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BBC Click's Jen Copestake looks at some of the best of the week's technology stories.

A potentially fatal viral infection that affects pigs can readily find its way into human cells, say scientists, raising concerns about the potential for outbreaks that threaten our health. Researchers at Ohio State University in the US and Utrecht University in the Netherlands collaborated to better understand the new virus and its potential reach.

The study, published in the in the journal PNAS, is the first to point to possible transmission of this virus between species. Porcine deltacoronavirus was first identified in 2012 in pigs in China, but it was not associated with disease. It was first detected in the US in 2014 during a diarrhea outbreak in Ohio pigs and has since been detected in various countries. Young, infected pigs experience acute diarrhea and vomiting. The disease can be fatal.

As of yet, no human cases have been documented, but scientists are concerned about the possibility. "Before it was found in pigs ¿ including in the Ohio outbreak ¿ it had only been found in various birds," said Linda Saif, a professor in Ohio State University in the US. "We're very concerned about emerging coronaviruses and worry about the harm they can do to animals and their potential to jump to humans," said Saif.

Emergence of the new virus is especially worrisome to veterinary and public-health experts because of its similarity to the life-threating viruses responsible for SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome) outbreaks. The potential for a virus to jump from one species to another is highly dependent on its ability to bind to receptors on the cells of the animal or human, said Scott Kenney, an assistant professor at Ohio State University.

"A receptor is like a lock in the door. If the virus can pick the lock, it can get into the cell and potentially infect the host," he said. The study looked at a particular cellular receptor called aminopeptidase N that the researchers suspected might be involved. "We know from other coronaviruses that these receptors on the cells are used and that they're found in the respiratory and digestive tracts of a number of different animals," Kenney said.

"Now we know that this new virus could go into cells of different species, including humans," he added. For now, the only known infection in humans and other species is in the laboratory, using cultured cells. The study confirmed that the virus could bind to human cells, and to cells from cats and chickens. "This doesn't prove that this virus can infect and cause disease in these other species, but that's something we obviously want to know," Saif said.

The next step in understanding this virus and its potential for human infection will be a study looking for antibodies in the blood that would serve as evidence that the pig virus has already infected people.

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Hundreds of micro-pieces of human flesh were recovered from the blocked drainage of a housing society in Virar West on Tuesday morning. The matter came to light after the residents of Bachraj Paradise of Evershine Avenue complained of a choked drainage system and saw three pieces of human fingers floating in the drain, when it was opened for repair.

However, the police are yet to trace the head and bones of the body, and the gender of the deceased is to be ascertained. The pieces have been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina where "scientists will conduct a dactylography of the chopped fingers to ascertain its identity", said a source in the Palghar police station. (Dactylography is the scientific study of fingerprints to ascertain identity)

"Prima facie probe indicates that the killer has cut the body of the victim into pieces and flushed these down the toilet. The gradual accumulation and decomposition of flesh choked the drainage," said Gaurav Singh, superintendent of police, Palghar district.

A local resident, requesting anonymity, told mid-day that there had been a foul smell in the locality for 10 days. "We initially mistook it for the smell of an animal carcass from the nearby drain but we were shocked to see small pieces of human flesh floating in the drain when it was opened," the resident said.

The government hospital in-charge Dr Rugved R Dudhat, who visited the spot along with a forensic team, too said that his team has mistaken the pieces of animal flesh. "The overall weight of these pieces could be nearly 40 kg," he said.

The incident has terrorised locals but the police have said there's "nothing to fear as the local area is being properly scanned." Vijaykant Sagar, additional superintendent of police, Vasai division, said, "A case under section murder (302) and disappearance of evidence (201) has been registered at Arnala police station."

"More of them will be taken out from the drain on Wednesday. We have called in a team of fire brigade on the spot," Jayant Bajbhale, Deputy SP said. Arnala police have recorded the statements of many people and the suspect has been detained, said the source.

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In a bid to deliver transparency in technology and stay ahead of ethical pitfalls, Google has said that its Artificial Intelligence (AI) calling system "Duplex" would now identify itself while making appointments.

Following the launch of the "Duplex" system, which lets AI mimic a human voice to make appointments and book tables, among other functions, a widespread outcry over the ethical dilemmas were raised by tech critics.

Google clarified to The Verge that the experimental system would have a "disclosure built-in" that means that whenever Duplex gets involved in some type of verbal communication with a human at the other end, it would identify that the human is talking to an AI.

"We understand and value the discussion around Google Duplex, as we have said from the beginning, transparency in the technology is important," a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying.

"We are designing this feature with disclosure built-in, and we will make sure the system is appropriately identified. What we showed at I/O was an early technology demo, and we look forward to incorporating feedback as we develop this into a product," the spokesperson added.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai introduced Duplex earlier this week in the company's annual developer's conference Google I/O and demonstrated how the AI system could book an appointment at a salon and a table at a restaurant.

