WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A prehistoric 15-foot-long (4.5 meters) whale that sucked prey into its mouth represents a key missing puzzle piece concerning the evolution of today’s huge filter-feeding whales, scientists said on Thursday. An illustration showing an artistic reconstruction of a mother and calf of Maiabalaena nesbittae nursing offshore of Oregon during the Oligocene, close

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The Chinese government on Thursday ordered a temporary halt to research activities for people involve in the editing human genes, after a Chinese scientist said he had edited the genes of twin babies. Scientist He Jiankui attends the International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the University of Hong Kong in Hong

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Researchers in Singapore are seeking a patent for a new sound-proof and heat-resistant material made from recycled plastic bottles they say could help reduce plastic waste dumped in oceans and clogging landfills. FILE PHOTO: An NUS researcher shows an Aerogel pellet at NUS’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in Singapore November 23, 2018.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The organizers of a conference where a Chinese scientist claimed to have edited the genes of twin babies condemned the work on Thursday, calling it “deeply disturbing” and “irresponsible”. Scientist He Jiankui attends the International Summit on Human Genome Editing at the University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China November 28,

Amazon.com Inc’s autonomous toy car, The AWS DeepRacer, one-eighteenth the size of a real race car, aimed at helping web developers try some some of their own self-driving technology, is shown in this handout photo provided November 28, 2018. REUTERS/Amazon.com/Handout via REUTERS LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – Self-driving cars, meet Amazon’s self-driving toys. Amazon.com Inc’s cloud

LONDON (Reuters) – Furhat tilts his or her head, smiles, exudes empathy and warmth, and encourages us to open up. The robot, a three-dimensional bust with a projection of a human-like face, aims to build on our new-found ease talking to voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, by persuading us to interact with it as

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Chinese scientist at the center of an ethical storm over what he claims are the world’s first genetically edited babies said on Wednesday he is proud of his work and revealed there was a second “potential” pregnancy as part of the research. He Jiankui, an associate professor at Southern University

HONG KONG (Reuters) – A Chinese scientist at the center of a controversy over what he claims are the world’s first genetically edited children said on Wednesday he is proud of his work and revealed that another volunteer is pregnant as part of the research. Scientist He Jiankui attends the International Summit on Human Genome

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese officials and scientists denounced on Tuesday the claims of a geneticist who said he had created the first gene-edited babies, and a hospital linked to his research suggested its ethical approval had been forged. Scientist He Jiankui shows “The Human Genome”, a book he edited, at his company Direct Genomics in

PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) – NASA’s InSight spacecraft, the first robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of a distant world, touched down safely on the surface of Mars on Monday with instruments to detect planetary seismic rumblings never measured anywhere but Earth. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Los Angeles burst into

PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) – NASA’s Mars lander InSight touched down safely on the surface of the Red Planet on Monday to begin its two-year mission as the first spacecraft designed to explore the deep interior of another world. The mission control team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) react on a video screen as the

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – NASA’s first robotic lander designed to study the deep interior of a distant world hurtled closer to Mars on course for a planned touchdown on Monday after a six-month voyage through space. FILE PHOTO: NASA’s InSight spacecraft, destined for the Elysium Planitia region located in Mars’ northern hemisphere, undergoes final preparations

LONDON (Reuters) – Spraying sun-dimming chemicals high above the Earth to slow global warming could be “remarkably inexpensive”, costing about $2.25 billion a year over a 15-year period, according to a study by U.S. scientists. FILE PHOTO: Sun rays shine through trees in a forest on an autumn morning near Biere, Switzerland, September 26, 2018.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some 115 years after the first powered flight, scientists have developed a radical new approach toward flying in the form of a small, lightweight and virtually noiseless airplane that gets airborne with no moving parts like propellers or turbine blades. An experimental aircraft created by engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

A flag with a company logo is seen during satellite launch company Arianespace annual news conference in Paris, France, January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann RABAT (Reuters) – Arianespace on Wednesday launched a rocket from French Guiana carrying Morocco’s second earth observation satellite, the European launch company said. The satellite, named Mohammed VI-B, was developed by

