Science News Roundup: Bezos has successful suborbital jaunt; Moon-forming region seen around planet in another solar system and more
Funk was one of the so-called Mercury 13 group of women https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/trailblazing-female-pilot-will-go-space-age-82-with-jeff-bezos-2021-07-01 who trained to become NASA astronauts in the 1960s but was passed over because of her gender. The leader's brain: Neuroscience in the workplace The brain rarely fires on all cylinders even at the best of times - what more during a pandemic?
Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Pioneering female aviator Wally Funk is 'America's new sweetheart'
Wally Funk became the oldest person to reach space on Tuesday - some 60 years after first undergoing astronaut training. Funk was one of the so-called Mercury 13 group of women https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/trailblazing-female-pilot-will-go-space-age-82-with-jeff-bezos-2021-07-01 who trained to become NASA astronauts in the 1960s but was passed over because of her gender.
The leader's brain: Neuroscience in the workplace
The brain rarely fires on all cylinders even at the best of times - what more during a pandemic? Understanding our operating systems can help us better navigate challenges and be more effective movers and shakers. That is the message of "The Leader's Brain," a book by Michael Platt, professor of marketing, neuroscience and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
'Road to space': billionaire Bezos has successful suborbital jaunt
Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, soared some 66.5 miles (107 km) above the Texas desert aboard his company Blue Origin's New Shepard https://graphics.reuters.com/SPACE-EXPLORATION/BLUEORIGIN/jbyprzzympe/blue-origin.jpg launch vehicle on Tuesday and returned safely to Earth, a historic suborbital flight that helps usher in a new era of space tourism. "Best day ever," Bezos, accompanied by three crewmates including the world's oldest and youngest space travelers, said after his capsule descended with three large parachutes and touched down, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Moon-forming region seen around planet in another solar system
Scientists for the first time have spotted a moon-forming region around a planet beyond our solar system - a Jupiter-like world surrounded by a disk of gas and dust massive enough that it could spawn three moons the size of the one orbiting Earth. The researchers used the ALMA observatory in Chile's Atacama desert to detect the disk of swirling material accumulating around one of two newborn planets seen orbiting a young star called PDS 70, located a relatively close 370 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, about 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).
(With inputs from agencies.)
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