXIS event gave us a black, rocky-textured version of Bruce that was dubbed Kluh, meant to be a manifestation of Bruces unbridled rage, a transformation that to the Hulk what Hulk already was to Bruce Banner. Asimilar strongest Hulk with black coloring appeared in 2022, dubbed as Titan, the unleashed id of the Hulks anger. First Appearance: 2014Reason for color: Managing to successfully piss off the Hulk as much as it usually takes to piss off Bruce Banner into transforming (with a little help of Chaos-magic-induced personality inversion). White Marvel Comics Another cheat, as this coloration has just one appearance in a tounge-in-cheek story in theStrange Tales anthology, alongside a plethora of other colored Hulks as part of the Hulk Squad, an experimental government task force designed to hunt down and beat up the regular Hulk.First Appearance: 2009 Reason for color: Cloning, and a good gag about rainbow Hulks will never grow old. Skin Tone Marvel Comics Not every exposure to gamma radiation turns someone greenseveral characters have gained Hulks powers without any change to their skin color at all. The first was Doc Samson, Bruce Banners one-time-psychiatrist after hed managed to successfully siphon away the gamma radiation that had turned him into the Hulk, found himself exposed to the radiation and turned into a superhuman with Hulks powers, but only with his hair turned green. Meanwhile, the Ultimate Marvel universe introduced us to Tyrone Cashreal name Leonard Williamsa former research partner of Bruce Banner who mysteriously vanished, but actually had perfected a Hulk serum inspired by his joint research with Bruce on recreating the Supersoldier serum, becoming the true first Hulk and eventually joining the Ultimates. First Appearance: 1971, 2010Reason for color: Alternate exposure to gamma radiation, prototype serum. Gray Marvel Comics The Hulk famously started out in comics as graya decision made in an attempt to not tie a monstrous, rage-induced creature to the tone of any given ethnic group. But printing limitations with gray at the time made giving the Hulk a consistent shade a challenge, resulting in the decision to make him explicitly green after some printings of the debut issue gave the gray Hulk a greenish tint. But over 20 years after that metatextual swap, a gray Hulk became an actual canonical staple of the character with the introduction of Joe Fixit: meant to be one of several personalities vying for control in Bruces psyche, the gray Hulk manifested as a powerful, but more unscrupulous version of Hulk that retained a greater level of intelligence, the gray Hulk eventually adopted the monkier of Fixit, an old-school mobster enforcer. First Appearance: 1962 Reason for color: Comics printing technology, manifestations of dissociative identity disorder.Red Marvel Comics The Hulk were about to meet in the MCU, in the comics Thaddeus Ross elected to transform himself into a new kind of Hulk through a supersoldier program developed by the criminal group known as Intelligenciaalthough his identity was kept secret when he was first revealed for several years. Ross Red Hulk had the usual Hulk powers, although to a lesser strength, but he also had heat-generating abilities the angrier he got, capable of expelling that energy as a high-intensity explosive blast. But while the Red Hulk has largely been Ross schtick, there was a brief moment during the events of Immortal Hulk where Joe Fixit was exposed to cosmic rays, absorbing them and merging with the green Hulk to take on a red hue. First Appearance: 2008 Reason for color: Experimentation with a combination of gamma radiation and cosmic rays. Green Marvel Comics The Hulk we all know and love after his brief dalliance with gray in his debut. Bruce Banners transformation at the hands of gamma radiation created a savage alter-ego glowing green with the gamma energy that had saturated his body.First Appearance: 2000 Reason for color: Exposure to gamma radiation during the testing of an experimental weapon. Want more io9 news? 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