Science News Roundup: NASA astronaut returns to Earth; Data suggests virus infections under-reported and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

NASA astronaut Koch returns to Earth after a record space mission

A capsule carrying a crew of three from the International Space Station, including record-setting United States astronaut Christina Koch, landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday, a live feed by Russian space agency Roscosmos showed. The touchdown on a snow-covered steppe also marked the return to earth of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russia's Alexander Skvortsov.

'Weird,' sharp-nosed thalattosaur species identified from Alaska fossil

An iguana-like creature with a needle-sharp snout has been confirmed from a fossilized skeleton as a species of the marine reptile thalattosaur previously unknown to science that roamed the coast of what is now Alaska some 200 million years ago. Dating from the Triassic period and identified from a lone fossil found the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, the new creature has been named Gunakadeit joseeae, after a Native Tlingit name for a legendary sea monster, according to an article published on Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports.

Data suggests virus infections under-reported, exaggerating fatality rate

Fatalities from the coronavirus epidemic are overwhelmingly concentrated in central China's Wuhan city, which accounts for over 73% of deaths despite having only one-third the number of confirmed infections. In Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease, one person has died for every 23 infections reported. That number drops to one on 50 nationally, and outside mainland China, one death has been recorded per 114 confirmed cases.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch returns to Earth after record mission

U.S. astronaut Christina Koch, who led the first all-female spacewalk in 2019, landed in Kazakhstan on Thursday after a record stays on the International Space Station, ending a 328-day mission expected to yield new insights into deep-space travel. The Soyuz MS-13 capsule touched down on the Kazakh desert steppe at 4:12 am ET carrying Koch, 41, European astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.