Science News Roundup: Black hole discoveries win 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics; Virus-hunting trio win Nobel for hepatitis C discovery and more

Virus-hunting trio win Nobel for hepatitis C discovery Two Americans and a Briton won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for identifying the hepatitis C virus, in work spanning decades that has helped to limit the spread of the fatal disease and develop drugs to cure it.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Musk to visit SpaceX launchpad after mission aborts, delays

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said he will visit his space company’s Florida rocket facilities this week to investigate the cause of recent launch aborts and delays that have held up a busy mission schedule for the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. The space company last week halted two back-to-back Falcon 9 missions - one packed with 60 SpaceX Starlink satellites and the other carrying a GPS satellite for the U.S. Air Force - over technical issues detected less than 30 seconds before planned liftoff from a launchpad in Florida.

Biogen, gene-editing startup Scribe to develop therapies for Lou Gehrig's disease

U.S. drugmaker Biogen Inc and gene-editing startup Scribe Therapeutics Inc will jointly develop therapies for treating underlying genetic causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurological disorder better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Scribe, co-founded by Jennifer Doudna, an early pioneer of the CRISPR gene-editing technology, said on Tuesday it would receive $15 million upfront and potentially over $400 million in milestone payments from Biogen.

Musk's SpaceX wins Pentagon award for missile tracking satellites

Elon Musk's SpaceX won a $149 million contract to build missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon, the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) said on Monday, in the company's first government contract to build satellites. SpaceX, known for its reusable rockets and astronaut capsules, is ramping up satellite production for Starlink, a growing constellation of hundreds of internet-beaming satellites that chief executive Elon Musk hopes will generate enough revenue to help fund SpaceX’s interplanetary goals.

Virus-hunting trio win Nobel for hepatitis C discovery

Two Americans and a Briton won the 2020 Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday for identifying the hepatitis C virus, in work spanning decades that has helped to limit the spread of the fatal disease and develop drugs to cure it. The discoveries by Harvey Alter, Charles Rice and Briton Michael Houghton mean there is now a chance of eradicating the hepatitis C virus - a goal the World Health Organization wants to achieve in the next decade.

Black hole discoveries win 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics

Three scientists who unraveled some of the deep mysteries of black holes, the awe-inspiring pockets of the universe where space and time cease to exist, have won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. Britain's Roger Penrose, professor at the University of Oxford, won half the prize of 10 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) for his proof that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.

Genetic 'scissors' scientists win Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Two women scientists won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday for creating genetic 'scissors' that can rewrite the code of life, contributing to new cancer therapies and holding out the prospect of curing hereditary diseases. Emmanuelle Charpentier, who is French, and American Jennifer Doudna share the 10 million Swedish crown ($1.1 million) prize for developing the CRISPR/Cas9 tool to edit the DNA of animals, plants, and microorganisms with precision.

(With inputs from agencies.)