Science News Roundup: Space station's Italian commander, with lookalike Barbie, tells girls about science in orbit; Nobel prize goes to pioneers of Lego-like "click chemistry" and more
A high-ranking official of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said shortly after the launch that the flight marked "a new phase of our cooperation" with the U.S. space agency NASA. Nobel physics prize goes to sleuths of 'spooky' quantum science Scientists Alain Aspect, John Clauser and Anton Zeilinger won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments in quantum mechanics that laid the groundwork for rapidly-developing new applications in computing and cryptography.
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Following is a summary of current science news briefs.
Space station's Italian commander, with lookalike Barbie, tells girls about science in orbit
The first European female commander on the International Space Station, Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, answered young girls' questions -- accompanied by a lookalike Barbie doll. Cristoforetti recently took time to describe some of the experiments conducted aboard the ISS, as well as answer questions from five girls 8 to 11 years old from across Europe. She and her spacesuit-clad Barbie floated in zero gravity, as she spoke.
Nobel prize goes to pioneers of Lego-like "click chemistry"
Scientists Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal, and Barry Sharpless won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for discovering reactions that let molecules snap together to create new compounds and that offer insight into cell biology. The field of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry has been harnessed to improve the targeting of cancer pharmaceuticals now being tested in clinical trials, along with a host of health, agricultural and industrial applications.
Rugby-Research shows huge spike in MND risk among former international players
A new study looking at the impact of concussion on a group of former Scottish international rugby players has found that they were 15 times more likely to develop motor neuron disease (MND) than the general population. The figure is likely to send shock waves through the sport, which is already embroiled in a legal fight over the link between concussion and early onset dementia and which is scrambling to find ways of reducing incidences of concussion in matches and training at all levels.
Puny critter shows humble beginnings of magnificent flying reptiles
Pterosaurs, the flying reptiles that thrived during the age of dinosaurs, achieved great size - some with wingspans like a fighter jet - and displayed striking anatomy including exotic head crests and a hugely elongated finger to support their wings. While the ancestry and early evolution of these creatures have long puzzled scientists, a fresh examination of remains found in Scotland of a small reptile that lived about 230 million years ago during the Triassic Period is helping shed light on the humble origins of pterosaurs, researchers said on Wednesday.
Lowly wax worm's saliva may boost fight against plastic pollution
Two substances in the saliva of wax worms - moth larvae that eat wax made by bees to build honeycombs - readily break down a common type of plastic, researchers said on Tuesday, in a potential advance in the global fight against plastic pollution.
The researchers said the two enzymes identified in the caterpillar saliva were found to rapidly and at room temperature degrade polyethylene, the world's most widely used plastic and a major contributor to an environmental crisis extending from ocean trenches to mountaintops.
SpaceX capsule heads to space station ferrying NASA crew and Russian
A SpaceX rocket soared into orbit from Florida on Wednesday carrying the next long-term International Space Station crew, with a Russian cosmonaut, two Americans, and a Japanese astronaut flying together in a demonstration of U.S.-Russian teamwork in space despite Ukraine war tensions. A high-ranking official of the Russian space agency Roscosmos said shortly after the launch that the flight marked "a new phase of our cooperation" with the U.S. space agency NASA.
Nobel physics prize goes to sleuths of 'spooky' quantum science
Scientists Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments in quantum mechanics that laid the groundwork for rapidly-developing new applications in computing and cryptography. "Their results have cleared the way for new technology based upon quantum information," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said of the laureates -- Aspect, who is French, Clauser, an American, and Zeilinger, an Austrian.
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