Science News Roundup: Oldest DNA on record - 2 million years - reveals Greenland's lost world; Sony says it has technology for humanoid robots, just looking for use and more

"In terms of technology, several companies in the world including this one have enough technology accumulated to make them swiftly once it becomes clear which usage is promising," Sony Chief Technology Officer Hiroaki Kitano told Reuters in an interview. Bezos' space company teams with Lockheed, Boeing for NASA moon lander pitch Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin is partnering with Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp to pitch a lunar lander to NASA as the agency seeks to send humans to the moon again, the companies announced on Tuesday.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 08-12-2022 10:29 IST | Created: 08-12-2022 10:27 IST
Science News Roundup: Oldest DNA on record - 2 million years - reveals Greenland's lost world; Sony says it has technology for humanoid robots, just looking for use and more
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Oldest DNA on record - 2 million years - reveals Greenland's lost world

Scientists have identified DNA from animals, plants and microbes dating to about 2 million years ago - the oldest on record by far - from sediment at Greenland's northernmost point dug up around the mouth of an Arctic Ocean fjord, revealing an amazing lost world at this remote frontier. Researchers said on Wednesday fragments of DNA were detected for a panoply of animals including mastodons, reindeer, hares, lemmings and geese as well as plants including poplar, birch and thuja trees and microorganisms including bacteria and fungi. DNA is the self-replicating material carrying genetic information in living organisms - sort of a blueprint of life.

Sony says it has technology for humanoid robots, just looking for use

Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate Sony Group Corp said on Tuesday it has the technology to make humanoid robots quickly once it has identified how they could be effectively used. "In terms of technology, several companies in the world including this one have enough technology accumulated to make them swiftly once it becomes clear which usage is promising," Sony Chief Technology Officer Hiroaki Kitano told Reuters in an interview.

Mysteries of universe in focus for South African mega telescope

South African officials and scientists on Monday celebrated a milestone towards building the world's largest radio astronomy instrument, which is co-hosted with Australia and aims to unlock mysteries of the universe. The construction launch outside the remote town of Carnarvon, Northern Cape, marks the next phase of developing a complex instrument aimed at revealing events since the cosmic dawn, when the first stars and galaxies were formed.

Bezos' space company teams with Lockheed, Boeing for NASA moon lander pitch

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin is partnering with Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp to pitch a lunar lander to NASA as the agency seeks to send humans to the moon again, the companies announced on Tuesday. The joint moon lander proposal, led by Blue Origin, marks the companies' second attempt to win a coveted moon lander contract as NASA seeks more options for getting astronauts to the lunar surface under its multibillion-dollar Artemis program.

NASA's Orion capsule makes its closest approach to moon

The uncrewed Orion capsule of NASA's Artemis I mission sailed within 80 miles (130 km) of the lunar surface on Monday, achieving the closest approach to the moon for a spacecraft built to carry humans since Apollo 17 flew half a century ago. The capsule's lunar flyby, on the return leg of its debut voyage, came a week after Orion reached its farthest point in space, nearly 270,000 miles from Earth while midway through its 25-day mission, the U.S. space agency said on its website.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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