Outcry, what outcry?
Facebook is shrugging off a data-privacy scandal and a campaign for users to delete their accounts with a strong quarterly earnings report. Facebook posted nearly five-billion dollars in revenue on sales of almost 12-billion dollars in a first quarter earnings report released yesterday. Both numbers beat analysts' estimate.
In a conference call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that "Despite facing important challenges, our community and business are off to a strong start in 2018." Facebook stock gained more than four percent in after-hours trading following the release of the report. Facebook's shares had dropped nearly 18% since February.
Source: MarketWatch
Scientists are reportedly looking to store DNA for every living thing on earth.
A group of scientists at the Earth BioGenome Project say they’re working on a project to store the DNA of every single living thing on the planet. The project requires them to collect genetic material from 1.5-million plants, animals and fungi found on Earth. Some are likening it to a modern day "Noah’s Ark."
Scientists say by collecting this data into one place, it could “revolutionize our understanding of evolution.” Basically what they plan to do is collect genomes from all living things and store it. Genomes are made up of DNA and contain the instructions for making the species. Scientists will work to put the DNA of each living thing in sequence. By doing so they can store the entire makeup of the species.
So far, they only have zero-point-two percent of the 1.5-million species’ genomes collected and sequenced. The research is estimated to cost around $4.7-billion and will last at least a decade. Not only that, but the information will take up 200-petabytes of digital storage - or the equivalent of downloading 625-million hour-long TV shows. Scientists on the project say by doing all of this it will give “insight into the history and diversity of life and help us better understand how to conserve it.”
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences