Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science news briefs. Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Blue Origin land contracts to build NASA's astronaut moon lander

NASA on Thursday selected space firms SpaceX, Blue Origin and Dynetics to build lunar landing systems that can carry astronauts to the moon by 2024, the White House's accelerated deadline under the space agency's moon-to-Mars campaign. The three companies, which include firms of tech billionaires Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, will share $967 million from NASA, though specific amounts each company will receive were not immediately known. A piece of the moon for sale: just $2.5 million

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 an asteroid or comet and then showered down on the Sahara desert. The sun is less active than similar stars. That's good news

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. Researchers said on Thursday that an examination of 369 stars similar to the sun in surface temperatures, size and rotation period - it takes the sun about 24-1/2 days to rotate once on its axis - showed that they displayed on average five times more brightness variability than the sun. Scientists urge Germans to keep social distancing discipline

Germans must persevere with social distancing or risk exponential growth in the number of coronavirus cases, four leading science institutes said on Wednesday. Germany began easing its lockdown last week, when some shops were allowed to open provided they practised strict social distancing, but Chancellor Angela Merkel and government advisers are worried about the coronavirus infection rate rising. 'River monster': Huge African dinosaur Spinosaurus thrived in the water

The huge African predator ​Spinosaurus spent much of its life in the water, propelled by a paddle-like tail while hunting large fish - a "river monster," according to scientists, that showed that some dinosaurs invaded the aquatic realm. Scientists on Wednesday announced the discovery of fossil bones from the tail of ​Spinosaurus in southeastern Morocco that provided a deeper understanding of the appearance, lifestyle and capabilities of the longest meat-eating dinosaur on record. Swiss researchers see sewage as early warning sign for COVID flares

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 system work, sewage samples could let public health officials see a resurgence of COVID-19 infections earlier than with diagnostic tests, perhaps by around a week, the scientists said https://www.eawag.ch/en/news-agenda/news-portal/news-detail/tracking-the-course-of-the-pandemic-in-wastewater on Thursday. Madagascar's prehistoric 'crazy beast' sheds light on mammalian evolution

A prehistoric opossum-sized critter dubbed the "crazy beast" that inhabited Madagascar at the end of the age of dinosaurs is providing scientists insight into early mammalian evolution even as they scratch their heads over its bewildering anatomy. Researchers on Wednesday described an exquisitely preserved fossil of the plant-eating mammal named Adalatherium hui, which lived 66 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period and superficially resembled a badger with its long torso and stubby tail. Twitter opens up data for researchers to study COVID-19 tweets

Twitter Inc will grant researchers and software developers access to a real-time data stream of tens of millions of daily public tweets about COVID-19, which they can use to study the spread of the disease or track misinformation, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. Twitter said that this access could also be used by approved applicants working on crisis management, emergency response or communication within communities, as well as those developing machine learning and data tools to help the scientific community understand COVID-19.