Latest Edition: Friday 2nd May

In the aftermath of the earthquake this week in Turkey, people are already beginning to ask if the victims could have been warned of their danger.

Geologists have yet to find a way of predicting quakes with any certainty, but, as Helen Sewell discovers in Science in Action, they can detect them – at least a few seconds before the full force strikes. And those vital seconds could be enough to save many lives.

There’s also news of a technique for making artificial egg cells in the laboratory.

In principle it could lead to the production of tailor-made cells to treat otherwise incurable disease, and to new treatments for infertility.

But could it also make it simpler to clone humans and create designer babies with very complicated parentage?

And the most ambitious, most expensive space science experiment: will it be axed when it’s almost ready for launch, having cost $700 million?

Find out more in this week’s Science in Action with Helen Sewell.