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How sewer science could ease testing pressure and track COVID-19

LONDON (Reuters) – The science of sewage surveillance could be deployed in countries across the world to help monitor the spread of national epidemics of COVID-19 while reducing the need for mass testing, scientists say. Experts in the field – known as wastewa... More »

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Bulgarian fossils show early arrival of Homo sapiens into Europe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fragmentary bone fossils and a molar found in Bulgaria dated to roughly 45,000 years ago show that Homo sapiens populations swept into Europe – until then a bastion for the Neanderthals – earlier than previously known, scientists said on... More »

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Copper takes aim at COVID-19 with virus-killer coatings

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – At an outer suburban manufacturing plant, engineer Byron Kennedy is resetting a machine to spray-print a layer of copper on to a door handle, aiming to use the metal’s antiviral properties to counter the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic. H... More »

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New coronavirus adapts to populations- vaccine works in monkeys

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The following is a brief roundup of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. New coronavirus is adapting to different populations A ge... More »

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Soccer: Will the player of the future be ‘plant-based’?

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – The days of English football’s once notorious drinking culture are long gone and few professionals would now list the once obligatory ‘steak and chips’ as their favourite meal but things are moving to a different level entirely ... More »

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The sun is less active than similar stars. That’s good news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The sun appears to be far less active than similar stars in terms of brightness variations caused by sunspots and other phenomena – a “boring” personality, according to scientists, that may not be a bad thing for us Earthlings. Researche... More »

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Swiss researchers see sewage as early warning sign for COVID flares

ZURICH (Reuters) – Researchers in Switzerland have been able to detect the new corovarirus at even low concentrations in wastewater, offering a potential early warning system for flareups in infections as countries emerge from emergency lockdowns. Should the s... More »

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A piece of the moon for sale: just $2.5 million

LONDON (Reuters) – One of the world’s largest lunar meteorites goes on private sale at Christie’s on Thursday, valued at 2 million pounds ($2.49 million). The moon rock, weighing over 13.5 kg, was probably struck off the surface of the moon by a collision with... More »

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Before becoming frozen wasteland, Antarctica was home to frogs

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When paleontologist Thomas Mörs was peering into a microscope while sorting through tiny 40 million-year-old fossils unearthed on Seymour Island near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, he came across quite a surprise – hip and skull bon... More »

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Scientists observe celestial smash-up around nearby star

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have observed what appears to be the aftermath of a violent collision between two planetary building blocks orbiting a large and luminous star, a glimpse of the type of carnage that may have been commonplace early in our solar... More »

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Interstellar gatecrasher 2I/Borisov is no ordinary comet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have discovered that a comet called 2I/Borisov – only the second interstellar object ever detected passing through the solar system – is surprisingly different in its composition from comets hailing from our celestial neighbor... More »

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Coronavirus forces detour for homecoming astronauts

ALMATY (Reuters) – NASA astronauts Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir will take an unusual – and more exhausting – route home after safely landing in the Kazakh steppe on Friday, a Russian healthcare official said, because of lockdowns caused by the novel coronavi... More »

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‘Stink flirting’ is a thing – just ask a ring-tailed lemur

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – For human beings, “stink flirting” may not sound like a prudent dating strategy. For ring-tailed lemurs, it is the way to go. Scientists on Thursday described the results of a comprehensive study of this behavior – unique in the animal k... More »

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Scientists enthralled by biggest star explosion ever observed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have observed the biggest supernova – stellar explosion – ever detected, the violent death of a huge star up to 100 times more massive than our sun in a faraway galaxy. The supernova, releasing twice as much energy as any othe... More »

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Space scientists use COVID-19 lockdown as dry run for Mars mission

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) – French space scientists are using the COVID-19 lockdown as a dry run for what it will be like to be cooped up inside a space craft on a mission to Mars. The guinea pigs in the experiment are 60 students who are confined to their do... More »

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Ancient string provides further evidence of Neanderthals talents

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Neanderthals used plant fibers to create string more than 40,000 years ago at a site in France where they hunted reindeer, further evidence according to scientists of the ingenuity and cognitive capabilities of our closest extinct human ... More »

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Boeing plans to retest Starliner flight after botched mission

(Reuters) – Boeing Co said on Monday it would send its Starliner astronaut spacecraft on another unmanned mission to the International Space Station, months after its last flight was cut short because of a software bug. During the December test, a series of so... More »

