Science News Roundup: 'The Dish' still beaming signals; India to launch second lunar mission

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Apollo 11's astronauts snapped photos for science. Then came MTV

The Apollo 11 astronauts who made mankind's first visit to the moon 50 years ago were trained in how to take pictures for science. Back on Earth, some of those photos became pop culture touchstones. People collected and shared prints of the Apollo 11 landing and moonwalk, which also became the basis for artist Andy Warhol's colored prints "Moonwalk" and for MTV's logo when the music channel launched in 1981.

'Artificial snow' could save stricken Antarctic ice sheet - study

Governments could stop the West Antarctic Ice Sheet from sliding into the ocean and submerging coastal cities by launching a last-ditch engineering project to blanket its surface with "artificial snow", according to a study released on Wednesday. Scientists believe that global warming has already caused so much melting at the south pole that the giant ice sheet is now on course to disintegrate, which would trigger an eventual global sea-level rise of at least three meters (10 feet) over centuries.

India to launch second lunar mission on July 22 after a delay

India's space agency said on Thursday it would launch the country's second lunar mission on July 22, after the original launch was called off due to a 'technical snag' earlier this week. Chandrayaan-2, built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is now scheduled to be launched at 0913 GMT (1443 IST) on July 22, ISRO said in a tweet (https://twitter.com/isro/status/1151727440667893760).

Gulp! The jurassic mammal was the first one able to eat politely

A shrew-like primitive mammal that inhabited China 165 million years ago represents a milestone in mammalian evolution, scientists said on Thursday, boasting a key anatomical trait in its throat that helped usher in the era of polite table manners. Scientists described an exquisitely preserved Jurassic Period fossil from Inner Mongolia of a furry critter called Microdocodon gracilis. It was a lightly built, long-tailed, insect-eating tree-dweller roughly 5 inches (14 cm) in length that lived in a warm lakeshore environment alongside feathered dinosaurs and flying reptiles called pterosaurs.

Shaken or stirred: robotic bartender serves up cocktails for Prague clubbers

For revelers at one Prague megaclub, gone are the days of being squashed at the bar waiting to get a watered-down cocktail. Two years after becoming the first to try a robot DJ, the five-story Karlovy Lazne Music Club has gone a step further with the launch of a robotic bartender to mix up cocktails, after its manager was inspired by seeing one in Las Vegas.

Explainer: NASA aims to build on moon as a way station for Mars

Unlike the Apollo program that put astronauts on the moon 50 years ago, NASA is gearing up for a long term presence on Earth's satellite that the agency says will eventually enable humans to reach Mars. "Now, NASA is working to build a sustainable, open architecture that returns humanity to our nearest neighbor," Jim Bridenstine, the administrator of the U.S. space agency, said in a statement to a Senate committee on Wednesday.

'The Dish' still beaming signals from Australia 50 years after moon walk

It's known as "The Dish" and it soars above a nondescript paddock in rural Australia. Without it, hundreds of millions of people would never have seen all of the generation-defining footage of Neil Armstrong walking on the moon 50 years ago. An estimated 600 million people around the world held their collective breath as they watched their television screens on July 20, 1969, waiting to see Armstrong step out from the Apollo 11 lunar module and into the history books.

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