In the demo, the Google Assistant sounded like a human. It used Google DeepMind's new WaveNet audio-generation technique and other advances in Natural Language Processing (NLP) to replicate human speech patterns.

However, tech critics raised questions on the morality of the technology saying it was developed without proper oversight or regulation.

According to tech critic Zeynep Tufekci, the demo was "horrifying" and the initial positive audience reaction at I/O was evidence that "Silicon Valley is ethically lost, rudderless and has not learned a thing".

Google had originally said in a blog post written by engineers Yaniv Leviathan and Yossi Matias that "it's important to us that users and businesses have a good experience with this service and transparency is a key part of that".

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Time is an illusion, breakfast time doubly so. In future, human workers might not be alone in experiencing frenetic mornings thanks to EU-funded researchers who have equipped robots with human-like time perception capabilities – and tested them in the kitchen.

Representational Image

While Google Duplex, which lets AI mimic a human voice to make appointments and book tables through phone calls, has mesmerised people with its capabilities and attracted flak on ethical grounds at the same time, Microsoft has showcased a similar technology it has been testing in China.

At an AI event in London on Tuesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed that the company's Xiaoice social chatbot has 500 million "friends" and more than 16 channels for Chinese users to interact with it through WeChat and other popular messaging services.

"Microsoft has turned Xiaoice, which is Chinese for 'little Bing', into a friendly bot that has convinced some of its users that the bot is a friend or a human being. Xiaoice has her own TV show, it writes poetry and it does many interesting things," The Verge quoted Nadella as saying.

Xiaoice interacts in text conversations but now the company has started allowing the chat bot to call people on their phones.

The bot does not work exactly like Google Duplex, which uses the Assistant to make calls on a user's behalf but it holds a phone conversation with the user.

"One of the things we started doing earlier this year is having full duplex conversations. So now Xiaoice can be conversing with you in WeChat and stop and call you. Then you can just talk to it using voice," Nadella was quoted as saying.

Humans will be humans and the latest victim of humankind was Microsoft.

Two years ago, Microsoft launched an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered bot on Twitter, named Tay, for a playful chat with people, only to silence it within 24 hours as users started sharing racist and offensive comments with the bot.

Launched as an experiment in "conversational understanding" and to engage people through "casual and playful conversation", Tay was soon bombarded with racial comments and the innocent bot repeated those comments back with her commentary to users.

Some of the tweets had Tay referring to Hitler, denying the Holocaust, and supporting Donald Trump's immigration plans, among others.

Later, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that the company is taking Tay off Twitter as people were posting abusive comments to her.

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Detroit: Become Human is driven by a melodramatic story set in the US city of Detroit in 2038. The story is told through exploring the day-to-day lives of three androids Kara, Markus and Conrad. How the story unfolds and where it progresses to is all determined by the choices you make while playing these characters. Actions performed affect the people around you and, in turn, affect your interaction with them. There are no wrong or right choices in the game. No matter what you choose, there are people who are going to get disappointed in you.

The story is divided into tiny slices where you play one of the three characters. At the end of the slice you get a story-tree where you can see where the choices you made changes the story and multiple branches where the story could have ended up. The good news is you can replay the game and explore all the different choices. The characters are all-player by actual actors and, needless to say, this game looks amazing, its as close to a real human as a game can probably be right now. The facial movements in the game are well constructed. The world too is carefully crafted with elements of the past integrated with something modern.

It's the way things are now modern integrated with older structures. The three characters you play are also very distinctive and come from different strata of society, giving you a peek of how life might be in the future. Kara for example is an android owned by a violent unemployed man who is bitter about the way his life has turned out, while Markus starts out with a well caring owner that treats him as an equal and Conner is an employee of Cyberlife, the company that makes and sells the Androids and is investigating why the androids are turning into deviants.

The plot is the oldest in the book, which is sad. But the way it plays out and the options you have to make along the way make it more than intriguing. Your choices at times will hurt your soul and that is the object of the game, to make you connect and feel for the choices you make and its consequences. Even the menu narrator doesn't spare you from the emotional drama.

When you start the game, you are greeted by a Cyberlife android that is constantly on screen talking to you. It will make you fill a survey and will slowly and steadily make you feel for it. As mentioned, the core of the game is the story, but there are a few puzzles, some timed single button combat situations also thrown in. But most of the time, especially at the start, you are doing menial tasks: press this to open the door, twist this to wash the dishes and more boring instructions. Even though it was slow and boring, it gave us a window in the life of a robot slave. We wish, however, along with the upgrade in the emotional status they were allowed to do more than just walking to places and activating things.

