Science News Roundup: Roman-era sarcophagus uncovered in Gaza; Russia delays launch of relief ship to keep investigating space station leak and more

Researchers at Budapest's Eotvos Lorand University where Lehoczki works examined whether certain dog breeds are more prone to howling and if this had anything to do with their genetic closeness to wolves. JAXA delays Japan's H3 rocket launch to Feb 17 citing weather conditions Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will delay the maiden launch of its heavy-lift H3 rocket to Feb. 17 from Feb. 15 due to weather conditions, the space agency said on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Roman-era sarcophagus uncovered in Gaza

A Roman-era sarcophagus, likely to have belonged to a prominent individual, was uncovered at the site of a 2,000-year-old Roman cemetery discovered last year in the northern Gaza Strip, the territory's antiquities ministry said on Tuesday. So far 90 individual and mass graves have been found at the site, which is being supervised by a French team of experts and which was uncovered last year by construction workers on an Egyptian-funded housing project.

Russia delays launch of relief ship to keep investigating space station leak

Russia is delaying the launch of a ship to bring two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut back from the International Space Station (ISS) while it investigates a pressure loss in another module, its space agency said on Monday. Roscosmos and the U.S. space agency NASA had said that a Soyuz MS-23 ship would be launched on Feb. 20 to bring back Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitry Petelin and Frank Rubio.

Call of the wild? Hungarian research explores why your dog is prone to howling

When Hungarian animal behaviourist Fanni Lehoczki noticed the frequent howls of her Siberian husky "Bizsu" didn't always provoke other dogs into a wolf-like response, it prompted the question - why are certain dogs more prone to howling? Researchers at Budapest's Eotvos Lorand University where Lehoczki works examined whether certain dog breeds are more prone to howling and if this had anything to do with their genetic closeness to wolves.

JAXA delays Japan's H3 rocket launch to Feb 17 citing weather conditions

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will delay the maiden launch of its heavy-lift H3 rocket to Feb. 17 from Feb. 15 due to weather conditions, the space agency said on Tuesday. "As a result of today's weather assessment, it is anticipated that weather conditions on the day of the launch will not be suitable, so changes will be made as a precautionary measure," it said in a statement.