Last Thursday, Time magazine announced that 15-year-old scientist Gitanjali Rao was its Kid of the Year for 2020. Gitanjali was chosen from over 5,000 young leaders for her scientific work and for inspiring others to also create change.
Published in “Technology”
In today's news roundup, Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe returns asteroid samples to Earth, China's Chang'e-5 moon mission is on its way back with lunar samples, and a series of metal monoliths have appeared and disappeared around the world.
A research lab called DeepMind has created an artificial intelligence program which has largely solved a complicated puzzle that has challenged scientists for 50 years. The success could lead to huge advances in health care.
A group of second-year college students have discovered hidden writing on a page from a book from the 1500s. The students found the hidden writing using a special camera system they built.
A group of researchers in Europe have announced a 3-year project to collect information about the important smells of Europe, from the 1500s to the 1900s. One part of the project will be recreating the smells of long ago.
In today's news roundup, Central America struggles to recover from two strong late-season hurricanes, violence rocks Uganda following the arrest of a candidate for president, and the famous Arecibo Observatory will be shut down because of damage.
On Sunday, the rocket company SpaceX launched four astronauts to the International Space Station. It's NASA's first full flight with a private American space company, and marks a big change in the way that space travel will happen in the future.
Among the more unusual news stories recently…a 110-year-old carrier pigeon message is found in France, a Japanese village uses robot wolves to scare off bears, and an unusual bright yellow turtle is found in India.
The drug companies Pfizer and BioNTech say the coronavirus vaccine they're developing seems to be 90% successful at preventing people from getting Covid-19. The results aren't final, but the news is much better than many experts expected.
On Sunday, a company called Virgin Hyperloop held the first human test of a hyperloop system - a technology which some people believe will change transportation. In the test, a car carrying two people traveled at high speed through a special tube.
Among the more unusual news stories recently…a sculpture of a whale's tail keeps a train from crashing to the ground, an AI camera system tracks a bald referee instead of the soccer ball, and a doctor in India buys "Aladdin's Lamp".