Science News Roundup: Tesla to host second artificial intelligence day in August; Bezos' Blue Origin delays 5th crewed flight and more

Post-infection vaccination may reduce long COVID U.S. launches $3.5 billion program to speed development of up carbon removal tech The U.S. Energy Department launched a program on Thursday to fund four large-scale projects across the country that can remove carbon dioxide from the air, investing $3.5 billion in a nascent technology the Biden administration says is necessary to meet a goal of achieving net zero emissions by mid century.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 20-05-2022 02:34 IST | Created: 20-05-2022 02:28 IST
Science News Roundup: Tesla to host second artificial intelligence day in August; Bezos' Blue Origin delays 5th crewed flight and more
Representative Image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Tesla to host second artificial intelligence day in August

Tesla Inc top boss Elon Musk said on Tuesday the electric-car maker will host its second artificial intelligence day on Aug. 19, with the company likely to expand on plans to fine-tune its self-driving technology. "The purpose of AI Day is to convince great AI/software/chip talent to join Tesla," the billionaire said in a tweet.

U.S. officials say Pentagon committed to understanding UFO origins

Two senior U.S. defense intelligence officials said on Tuesday the Pentagon is committed to determining the origins of what it calls "unidentified aerial phenomena" - commonly termed UFOs - but acknowledged many remain beyond the government's ability to explain. The two officials, Ronald Moultrie and Scott Bray, appeared before a House of Representatives intelligence subcommittee for the first public U.S. congressional hearing on the subject in a half century. It came 11 months after a government report documented more than 140 cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, that U.S. military pilots had observed since 2004.

Boeing's Starliner space capsule set for launch on key test flight to orbit

Boeing's new Starliner capsule was set for launch on Thursday on a do-over uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station, aiming to deliver the company a much-needed success after two years of delays and costly engineering setbacks. The gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner was scheduled for liftoff at 6:54 p.m. EDT (2254 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, carried atop an Atlas V rocket furnished by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA).

Bezos' Blue Origin delays 5th crewed flight

Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture Blue Origin delayed its fifth crewed launch that was scheduled for Friday as one of the New Shepard rocket's back-up systems did not meet expectations. Blue Origin's fourth flight landed successfully in March in west Texas after taking six passengers for a 10-minute journey to the edge of space.

Prehistoric fossil in Peru sheds light on marine origin of crocodiles

The discovery of a prehistoric crocodile fossil in Peru from around 7 million years ago has given paleontologists more clues as to how modern crocodiles, all freshwater creatures in the Andean country, first came to land from the sea. According to a Peruvian research team that analyzed jaw and skull remains of the species, the animal likely would have probably crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of South America, eventually populating what is now southern Peru.

Vaccination after infection may curb long COVID; desktop 'air curtains' may deflect virus particles

The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. Post-infection vaccination may reduce long COVID

U.S. launches $3.5 billion program to speed development of up carbon removal tech

The U.S. Energy Department launched a program on Thursday to fund four large-scale projects across the country that can remove carbon dioxide from the air, investing $3.5 billion in a nascent technology the Biden administration says is necessary to meet a goal of achieving net zero emissions by mid century. The agency released a formal notice saying it would fund the $3.5 billion program created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastucture Law that would create four regional direct air capture hubs to spur the widespread deployment of the technology and carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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