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Science platform ResearchGate launches COVID-19 community

BERLIN (Reuters) – ResearchGate, a social network site for scientists and researchers, has launched a new forum to facilitate collaboration between COVID-19 experts on research into beating the flu-like disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The site here de... More »

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Masks do reduce spread of flu and some coronaviruses, study finds

LONDON (Reuters) – Face masks could help limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to researchers who studied the effect of surgical masks on the transmission of other corona and flu viruses. In the study, the use of surgical masks by sufferers sign... More »

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Landmark skull fossil provides surprising human evolution clues

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have solved a longstanding mystery over the age of a landmark skull found in 1921 in Zambia – the first fossil of an extinct human species discovered in Africa – in research with big implications for deciphering the origin of ... More »

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In battle against coronavirus, Colombia transforms military hospital

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 ... More »

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Coronavirus deals blow to NASA’s 2024 return-to-moon plan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The coronavirus has dealt a blow to NASA’s plan to return Americans to the moon by 2024, as the space agency chief on Thursday ordered the temporary closure of two rocket production facilities after an employee tested positive for the il... More »

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Fins of prehistoric fish reveal origins of the human hand

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Inside the stout fins of a fish that prowled the shallow waters of an estuary in what is now eastern Canada about 380 million years ago, scientists have found what they call the evolutionary origins of the human hand. The researchers exa... More »

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Joint Russian-European Mars mission postponed over coronavirus

MOSCOW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A joint Russian-European mission to send a rover to Mars has been postponed by two years because its final phase has been compromised by the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, the European and Russian space agencies said on Thursday. T... More »

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Skull of smallest-known bird embedded in 99-million-year-old amber

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists are marveling over the exquisitely preserved skull of what appears to be the smallest-known bird – tinier than any hummingbird – encased in 99-million-year-old amber and boasting many odd traits including jaws studded with num... More »

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On faraway planet, it’s cloudy with a chance of liquid iron rain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have detected an exotic planet in another solar system where the weather forecast is always dire – a 100 percent chance of the most outrageous rain imaginable, with droplets of scaldingly hot liquid iron. The researchers said ... More »

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Shake it, baby! NASA robotic lander confirms quakes on Mars

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA’s robotic InSight lander has for the first time established that Mars is seismically active, but do not call the shaking, rattling and rolling taking place on the Red Planet earthquakes. The proper term, fittingly, is marsquakes. Sc... More »

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Robots, clocks and computers: How Ancient Greeks got there first

ATHENS (Reuters) – A humanoid figure dressed as a maid holds a jug in its right hand and, as hidden gears click and whirr, lifts it and pours wine into a cup a bystander has placed into the palm of its left. The robot is a recreation of the automatic servant o... More »

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Oddly shaped celestial body Arrokoth sheds light on planet formation

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A vaguely hourglass-shaped icy object called Arrokoth residing in the far reaches of the solar system – the most distant body ever explored by a spacecraft – is giving scientists intriguing clues about the formation of the planets includ... More »

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The bitter end: Last woolly mammoths plagued by genetic defects

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s last woolly mammoths, sequestered on an Arctic Ocean island outpost, suffered from serious genetic defects caused by generations of inbreeding that may have hampered traits such as sense of smell and male fertility in the doo... More »

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NASA astronaut Koch returns to Earth after record space mission

(Reuters) – A capsule carrying a crew of three from the International Space Station, including record-setting United States astronaut Christina Koch, landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday, a live feed by Russian space agency Roscosmos showed. The touchdown on a sno... More »

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Koepka says proposed new world tour might actually happen

(Reuters) – World number one Brooks Koepka said on Tuesday he thinks the Premier Golf League (PGL), a proposed series that could potentially overshadow the main tours, might actually happen after plans were announced last week. While Koepka acknowledged he sti... More »

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Bad weather forces delay of SpaceX simulated rocket failure test

CAPE CANAVERAL (Reuters) – Bad weather forced Elon Musk’s SpaceX to delay until Sunday a test in which it will destroy one of its own rockets in a trial of a crucial emergency abort system on an unmanned astronaut capsule. The test, the company’s final milesto... More »

