Welcome to the Sunday edition of “Reuters:  Science News” from Hawaii Science Digest.

Views expressed in this science and technology news summary are those of the reporters and correspondent.

Content, including text, photos, images, and video, provided by “Reuters.”

Accessed on 14 July 2019, 1530 UTC.

Source:  http://feeds.reuters.com/reuters/scienceNews

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• China’s manned space lab to re-enter atmosphere on Friday

  Posted:Fri, 12 Jul 2019 23:08:38 -0400

  China’s manned space lab Tiangong-2 has finished experiments and will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on July 19, authorities said on Saturday.

    

  

• Probe starts after UAE satellite lost in failed Vega launch

  Posted:Thu, 11 Jul 2019 16:01:22 -0400

  An investigation is under way after a European Vega rocket failed after take-off, destroying a military observation satellite as it was about to be placed in orbit for the United Arab Emirates, European space authorities said on Thursday.

    

  

• Brazil cotton farmers sue Bayer over patent on GMO seed

  Posted:Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:20:36 -0400

  Brazilian cotton producers in the state of Mato Grosso on Thursday sued Bayer AG , seeking to cancel the chemical company’s patent protection for its Bollgard II RR Flex genetically modified cotton seed, according to a statement sent to Reuters.

    

  

• Branson’s Virgin Orbit moves closer to commercial satellite launch

  Posted:Thu, 11 Jul 2019 03:58:21 -0400

  Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit on Wednesday released a rocket from the wing of a modified Boeing 747 jetliner in mid-air in a key test of its high-altitude launch system for satellites, the company said.

    

  

• NASA shake-up in new race to the moon

  Posted:Thu, 11 Jul 2019 00:52:16 -0400

  As NASA scrambles to meet U.S. President Donald Trump’s mandate to return humans to the moon by 2024, two longtime heads of NASA’s human exploration wing were demoted Wednesday in a slew of administrative shakeups, officials said in an internal memo.

    

  

• The $280,000 lab-grown burger could be a more palatable $10 in two years

  Posted:Wed, 10 Jul 2019 04:31:15 -0400

  (This July 9 story corrects to change company name to Biotech Foods in paragraph five.)

    

  

• Pay dispute resurfaces as U.S. women prepare for World Cup final

  Posted:Wed, 03 Jul 2019 14:35:17 -0400

  With the United States preparing to play in the women’s World Cup final the team’s fight for pay equity resurfaced on Wednesday with the Democratic Women’s Caucus demanding answers from U.S. Soccer chief Carlos Cordeiro.

    

  

• Biblical bad guys the ancient Philistines came from Europe, DNA shows

  Posted:Wed, 03 Jul 2019 14:09:21 -0400

  The ancient Philistines, the Biblical villains whose origins have puzzled scholars for decades, came to the Middle East from southern Europe more than 3,000 years ago, new DNA testing has shown.

    

  

• Solar eclipse plunges Chile into darkness

  Posted:Wed, 03 Jul 2019 12:30:06 -0400

  Hundreds of thousands of tourists scattered across the north Chilean desert on Tuesday to experience a rare, and irresistible combination for astronomy buffs: a total eclipse of the sun viewed from beneath the world’s clearest skies.

    

  

• Blind Chileans ‘listen’ for the solar eclipse

  Posted:Tue, 02 Jul 2019 19:35:38 -0400

  In the minutes before a solar eclipse plunged Chile into darkness, a loudspeaker projected a deep baritone to a group of blind men and women who had traveled to the Atacama desert to “hear” what hundreds of thousands of others had come to see.

    

  

• NASA tests abort system on astronaut capsule built for moon missions

  Posted:Tue, 02 Jul 2019 13:03:41 -0400

  An unmanned full-scale NASA crew capsule blasted off from a Florida launchpad on Tuesday in a successful test of the spacecraft’s abort thrusters, an astronaut safety device that will be key as the agency works to return humans to the moon by 2024.

    

  

• Hungarian parliament passes bill tightening state grip over scientists

  Posted:Tue, 02 Jul 2019 07:29:33 -0400

  Hungarian lawmakers passed legislation on Tuesday to tighten state control of research bodies run by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), overriding protests against the latest step to expand the government’s role in public life.

    

  

• Scientists conclude cigar-shaped interstellar object not an alien spaceship

  Posted:Mon, 01 Jul 2019 16:24:24 -0400

  After investigating the nature of a mysterious and apparently cigar-shaped object called ‘Oumuamua spotted in 2017 speeding through our solar system, astronomers remain uncertain over how to classify it, but are confident it is not an alien spaceship.

    

  

• Sotheby’s to auction rare videotape of Neil Armstrong’s first steps on moon

  Posted:Fri, 28 Jun 2019 19:54:09 -0400

  A one-time NASA intern who bought a truckload of videotapes to resell them may end up a millionaire next month when Sotheby’s auctions what it says is the only surviving original recording of man’s first steps on the moon 50 years ago.

    

  

• NASA to send drone to Saturn’s moon for clues on human origins

  Posted:Thu, 27 Jun 2019 18:39:11 -0400

  NASA plans to send a drone named Dragonfly to Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan, the agency said Thursday, announcing the space agency’s latest high-profile mission to explore the solar system for clues on humanity’s origins. “Today I am proud to announce that our next New Frontiers mission, Dragonfly, will explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a video teleconference.

    

  

• U.S. patent agency to review Harvard, MIT’s claim to CRISPR technology

  Posted:Tue, 25 Jun 2019 21:56:45 -0400

  The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday said it would review whether Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology can claim rights to a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, adding fuel to a rivalry between those institutions and the University of California.

    

  

• India’s space startups ignite investor interest

  Posted:Sun, 23 Jun 2019 02:28:39 -0400

  From companies building palm-sized satellites to those aiming to propel satellites into space using cleaner fuels, a new wave of space technology startups are mushrooming in India, catching the attention of investors keen to join the space race.

    

  

• U.N., European bodies outline joint push against space junk

  Posted:Thu, 20 Jun 2019 13:20:00 -0400

  European and U.N. bodies on Thursday outlined a joint push for global action on space junk, saying that debris orbiting the earth must be cleaned up as satellites launched by private companies and other new entrants are adding to the crowding.

    

  

• Costs, delays mount for Boeing’s NASA launch system, audit finds

  Posted:Wed, 19 Jun 2019 23:52:58 -0400

  NASA’s flagship space launch system being built by Boeing is taking years longer than expected with cost overruns of nearly $2 billion, an audit found on Wednesday, raising questions about meeting a goal of returning humans to the moon by 2024.

    

  

• Grab and throw: South Korea makes flower vase fire extinguisher

  Posted:Wed, 19 Jun 2019 20:49:25 -0400

  In a panic after a fire has broken out and can’t remember where the fire extinguisher is, let alone how to use it?

    

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