FILE PHOTO: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk talks to his workforce as he announces the world’s first private passenger scheduled to fly around the Moon aboard SpaceX’s BFR launch vehicle, at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California, U.S. September 17, 2018. REUTERS/Gene Blevins/File Photo (Reuters) – U.S. space agency NASA said on Tuesday it would review

PARIS (Reuters) – It may not change how you buy bananas, but scientists have voted to redefine the value of a kilogram, in what they called a landmark decision that will boost the accuracy of scientific measurements. A replica of the International Prototype Kilogram is pictured is seen at the 26th meeting of the General

OTSU, Japan (Reuters) – Super-realistic face masks made by a tiny company in rural Japan are in demand from the domestic tech and entertainment industries and from countries as far away as Saudi Arabia. REAL-f Co. President Osamu Kitagawa holds a super-realistic face mask at his factory in Otsu, western Japan, November 15, 2018. REUTERS/Kwiyeon

Crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) next mission David Saint-Jacques (C) of Canada, Oleg Kononenko (R) of Russia and Anne McClain of the U.S. attend a news conference in Star City near Moscow, Russia November 15, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov MOSCOW (Reuters) – A U.S. astronaut said on Thursday she had full confidence in

An artistic impression of a sunset from Barnard’s star on a newly detected planet dubbed “Super Earth,” in this handout photo provided November 14, 2018. European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser/Handout via REUTERS WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A frozen and dimly lit planet, dubbed a “Super-Earth,” may be orbiting the closest single star to our solar system, astronomers

(Reuters) – The American astronaut who will hitch the first ride on a Russian rocket since last month’s aborted launch and dramatic emergency landing is confident that her scheduled trip in December on a rocket that she calls a “workhorse” will go smoothly. Astronaut Anne McClain (L) is seen during training at the Neutral Buoyancy

LONDON, (Reuters) – After years of nursing a sometimes dusty cylinder of metal in a vault outside Paris as the global reference for modern mass, scientists are updating the definition of the kilogram. FILE PHOTO: A trader weighs gold nuggets at an illegal mine-pit in Walungu territory of South-Kivu province near Bukavu, Democratic Republic of

FILE PHOTO: Fine-art handler Tom Richardson poses with a motorised wheelchair belonging to British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking ahead of an auction of items from Hawkings’ personal estate at Christie’s in London, Britain October 30, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) – A motorized wheelchair used by the late British physicist Stephen Hawking sold at

LONDON, (Reuters) – Scientists in Britain expressed concern on Thursday after at least 17 delegates from Africa and Asia wanting to attend a health conference in London were denied visas. Ebola virus discoverer Peter Piot addresses a news conference at the United Nations after an informal consultation at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva

FILE PHOTO: General view of the centre stage of Web Summit, Europe’s biggest tech conference, in Lisbon, Portugal, November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes/File Photo LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal plans to build an international launch pad for small satellites in the Azores and has agreed with China to set up a joint research center to make

BEIJING (Reuters) – U.S. billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates unveiled on Tuesday in Beijing a futuristic toilet that doesn’t need water or sewers and uses chemicals to turn human waste into fertilizer. Microsoft founder Bill Gates speaks during an interview at the fringes of the Reinvented Toilet Expo showcasing sewerless sanitation technology in Beijing, China November

LONDON (Reuters) – The largest study to date of the genetic makeup of parasitic worms has found hundreds of new clues about how they invade the human body, evade its immune system and cause disease. FILE PHOTO: A giant 25m worm representing the parasitic worm of schistosomiasis, that causes significant suffering and death to thousands

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South African researchers say they have made bricks using human urine in a natural process involving colonies of bacteria, which could one day help reduce global warming emissions by finding a productive use for the ultimate waste product. Researchers Dr Dyllon Randall, Suzanne Lambert and Vukheta Mukhari stand with a bio-brick

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some dinosaurs laid colored, speckled and spotted eggs boasting exquisite hues of blue and brown, scientists said on Thursday, in a discovery that scrambles the notion that such exceptional traits originated with birds. An illustration of a hatching Deinonychus chick from a blue egg with brown spots is pictured in this handout

The Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying a military spacecraft takes off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk region, Russia October 25, 2018. Russian Defence Ministry Press Service/Handout via REUTERS MOSCOW (Reuters) – The launch failure last month of a manned mission to space was caused by a faulty sensor that was damaged during the Soyuz rocket’s