Science News Roundup: NASA resumes human spaceflight; Coal mine in Serbia gives up new Roman treasure and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 31-05-2020 10:38 IST | Created: 31-05-2020 10:28 IST
Science News Roundup: NASA resumes human spaceflight; Coal mine in Serbia gives up new Roman treasure and more
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

NASA resumes human spaceflight from U.S. soil with historic SpaceX launch

SpaceX, the private rocket company of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, launched two Americans into orbit from Florida on Saturday in a landmark mission marking the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 3:22 p.m. EDT (1922 GMT), launching Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on a 19-hour ride aboard the company's newly designed Crew Dragon capsule bound for the International Space Station.

Coal mine in Serbia gives up new Roman treasure

As the sun sank over a vast opencast coal mine in eastern Serbia earlier this month, a small crane eased the front half of a Roman ship from the steep sides of the pit. An excavator cutting through the coal-rich soil had pulled out some muddy timber weeks before, but coronavirus restrictions had meant the retrieval had to wait.

Spanish dig unearths human remains in the hunt for Irish rebel lord

Spanish archaeologists may have uncovered the final resting place of an Irish nobleman whose bloody 16th-century rebellion almost toppled Ireland's English rulers. With some Spanish support, Red Hugh O'Donnell waged war against the English for nine years before his rebels suffered a defeat at the 1602 Battle of Kinsale.

Prototype of new SpaceX rocket Starship explodes on Texas test pad

A prototype of SpaceX's upcoming heavy-lift rocket, Starship, exploded on Friday during ground tests in south Texas as Elon Musk's space company pursued an aggressive development schedule to fly the launch vehicle for the first time. The testing explosion was unrelated to SpaceX's upcoming launch of two NASA astronauts from Florida's Kennedy Space Center using a different rocket system, the Falcon 9 with the Crew Dragon capsule fixed on top.

Millipede from Scotland is the world's oldest-known land animal

A fossilized millipede-like creature discovered in Scotland may represent the oldest-known land animal, a humble pioneer of terrestrial living 425 million years ago that helped pave the way for the throngs that would eventually inhabit Earth's dry parts. Researchers said the fossil of the Silurian Period creature, called Kampecaris obanensis and unearthed on the island of Kerrera in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, inhabited a lakeside environment and likely ate decomposing plants. Fossils of the oldest-known plant with a stem, called Cooksonia, were found in the same ancient lake region as Kampecaris.

Coronavirus infection rate may shift toward younger ages; death risk higher in cancer patients

The following is a brief roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Coronavirus infection burden may shift to younger age groups

(With inputs from agencies.)

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