A startup is employing machine learning to identify what it calls the "dark matter of nutrition."
Why it matters: More than 99% of phytonutrients — the natural chemicals produced by plants — are unknown to science. If we can illuminate that dark matter, we can identify and cultivate compounds in foods for specific health value.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Nov. 17, the panel announced Friday.
The big picture Conservatives are angry that Twitter and Facebook made moves to limit the spread of the New York Post's controversial Hunter Biden coverage, and authorized subpoenas for their testimony this week.
It's one political minefield after another for tech companies this year as the industry faces a rash of concerns including antitrust pressure, rampant misinformation and a pre-election tightening of screws from the Trump administration.
Why it matters: For much of Silicon Valley, politics has, over the past decade, gone from a non-consideration to a nagging occasional distraction to an all-consuming force that threatens some companies' very existence. New products and features, meanwhile, have gone from being all the buzz to largely an afterthought.
The Federal Communications Commission is making its case this week for why it should go ahead and write rules to curtail tech's broad protections against lawsuits over both moderation decisions and material that internet users post online.
Why it matters: The agency's GOP chairman was a longtime champion of the FCC hewing closely to the powers Congress has explicitly given it and to staying out of rewriting policy beyond its traditional jurisdiction. He now seems to have a very different view of FCC authority.
A California appeals court Thursday said Uber and Lyft have to reclassify their drivers in the state as employees, affirming a lower court's ruling.
Why it matters: The companies are fighting a new state law, at the center of this lawsuit, that imposes stricter requirements in order to classify workers as independent contractors.
