Alibaba crowns its cloud service with powerful AI chip

Alibaba's first AI chip is in the news. It's a self developed chip, said Reuters, for cloud computing services.

Why viruses like Herpes and Zika will need to be reclassified, and its biotech impact

New research reveals that the way viruses were perceived in terms of their architecture will need to be retooled, because they are actually structured in many more patterns than previously understood. The findings could have significant impact on how they are classified, our understanding of how they form, evolve and infect hosts, and strategies to identify ways to design vaccines to target them.

Longest coral reef survey to date reveals major changes in Australia's Great Barrier Reef

Coral reefs around the world are under increasing stress due to a combination of local and global factors. As such, long-term investigation is becoming increasingly important to understanding ecosystem responses.

Advocates fault Facebook over misleading posts by politicos

Some civil rights groups agree Facebook has made progress in addressing their concerns, but advocates are still criticizing the tech giant's reiteration that it won't remove newsworthy posts from elected officials, even if they're misleading or break the site's rules against things like racist speech.

Morocco makes headway against HIV but stigma remains

In Morocco, the struggle against HIV has been so successful in recent years that campaigners worry about losing funding for combatting the virus, but for people living with the disease it remains a heavy stigma.

Researchers find genetic link in rare reaction to pet germ

It's hard to regard Ellie as a menace.

US death toll from vaping-related illness hits 12

Twelve people in the United States have died from vaping-related illness, health officials said on Thursday, reporting 805 cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette use.

DoorDash breach exposes data of nearly 5 mn users

On-demand restaurant meal delivery service DoorDash on Thursday said a breach of its system exposed nearly five million customers, eateries and "Dashers" to a data breach.

McDonald's to test veggie burger in Canada

Fast food giant McDonald's is dipping another foot into the world of plant-based "meat," announcing plans on Thursday to test a vegetarian burger in Canada.

Volkswagen faces first mass diesel lawsuit on home turf

Car behemoth Volkswagen will face a German court Monday, as hundreds of thousands of owners of manipulated diesel cars demand compensation four years after the country's largest post-war industrial scandal erupted.

VW 'dieselgate' fraud: Timeline of a scandal

As Volkswagen faces the wrath of car owners in a mass "dieselgate" lawsuit on its home turf, here's a look at how the emissions cheating was uncovered and the fallout for the auto giant:

Code War: Myanmar's final digital battle ends

Accessing everything from Wikipedia to Google Maps in Myanmar is about to get a lot easier when it finally adopts the universal code underpinning phone and online communication next week.

Winemaking in the Nordics, a world away from French chateau luxe

Making wine in the Nordic countries is far from the glamour associated with Europe's famed wine chateaux: here the sun is fickle, the season is short and diehard aficionados work up more sweat than wine but climate change is helping boost harvests.

Cameroon's Silicon Mountain tech startups struggle with insurgency

Hi-tech promoters had big dreams for Silicon Mountain in Cameroon, where a broad plateau was seen as perfect for startup ventures, but their hopes have been shattered by a separatist struggle.

Facebook hides 'likes' in Australia trial to ease anxiety

Facebook has begun hiding the number of "likes" for posts in Australia, it said Friday, a trial designed to ease social pressure that could be rolled out worldwide.

Hard landing for SoftBank? WeWork woes raise questions

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son is no stranger to controversy, but a meltdown at WeWork has sparked pointed questions about whether his enormous investments and futuristic pronouncements are more style than substance.

Preserving old bones with modern technology

A team of University of Colorado Boulder anthropologists is out to change the way that scientists study old bones damage-free.

Jumping the gap may make electronics faster

A quasi-particle that travels along the interface of a metal and dielectric material may be the solution to problems caused by shrinking electronic components, according to an international team of engineers.

New studies question whether novel anti-cancer drugs are worth their extra cost

Many new anti-cancer medicines add little value for patients compared to standard treatment and are rarely worth the extra cost, according to results of two studies investigating links between clinical benefit and pricing in Europe and the USA, reported at the ESMO Congress 2019.

Researchers release reports on economic impacts of MGM Springfield

In two highly anticipated reports about the economic impacts of MGM Springfield, University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers found that the resort-casino's construction was felt in every corner of the Commonwealth, and its development has been part of the strengthening housing and real estate markets of Greater Springfield.

Clinical trial to test potential new therapy for giant cell arteritis

An international, multicenter phase II clinical trial is evaluating the efficacy and safety of mavrilimumab co-administered with a 26-week corticosteroid taper in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA). The study is sponsored by Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), in New York City, is one of the centers participating in the research.

Air pollution linked to increased risk of infant death and reduced lung function in children

Air pollution is linked to an increased risk of death in babies according to a study of nearly eight million live births, to be presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress on Sunday.