Tech Roundup: Ununseptium, MERS & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• Ebola outbreak in Guinea and Liberia almost under control; 256 cases of infections and 150 deaths reported so far.
• MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus infections on the rise in Saudi Arabia as 100 deaths are reported; first case of the SARS-like coronavirus confirmed in the USA.
• Mt. Everest is shut down for the first time since 1987 for the rest of the year following a catastrophic avalanche that kills 16 climbing guides and seriously injuring three others.
• Conclusive evidence of gravitational waves, as predicted by Albert Einstein in General Theory of Relativity, spotted by BICEP2 telescope located in the South Pole; hailed as a major breakthrough in understanding the early stages of Big Bang aka Cosmic Inflation.
• NASA astronomers confirm 715 new exoplanets orbiting 305 stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
• Scientists turn skin tissue from infertile men into early-stage sperm cells through induced pluripotency in a new groundbreaking study.
• Cognitive scientists discover 15 new compound emotions, in addition to the existing six: happy, fearful, angry, surprised, sad and disgusted.
• Ancient Egyptians transported heavy pyramid stones on sledge by moistening the sand over which the sledge moved, new study reveals.
• Four women with vaginal aplasia successfully receive lab-grown vaginal organs that were engineered from their own muscle and epithelial cells.
• Existence of Element 117 aka Ununseptium confirmed after a team of scientists independently create several atoms of the element following its discovery back in 2010.
• New images of Amazon smartphone revealed by BGR point to a 4.7-inch display with 720p resolution and running on custom Android Fire OS.
• Samsung plans a health-focussed event on May 28 as LG sends out invites for LG G3 launch on May 27.
• Popular instant messaging app WhatsApp now has 500 million users.
• Google+ head Vic Gundotra departs the company; fuels speculations about the social network's future.
• Indian online retail giant Flipkart makes it mandatory for top executives to handle customer calls for a month; introduces same day delivery in 10 cities.
• Critical security flaw uncovered in Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 6 through 11; Redmond issues out-of-band patch including Windows XP, which is already past the end of support.
• Social network Facebook acquires fitness-tracking app Moves as health race heats up.
• Apple releases iOS 7.1.1 with TouchID improvements and other bug fixes; CEO Tim Cook says the company is 'closer than it's ever been' to entering into a new product category.
• Facebook takes on Twitter's real-time news update capabilities with FB Newswire; wants the social network to be the place where news breaks, and not Twitter.
• Google finally merges Hangouts chats and SMS texts into one; spins off Docs and Sheets from Google Drive for Android and iOS into separate apps, and adds passcode lock (only on iOS) and offline editing.
• Ephemeral messaging app Snapchat gets instant messaging and video chat features.
• Rubik's Cube celebrates its 40th anniversary.