Science: What Geeks are talking about from Reuters News

Here is the latest Science News from Reuters News.

Slimy hagfish inspire ‘super hydrogels’
The unusual secretions of the Atlantic hagfish are being studied by scientists who want to harness the viscous and elastic properties of the creature’s slime for human use.

Solar plane lands in Dayton, Ohio on latest leg of round-the-world flight
(Reuters) – An experimental airplane powered solely by energy from the sun landed in Ohio on Saturday night on the latest leg of its historic bid by pilots and developers to fly around the globe without a drop of fuel.

‘ET Comes Home’ for NASA fuel tank in street ride to LA museum
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A giant orange NASA fuel tank began its final journey on Saturday, along city streets to a Los Angeles science center where it will be displayed with the space shuttle Endeavour.

Developers look to widen repertoire of Pepper, Japan’s laughing robot
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese developers of a robot are asking the public to come up with ideas for what their waist-high humanoid can do and they are offering a software development kit for programmers to get creative.

Skywatchers can see close, bright Mars looming large this month
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in a decade this month, providing sky-watchers with a celestial show from dusk to dawn starting this week, NASA said on Thursday.

Dinosaur duo sported exotic spikes and horns
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Two newly discovered dinosaurs unearthed in the western U.S. states of Montana and Utah are illustrating the exotic appearance some of these beasts developed, with fanciful horns and spikes, toward the end of their reign on Earth.

Over a third of North American bird species in danger: scientists
OTTAWA (Reuters) – More than a third of all North American bird species are at risk of becoming extinct unless significant action is taken, scientists who are part of a tri-nation initiative said on Wednesday, adding that ocean and tropical birds were in particular danger.

NASA fuel tank arrives at port ahead of trip through Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A NASA fuel tank arrived at a port on Wednesday ahead of a planned mission this weekend to tow the giant apparatus through the streets of Los Angeles and display it with the space shuttle Endeavour at a science center.

German to take command of International Space Station in 2018
COLOGNE, Germany (Reuters) – Astronaut Alexander Gerst will become the first German and only the second European to take command of the International Space Station, the European Space Agency said on Wednesday.

Livestock firm Genus ramps up R&D spend in gene editing race
LONDON (Reuters) – British animal genetics firm Genus is diving deeper into the hot area of gene editing, in a move Chief Executive Karim Bitar says will bring long-term gains at the cost of a hefty hike in research spending.

Blazing meteor creates light show across New England sky
BOSTON (Reuters) – A meteor lit up the night sky over New England and eastern Canada early on Tuesday, startling people who saw it including police officers who captured the show on a dashcam.

Genes tell how the giraffe got its long neck
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists have sequenced the genome of the giraffe for the first time, uncovering DNA quirks that help explain how the tallest animals on earth developed their remarkably long necks.

NASA launches near-space monitoring balloon from New Zealand
WELLINGTON (Reuters) – NASA successfully launched a super pressure balloon from New Zealand’s South Island Wanaka Airport Tuesday to conduct near-space scientific investigations.

Remarkable evidence of ancient humans found under Florida river
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Researchers who dove hundreds of times into a sinkhole beneath the brown murky waters of Florida’s Aucilla River have retrieved some of the oldest evidence of human presence in the Americas including stone tools apparently used to butcher a mastodon.

‘Hyperloop’ sled speeds through U.S. desert via electromagnets
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Reuters) – A car-sized sled powered by electromagnets rocketed to more than 100 miles (160 kph) an hour through the Nevada desert on Wednesday in what the Los Angeles company developing the technology said was the first successful test of a futurist transit system called hyperloop.

A breath test for malaria
ST. LOUIS, (Reuters) – Diagnosing malaria may soon be as easy taking a simple breath test, according to researchers.

SpaceX Dragon cargo ship heads back to Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – A SpaceX Dragon capsule headed back to Earth on Wednesday, filled with more than 3,700 pounds (1,678 kg) of experiment results and cargo from the International Space Station, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

Record 1,284 planets added to list of worlds beyond solar system
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Astronomers have discovered 1,284 more planets beyond our solar system, with nine possibly in orbits suitable for surface water that could bolster the prospects of supporting life, scientists said on Tuesday.

Ancient lava bubbles reveal conditions on primordial Earth
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tiny bubbles that formed inside volcanic rock 2.7 billion years ago are providing big insights into the conditions on primordial Earth.

Earthlings watch as tiny Mercury sails past the sun
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Tiny Mercury, the solar system’s innermost planet, sailed across the face of the sun on Monday, a celestial dance that occurs about once every decade as Earth and its smaller neighboring planet align in space.

Scientists peel back the carrot’s genetic secrets
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists have gotten to the root of the carrot, genetically speaking.    Researchers said on Monday they have sequenced the genome of the carrot, an increasingly important root crop worldwide, identifying genes responsible for traits including the vegetable’s abundance of vitamin A, an important nutrient for vision.    The genome may point to ways to improve carrots through breeding, including increasing their nutrients and making them more productive and more resistant

Mercury poised for rare ‘transit’ across sun’s face on Monday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Stargazers will have a rare opportunity on Monday to witness Mercury fly directly across the face of the sun, a sight that unfolds once every 10 years or so, as Earth and its smaller neighboring planet come into perfect alignment.

U.S. traders reject GMO crops that lack global approval
(Reuters) – Across the U.S. Farm Belt, top grain handlers have banned genetically modified crops that are not approved in all major overseas markets, shaking up a decades-old system that used the world’s biggest exporting country as a launchpad for new seeds from companies like Monsanto Co.

Nailed it: scientists describe weird ancient hammerhead reptile
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – It was a creature so outlandish that scientists say it reminds them of the fanciful beasts conjured up by Dr. Seuss. But would the famous children’s book author have thought up a marine reptile with a hammerhead snout it used to snack on algae?

SpaceX rocket launches satellite, then lands on ship at sea
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – An unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on Friday to put a communications satellite into orbit, then made a swift return landing on an ocean platform, a live webcast showed.

Primate fate: Chinese fossils illuminate key evolutionary period
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A treasure trove of fossils of six furry critters that inhabited the trees of southern China 34 million years ago is providing a deeper understanding of a pivotal moment in the evolution of primates, the group that eventually gave rise to people.

For first time, scientists grow two-week-old human embryos in lab
LONDON(Reuters) – Scientists have for the first time grown human embryos outside of the mother for almost two full weeks into development, giving unique insight into what they say is the most mysterious stage of early human life.

Scientists win $3 million for detecting Einstein’s waves
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Researchers who helped detect gravitational waves for the first time, confirming part of Albert Einstein’s theory in a landmark moment in scientific history, will share a $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize, according to the prize’s selection committee.

Newly discovered planets may boost search for life beyond Earth
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – The discovery of three planets that circle a small, dim star could bolster the chances of finding life beyond Earth, astronomers said on Monday.

Solar-powered plane departs California on round-the-world flight
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A solar-powered airplane midway through an attempt to circle the globe departed northern California on Monday on the next leg of its history-making journey, a relatively short 16-hour flight to Arizona, the project team said.

Second European-Russian mission to Mars delayed to 2020
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The second stage of a joint European-Russian mission to search for signs of life on Mars has been delayed from 2018 to 2020, the European Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos said on Monday.