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Oldest stuff on Earth found inside meteorite that hit Australia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A meteorite that crashed into rural southeastern Australia in a fireball in 1969 contained the oldest material ever found on Earth, stardust that predated the formation of our solar system by billions of years, scientists said on Monday.... More »

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Chinese woman with mystery virus quarantined in Thailand

BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Chinese woman has been quarantined in Thailand with a mystery strain of coronavirus, authorities said on Monday, the first time it has been detected outside China. Thai authorities are stepping up monitoring at airports ahead of the Lunar... More »

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China launches gigantic telescope in hunt for life beyond earth

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China on Saturday officially opened operations of the world’s largest radio telescope, which it will use for space research and help in the hunt for extraterrestrial life, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The Five-hundred-meter Ap... More »

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Feces-smeared fakes: Scientists use rubber hands in OCD therapy

LONDON (Reuters) – A new type of therapy using feces and fake rubber hands may be able to help patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) overcome their fears of touching contaminated surfaces, according to new research. “OCD can be an extremely debilit... More »

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No eyes? No problem. Marine creature expands boundaries of vision

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A cousin of the starfish that resides in the coral reefs of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico lacks eyes, but can still see, according to scientists who studied this creature that expands the boundaries of the sense of sight in the animal... More »

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Israel Aerospace to build Israel’s next communication satellite

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – State-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) [ISRAI.UL] said on Thursday it signed with the Israeli government to build the country’s next communication satellite. The satellite, to be called Dror-1, is supposed to operate for 15 years, ... More »

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Egg-standing test goes viral as ring-of-fire eclipse crosses Asia

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Can you make an egg stand on its narrow side during a solar eclipse? According to a popular scientific theory, an egg will support itself that way when the moon obscures the sun and during the spring equinox, due to increased gravity. ... More »

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Ethiopia launches first satellite into space

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia launched its first satellite into space on Friday, as more sub-Saharan African nations strive to develop space programs to advance their development goals and encourage scientific innovation. Before dawn on Friday, senior offic... More »

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Elbit Systems launches nanosatellite for commercial communications

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israeli defense electronics firm Elbit Systems said on Wednesday its nanosatellite, called Nanova, was successfully launched into space. Nanova was developed in collaboration with an unnamed U.S. company and is planned to be a part of a na... More »

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Researchers criticize AI software that predicts emotions

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A prominent group of researchers alarmed by the harmful social effects of artificial intelligence called Thursday for a ban on automated analysis of facial expressions in hiring and other major decisions. The AI Now Institute at New Y... More »

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Emotion-sensing robot launches to assist space station astronauts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An intelligent robot equipped with emotion-sensing voice detectors was headed to the International Space Station after launching from Florida on Thursday, becoming the latest artificial intelligence-powered astronaut workmate in orbit. T... More »

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NASA’s probe soaring near sun reveals surprises about solar wind

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Troves of new data from a NASA probe’s close encounters with the sun are giving scientists unique insight about the solar wind and space weather more generally as the spacecraft zooms through the outermost part of the star’s atmosphere. ... More »

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Egypt to send its first communication satellite into orbit on Friday

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt will launch its first communication satellite into orbit on Friday, a move it says will improve its communications infrastructure and internet services and attract investment. Tiba-1 is due to launch at 2108 GMT on one of Europe’s Arian... More »

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Spacecom’s Amos-17 satellite completes test, reaches final orbit

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s Space Communications said on Monday its Amos-17 communication satellite, which was launched into space in August, has completed its in-orbit testing and reached its final position. Spacecom has suffered some major setbacks in rec... More »

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China completes crucial landing test for first Mars mission in 2020

HUAILAI, China (Reuters) – China on Thursday successfully completed a crucial landing test in northern Hebei province ahead of a historic unmanned exploration mission to Mars next year. China is on track to launch its Mars mission, Zhang Kejian, head of the Ch... More »

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NASA unveils its first electric airplane – a work in progress

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Reuters) – NASA, most prominent for its many Florida-launched exploits into space, showcased an early version of its first all-electric experimental aircraft, the X-57 “Maxwell,” on Friday at its lesser-known aeronautics lab in ... More »

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Prehistoric ape from Germany was a pioneer of two-legged walking

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fossils unearthed in southern Germany of a remarkable ape that lived about 11.6 million years ago may dramatically alter the understanding of the evolutionary origins of a fundamental human trait – walking upright on two legs. Scientists... More »