Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science ​news briefs.

Crew from NASA's ​simulated Mars mission emerges ‌after 378 days ​in isolation

The four members of a crew who took part in a simulated mission ‌to Mars have emerged after 378 days in isolation at the US space agency's Johnson Space Center in Houston, an endeavor designed to help ‌prepare for a possible future excursion by NASA astronauts to Earth's ‌planetary neighbor. "It's been a hell of a year — analog astronauts living in captivity of our own free will," Ellen Ellis, the medical officer on the Crew ⁠Health and Performance ​Exploration Analog, ⁠or CHAPEA, mission, said in remarks at Johnson Space Center after emerging with her ⁠three crewmates on Saturday.

Evidence of red blood cells seen in dinosaur fossil ​from Brazil

Scientists have discovered what they consider the strongest evidence yet of ⁠blood cells in a dinosaur fossil inside bone from the right leg of a ⁠medium-sized ​meat-eater that prowled Brazil some 115 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. The researchers identified numerous microscopic structures in bone from ⁠the species Aratasaurus museunacionali that appear to be fossilized red blood cells. ⁠They also ⁠detected chemical evidence related to a key component of these cells — an iron-containing biomolecule called heme that is ‌associated with hemoglobin, ‌the protein that gives blood ​its red color.