Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Genetic study shows ​seafarers from Easter Island settled Hawaii

It was a ​difficult, almost incomprehensible, feat. A band ‌of seafarers ​from Easter Island in the South Pacific set off in double-hulled sailing canoes on a voyage across Earth's largest ocean that ended more than 4,400 ‌miles (7,100 km) away in Hawaii, the only Polynesian island in the Northern Hemisphere. But this oceanic odyssey centuries ago was no myth. New genetic research has determined that Native Hawaiians are genetically most closely related to the people ‌of Easter Island, also called Rapa Nui.

Feared extinct, Bangka slow loris primate rediscovered in Indonesia

The Bangka slow loris ‌is one of Earth's most exotic primates, a slow-moving tree dweller that happens to be venomous. It was listed as critically endangered and possibly extinct, last scientifically documented in the 1930s, but now has been rediscovered on the tropical Indonesian island of Bangka. Scientists revealed in ⁠a ​new study that an animal rescue ⁠organization came across more than 90 Bangka slow loris individuals in recent years on Bangka, located off the southeastern coast of Sumatra. ⁠Most were returned to the wild.

Famous Siberian cave yields remains of yak-like Ice Age mammal

A Siberian cave already famous ​for yielding the first remains of an extinct human lineage called the Denisovans, who once roamed widely ⁠in Eurasia, has now produced evidence of a previously unknown large Ice Age mammal closely related to today's yak. Researchers said they discovered small ⁠bone fragments ​of the animal in Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia in Russia, and obtained DNA that showed these remains belonged to a bovine species distinct from others already known, living and ⁠extinct.

Japan launches mission to return samples from Mars moon

Japan launched an uncrewed spacecraft toward the Martian moon Phobos ⁠on Tuesday on a ⁠mission intended to become the first to collect samples from the small rocky body and return them to Earth for analysis. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Martian Moons eXploration ‌spacecraft lifted ‌off aboard an H3 rocket before dawn from the Tanegashima ​Space Center in southwestern Japan.