Science News Roundup: Russia's Nornickel urges scientists to find new ways to use palladium; Alien world under Austria's doomed glaciers tells tale of their collapse and more

Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild returned to Earth on Sunday after gathering more than 30 hours of material for "The Challenge", billed as the first space movie and hailed by Russian media as a world-beating achievement.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Russia's Nornickel urges scientists to find new ways to use palladium

Russia's Nornickel, the world's largest palladium producer, said on Monday it had begun a contest for scientists to find new ways to use the metal that has been hit by a chip shortage in the auto industry, its top consumer sector. Global demand for palladium has weakened recently as automakers, which use the metal in pollution-reducing catalytic converters, have cut production due to the dearth of chips.

Alien world under Austria's doomed glaciers tells tale of their collapse

Scientists are venturing inside otherworldly ice caves growing beneath Austria's doomed glaciers to study why they are melting even faster than expected, and understand the fate that will befall glaciers elsewhere if climate change is not halted. It is already too late to save the glaciers of the eastern Alps, which scientists now say are past the point of no return and will be gone completely in the next few decades.

Russian space movie director says moon or Mars could be next

Russian film director Klim Shipenko said on Tuesday he was up for making a movie on the moon or even Mars after returning from 12 days of shooting aboard the International Space Station that transformed his ideas about the possibilities of cinema. Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild returned to Earth on Sunday after gathering more than 30 hours of material for "The Challenge", billed as the first space movie and hailed by Russian media as a world-beating achievement.

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