Category: Science

(Reuters) – NASA on Friday picked a new space capsule from Elon Musk’s SpaceX to ferry cargo and supplies to the agency’s planned lunar space station, a crucial building block to its plans to build a permanent post on the moon and mount future missions to Mars. SpaceX will get a portion of a $7…

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Friday it would have to adjust its 2020 launch programme because of a halt in satellite production in Europe, amid the coronavirus outbreak. The head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, will hold several meetings to discuss the adjustments via video on Friday and Saturday, the agency said…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have unearthed fossils of a fearsome feathered dinosaur in northwestern New Mexico that was a quick and agile predator that could chase down smaller prey or swarm larger prey in pack attacks 67 million years ago. And, judging from a telltale scar on one of its menacing sickle-shaped claws, this Cretaceous…

(Reuters) – Private rocket company SpaceX had an incident during parachute testing for its Crew Dragon capsule, in which the simulated spacecraft being tested became unstable and was dropped early, according to a tweet from a CNBC reporter. No one was injured in the incident, according to the tweet. (bit.ly/3ahZndX) SpaceX is the privately held…

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Scientists in Singapore say they have developed a way to track genetic changes that speeds testing of vaccines against a coronavirus that has killed more than 16,000 people worldwide. The scientists, at the city-state’s Duke-NUS Medical School, say their technique needs just days to evaluate potential vaccines provided by Arcturus Therapeutics, an…

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese biopharmaceutical firm Anges Inc said on Tuesday that it and Osaka University had completed development of a DNA vaccine against the new coronavirus and that it would begin testing it in animals soon. Shares of Anges surged as much as 17% in morning trade in Tokyo, compared with a 5.3% gain…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut were spending their final weeks on Earth in quarantine before they are scheduled to blast off on April 9 for the International Space Station for six months as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps Earth. Launching from a pad in Kazakhstan, the Expedition 63 crew will depart…

(Reuters) – Gilead Sciences Inc’s experimental drug remdesivir, seen as one of the more promising potential treatments for the coronavirus, on Monday received the orphan drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The announcement comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump called on the FDA to streamline its approval process for treatments such…

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s central military hospital, which for decades was inundated with victims of landmines and other casualties of the country’s internal conflict, is being outfitted to battle a new enemy: coronavirus. The hospital’s staff parking lot is now home to eight generator-supplied tents, each with 11 beds, meant to house coronavirus patients without…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A worm-like creature smaller than a grain of rice that burrowed on the sea floor in search of meals like dead organic matter about 555 million years ago may be the evolutionary forerunner of most animals living today – including people. Scientists on Monday announced the discovery in the Australian outback of…