Science News Roundup: Pregnant women being infected at higher rate; JPMorgan's blockchain payments test is out of world and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Pregnant women being infected at higher rates; COVID-19 from UK variant lasting longer

The following is a roundup of some 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. Pregnant women infected by COVID-19 at higher rate.

JPMorgan's blockchain payments test is literally out of this world

Stuck in space with bills to pay? Don't worry, the satellites could take care of it. JPMorgan Chase & Co has recently tested blockchain payments between satellites orbiting the earth, executives at the bank told Reuters, showing that digital devices could use the technology behind virtual currencies for transactions.

Mars rover sends home movie of daredevil descent to landing on red planet

NASA scientists on Monday unveiled first-of-a-kind home movies of last week's' daredevil Mars rover landing, vividly showing its supersonic parachute inflation over the red planet and a rocket-powered hovercraft lowering the science lab on wheels to the surface. The footage was recorded on Thursday by a series of cameras mounted at different angles of the multi-stage spacecraft as it carried the rover, named Perseverance, through the thin Martian atmosphere to a gentle touchdown inside a vast basin called Jezero Crater.

Battered stones of Jerusalem's Western Wall get the full treatment

The ancient stones that make up Jerusalem's Western Wall are showing the scars of weathering from two millennia of scorching sunlight and driving rain. To stop them getting worse and to ensure their integrity, Israeli conservators are giving the stones a face lift, mending the cracks and filling out their battered surfaces.

(With inputs from agencies.)