If we really had to complain about anything, it would probably be the dialogue. It's not bad by any standard, but if it was better, this game could have been something else. Most of the dialogue and reactions are what you would expect someone who just got in to script writing to write. The lines are not crisp and fail to provide a punch, you couldn't or rather wouldn't want to quote any of the characters in the game. If you are looking for a movie experience like no other, Detroit Become Human is perfect for you. It is jam packed with twists turns and is an emotional roller-coaster. Much like a binge worthy series you will want to play this in one go and then repeat till you have explored all options and it doesn't hurt that it looks so good.

Detroit: Become Human
Rating: 4.5/5
Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Sony
Platform: PlayStation 4
Price: Rs 3,999

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Indian cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri on Wednesday urged people to beat coronavirus by staying at home and by maintaining social distancing. He termed the virus 'mother of all World Cups' and asked people to combat this disease together and win the World Cup of humanity.

Taking to Twitter, Shastri shared a video post where he cited cricket examples to aware people about the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic. "As I would know, sports teaches you life lessons that can be applied to just about anything you want to pursue in rest of your life. Today the COVID-19 has put us in a situation where we got our backs to the wall. To combat this coronavirus is like chasing a World Cup where you give your everything in trying to win it. What's staring you at the face is no ordinary World Cup. This is the mother of all World Cups where not just eleven are playing but 1.4 billion are in the playing arena and competing. Guys we can win this. For that, we have to observe the basics. You have got your Prime Minister leading from the front ahead of the curve like other countries have farmed out," Shastri said.

Stay Home, Stay Safe! 🙏#Lockdown2 #COVID19 #StayHome #IndiaFightsCorona pic.twitter.com/JQTZVib2in

— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) April 15, 2020

"You have to obey the orders that come from the top: be it centre, state or the frontline workers who are risking their lives. Two orders that stand out: staying home and maintaining social distancing. It is not easy but to win the game you got to go through the pain to break the chain and see the gain. Come on, guys! let's do it together. Let us get out there in a bruit force of 1.4 billion and beat this corona and get your hands on the World Cup of humanity. Let's do it," he added.

With 1,076 new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's tally of coronavirus cases has risen to 11,439, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

Out of the total tally, 9,756 cases are active while 1,306 patients have been cured/discharged and migrated. With 38 new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll rises to 377.

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New York: The idea formed on a day when all the news headlines were dire. The coronavirus was surging worldwide; Nashville had lost lives in a devastating tornado and children had their lives upended as they separated from beloved classmates to shelter at home.

But only bad news is never the whole story. Days later, The Associated Press started its daily series 'One Good Thing' to reflect the unheralded sacrifices made to benefit others that normally wouldn't make a story, but maybe always deserved one.

Since March 17, when a Norwegian mom tried to soften the blow of birthdays under quarantine for her two teens by asking via social media that people reach out to them, there have been 35 stories about the ways that everyday people have tried to make a positive difference in the lives of others. The gestures have been grand and small, some as simple as chalk-written messages on a sidewalk thanking healthcare workers at a New Orleans hospital for their efforts.

Music has been a central theme. The series has included stories about a Rio firefighter sharing his love of music from a hydraulic ladder 150 feet up as he played the trumpet for cooped-up apartment dwellers; a virtual rendition of 'Bolero' from the National Orchestra of France, with each musician playing alone at home; the virtual Corona Community Choir with members around the world, performing on Sundays.

If music soothes the soul, food feeds it. There have been six stories that tell of benefactors feeding health care workers, the poor, the elderly shut ins, even volunteers feeding hungry animals at a revered Hindu temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.

There have been meals from Brooklyn caterer Israel Frischman for Holocaust survivors who are shut in. The day after the story ran, donations poured in and now Frischman has financial backing for the needed meals.

And simpler fare from the 'Solidarity Menu' started by Emiliano Moscoso who employed his hamburger chain of restaurants in Colombia to feed poor neighborhoods in Bogota.

The delivery of lifesaving supplies has been a storyline as well, from the professional cyclist in Italy who has gone from racing against competitors to racing medicine to those in need, to Yale student Liam Elkind's delivery service. A month after reporting on Elkind's 'Invisible Hands' effort which he started with a friend, he reports that it's ballooned.
'We're making over 1,000 deliveries a week now, and over 10,000 volunteers have joined our group. I feel like I haven't slept in decades, but, honestly, I've never felt more energized,' he said.

Heroes have emerged in youth, from Nova Knight, a 5-year-old firecracker in Alaska imploring her cohorts to wash their hands and postpone playdates, to 16-year-old TJ Kim, who can't drive, but can fly. He uses those skills to deliver much-needed medical supplies across rural Virginia.

The stories have circled the world, from Colombia and Nepal, to Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Brazil, Israel, Indonesia and South Korea where Kim Byung-rok, a shoe cobbler, donated land to help raise money for the fight against the virus.

In the month of stories about the goodness of others, it's no surprise when we doubled back to the previous subjects of the coverage, AP journalists found the obvious: the givers' giving has expanded.

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