Everyday Science

Researchers in New York and Edinburgh developed a new method to grow eggs from very early-stage cells obtained from ovary tissue, a team reported in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction. Photo: AFP Relaxnews AFP Relaxnews Scientists have grown human egg cells to full maturity in the lab in a potential breakthrough for fertility treatment, they announced in a study published Friday. Researchers in New York and Edinburgh developed a new method to grow eggs from very early-stage cells obtained from ovary tissue, a team reported in the journal Molecular Human Reproduction. The eggs were grown to the point at which they could be fertilised. This had previously been achieved with mouse egg cells, while human eggs had been successfully cultivated starting from a much later stage of development. "The latest study is the first time a human egg has been developed in the lab from its earliest stage to full maturity," said a statement from the University of

Self-driving Uber has suspended road tests of self-driving vehicles after the first pedestrian was killed by one of its vehicles operating under autonomous computer control. Proponents of self-driving vehicles claim they would be safer, as well as more energy efficient, but those safety claims will now come under heightened scrutiny. In theory, self-driving vehicles should eliminate several major driver-related causes of road traffic accidents, including excessive speed, intoxication and inattention. But there are concerns about how self-driving vehicles will interact with unpredictable human drivers and pedestrians as well as unmapped hazards such as temporary road obstructions. There are also fears about how self-driving vehicles would cope with hacking or widespread disruption of their communications systems (“Too much sun could wreak havoc on driverless cars”, Bloomberg, March 16). The accident investigation into Sunday’s crash will mark an important test of the tech

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg vowed Wednesday to “step up” to fix problems at the social media giant, as it fights a snowballing scandal over the hijacking of personal data from millions of its users. “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you,” Zuckerberg said, in his first public comments on the harvesting of Facebook user data by a British firm linked to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Writing on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg announced new steps to rein in the leakage of data to outside developers and third-party apps, while giving users more control over their information through a special toolbar. “We know that this was a major violation of people’s trust, and I deeply regret that we didn’t do enough to deal with it,” Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a post echoing Zuckerberg’s comments. Zuckerberg said measures had been in place since 2014 to prevent the sort of abuse revealed over

Facebook Inc and the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica have been sued in the United States for obtaining information belonging to 50 million of the social media company’s users without permission. The proposed class-action complaint filed late Tuesday night by Lauren Price, a Maryland resident, is the first of what could be many lawsuits seeking damages over Facebook’s ability to protect user data, and Cambridge Analytica’s exploitation of that data to benefit president Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. “Every Facebook user has an interest in this lawsuit, and the enforcement of their privacy rights,” John Yanchunis, a lawyer for Price, said in a phone interview on Wednesday. The complaint was filed in the US District Court in San Jose, California, several hours after Facebook was blamed in a shareholder lawsuit filed in nearby San Francisco for the drop in its stock price after the data harvesting was revealed. Nearly $50 billion of market value was wiped out in two

With Facebook getting mired in its biggest-ever controversy following a massive data breach, everyone is asking one question: Where is its CEO Mark Zuckerberg? Not only Zuckerberg has remained quiet so far, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg who has been the face of the company’s PR strategy is yet to speak on the data scandal. According to a report in ReCode on Wednesday, Zuckerberg is slated to address a weekly Q&A session with employees on Friday and he may speak before that meeting. Normally, Zuckerberg or Sandberg come out with long blog posts whenever Facebook gets tangled in controversies but the silence this time is deafening. Facebook is facing the heat after Cambridge Analytica, a British consulting company, was accused of harvesting data of up to 50 million Facebook users without permission and using the data to help politicians, including US President Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign. European Union (EU) and British lawmakers have demanded that social media

Google-owned video platform YouTube opened a ‘YouTube Space’ in Dubai, the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Located at Dubai Studio City, the YouTube facility aims “to support the growing creator community in the MENA region by giving them access to a state-of-the-art production space,” Xinhua cited state news agency WAM as saying. The space, which is the tenth in the world, is dedicated to YouTube content creators who would have free access to high-end audio, visual and editing equipment in addition to training programmes, workshops and courses. More than 440,000 creators have visited the nine YouTube Space facilities around the world since the programme was first launched in 2012, said David Ripert, Head of YouTube Spaces in Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Creators are the heartbeat of YouTube and supporting them has long been one of our most important priorities,” Ripert was quoted as saying. “As a platform, YouTube provides a bl