Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Bones from Iraqi cave hint at violence and compassion in Neanderthals

The bones of a Neanderthal from a cave in ​Iraq's Kurdistan region are offering evidence of both violence and compassion in the closest evolutionary cousins of our ​species, exhibiting a wound apparently from a fatal spear attack as well as ‌signs ​of an earlier nonfatal injury that may have elicited kindly care. Researchers have discovered at Shanidar Cave in the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq a partial skeleton of a Neanderthal, aged in the mid-40s, that included a left shoulder blade, or scapula, with a circular hole six-tenths of an inch (15 mm) wide indicative of a deeply penetrating stab.

Turtles offer early warning from ‌a warming Mediterranean ahead of COP31

Under a moonlit sky, turtle hatchlings emerge from the sand on Turkey's Mediterranean coast and scramble towards the sea, taking part in an ancient natural cycle that scientists say is increasingly being shaped by climate change. Throughout the night, sea turtle biologist Yakup Kaska and his team of volunteers monitor activity in the nests. Pyramid-shaped cages protect the eggs buried in the sand from foxes that roam the 4-km (2.5-mile) Iztuzu sandbar, a tourist beach by day and haven for turtle conservation by night.

US company ‌announces progress toward resurrecting the extinct dodo

A US biotech company says it is making progress toward its goal of resurrecting the dodo, the famous flightless bird with a large hooked beak, and returning it to its native Indian Ocean island ‌of Mauritius, where humans drove it to extinction in the 17th century. Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences said on Wednesday it has used a newly developed AI platform to identify genetic changes that may be responsible for the dodo's distinctive craniofacial traits as its scientists pursue gene-editing targets to bring back this lost species.

Newly identified green star leaves astronomers amazed

Astronomers for the first time have identified a green star, documenting a dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf that became a ghostly shade of chartreuse after ingesting rocky debris from planets that once had orbited it. A star's color typically is governed by its temperature, with cooler ⁠stars appearing orange, the ​sun and stars similar to it appearing white, and the hottest ⁠ones appearing a pale blue.

CERN and Mistral partner to build Flare, a new AI model for physics

European physics research centre CERN and Mistral AI have established a long-term strategic partnership to develop a foundation model for scientific discovery, the two organisations said on Thursday. The statement of intent gives the French AI ⁠company access to one of the world's largest scientific datasets as it seeks to compete on frontier science.

Space startups secure record $20.8 billion funding as infrastructure bets surge, report shows

Space startups attracted a record $20.8 billion in funding in the third quarter, as investors poured money into launch providers, ​manufacturing and other infrastructure ventures, according to a report by global investment firm Seraphim. The figure was nearly triple the $7.4 billion invested in the second quarter and more than double the prior peak. Excluding Blue Origin's $10 billion financing, ⁠investment was still at an all-time high of $10.8 billion, underscoring growing demand across the sector.

Blue Origin targets multiple New Glenn launches weekly by end of decade

Blue Origin is targeting multiple flights per week of its New Glenn rocket by the end of the decade, a company executive said on Friday, as it spends ⁠billions ​of dollars on infrastructure needed to match rival SpaceX's launch dominance. Jeff Bezos' space firm also plans to add more launch and landing pads in Florida for New Glenn, its flagship heavy-lift orbital rocket that has been grounded for the year since exploding on the company's only launchpad in May.

Explainer-What is Starshield, SpaceX's military version of Starlink?

Ukraine said on Wednesday that Elon Musk's SpaceX had restricted "military-grade" Starlink services, hampering Ukrainian drone strike missions and air defenses. The complaint has drawn renewed attention to the distinction ⁠between Starlink, SpaceX's commercial satellite internet service, and Starshield, a military version developed for the Pentagon. While Musk has said the two systems are separate, in many cases they share the same underlying satellite technology.

Chinese fossil of bird with undersized ⁠wings scrambles avian evolution

Scientists have discovered the fossil of a crow-sized bird that ⁠lived in China roughly 150 million years ago and possessed undersized wings that may have made it more of a runner than a flier — a discovery that paints a more complicated picture of early avian evolution. The new Jurassic Period species, Yuezhuornis yangyuanensis, represents one of the earliest-known birds, similar in age to the famous Archaeopteryx from Europe. Yuezhuornis is puzzling for an ‌early bird in that it seems already to ‌have diminished the ability to fly in favor of running on the ground, perhaps somewhat like a roadrunner — a fast runner ​but clumsy flier that rarely takes to the air.