Science News Roundup: S.Korean experts seek to verify room-temperature superconductor claim; Voyager Space and Airbus deepen tie-up on new space station and more

The two companies announced plans in January for Airbus to provide design support for Voyager's Starlab, one of three projects pre-selected by NASA to draw up plans for a potential commercial successor to the ISS. Ancient whale from Peru may be most massive animal ever on Earth Move over, blue whale.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

S.Korean experts seek to verify room-temperature superconductor claim

South Korean experts said on Thursday they would set up a committee to verify claims that a room temperature superconductor has been discovered, which has driven investor frenzy as well as peer skepticism since. The Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics, a group of experts, said in a statement on Thursday it had asked Quantum Energy Research Centre to submit samples in order to verify its researchers' findings of a room-temperature superconductor material, made public last month on a website showing research before formal publication.

Voyager Space and Airbus deepen tie-up on new space station

U.S. space venture company Voyager Space and Airbus said on Wednesday they will co-operate more closely in the race to build a private version of the International Space Station. The two companies announced plans in January for Airbus to provide design support for Voyager's Starlab, one of three projects pre-selected by NASA to draw up plans for a potential commercial successor to the ISS.

Ancient whale from Peru may be most massive animal ever on Earth

Move over, blue whale. There is a new contender for the most massive animal in Earth's history. Scientists on Wednesday described fossils of an early whale unearthed in Peru called Perucetus colossus that lived about 38-40 million years ago during the Eocene epoch - a creature built somewhat like a manatee that may have topped the mass of the blue whale, long considered the heftiest animal on record.