Science News Roundup: NASA to unveil more of Webb space telescope's first full-color images; Biden unveils Webb space telescope's first full-color image of distant galaxies and more

The White House sneak peek of Webb's first high-resolution, full-color image came on the eve of a larger unveiling of photos and spectrographic data that NASA plans to showcase on Tuesday at the Goddard Space Flight Center in suburban Maryland. Chinese scientists develop robot fish that gobble up microplastics Robot fish that "eat" microplastics may one day help to clean up the world's polluted oceans, says a team of Chinese scientists from Sichuan University in southwest China.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

NASA to unveil more of Webb space telescope's first full-color images

Following a presidential sneak peek of a galaxy-studded image from deep in the cosmos, NASA was due on Tuesday to unveil more of its initial showcase from the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful orbital observatory ever launched. The first batch of full-color, high-resolution pictures, which took weeks to render from raw telescope data, were selected by NASA to provide compelling early images from Webb's major areas of inquiry and a preview of science missions ahead.

Biden unveils Webb space telescope's first full-color image of distant galaxies

U.S. President Joe Biden, pausing from political pressures to bask in the glow of the cosmos, on Monday released the debut photo from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope - an image of a galaxy cluster revealing the most detailed glimpse of the early universe ever seen. The White House sneak peek of Webb's first high-resolution, full-color image came on the eve of a larger unveiling of photos and spectrographic data that NASA plans to showcase on Tuesday at the Goddard Space Flight Center in suburban Maryland.

Chinese scientists develop robot fish that gobble up microplastics

Robot fish that "eat" microplastics may one day help to clean up the world's polluted oceans, says a team of Chinese scientists from Sichuan University in southwest China. Soft to the touch and just 1.3 centimeters (0.5 inches) in size, these robots already suck up microplastics in shallow water.

Test-fired booster rocket bursts into flames at SpaceX plant

A booster rocket developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX for its next-generation Starship spacecraft burst into flames during a ground-test firing on Monday in Texas, dealing a likely setback to Musk's aim of launching the Starship to orbit this year. "Yeah, actually not good. The team is assessing damage," Musk said on Twitter after the early evening explosion of the Super Heavy Booster 7 prototype, as seen in a Livestream recorded by the website NASA Spaceflight.

Ivory-billed woodpecker granted a 6-month reprieve from U.S. extinction list

The ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird that few if any living bird watchers have ever seen, has been given a six-month reprieve from being placed on the U.S. government's extinct list, even though the last confirmed sighting was nearly eight decades ago. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service put the bird - the largest known U.S. woodpecker - on the list for consideration as an extinct species, bumping it from the critically endangered list.