Sci-tech
Roche inks US$1.15b licensing deal for Sarepta gene therapy
Roche will make an upfront payment of $750 million in cash and take a $400 million stake in Sarepta, priced at $158.59 per share, a premium of about 26% to the USA drugmaker's closing price on Friday. This collaboration will not only increase the speed with which SRP-9001 could benefit DMD patients outside the United States, but will also greatly expand the scope of territories within which we ... [Full Article...]
NASA Warns Asteroid With Earth-Crossing Orbit Arriving On Christmas
At the lower end of NASA's estimate, the rock is taller than the leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. The space boffins said: "NASA knows of no asteroid or comet now on a collision course with Earth, so the probability of a major collision is quite small". [Full Article...]
Discovery of six alien exoplanets could help reveal secrets of Earth's geology
However, at just 66 lightyears away and with a star bright enough, scientists from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) state GJ 1252 b is the ideal candidate to study using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) - which looks for planets outside the solar system. [Full Article...]
Scientists Break Record by Freezing LEGO Pieces to Near Absolute Zero
Just imagine what physicists can make out of these connecting bricks? "It turns out that LEGO is an incredibly good insulator at low temperatures, particularly for its strength...this could be incredibly useful for scientists who are trying to build the next generation of dilution refrigerators", Joshua Chawner, team member and Ph.D Student, explains in the clip. [Full Article...]
Boeing's Starliner Lands Safely Back To Earth After Aborted Space Station Mission
It, however, did not go without a hitch. Also returning were holiday presents, clothes and food that should have been delivered to the space station crew. When the spacecraft separated from the Atlas 5 rocket that lifted it to space, an incorrect clock, off by 11 hours , caused it to start firing its thrusters and try to get into the position and orientation where it thought it should be. [Full Article...]
This 'Mandalorian' Star Blasted 'Rise Of Skywalker' Calling It A 'Failure'
WRONG", Cannavale wrote on Instagram Stories (via Fox News ). An absolute [expletive] failure. When asked by Vanity Fair 's Anthony Breznican if fans aren't getting something from the final film in the franchise, the director replied "No, I would say that they're right", adding "The people who love it more than anything are also right". [Full Article...]
'Super-puffy' planets add cotton candy flavor to search for alien worlds
These three young planets, seen orbiting a star around 2,600 light-years away, are nearly the size of Jupiter, but have less than one percent of its mass. "It's Titan in a nutshell". The researchers estimate that lightweight gases like hydrogen and helium are responsible for the puffy worlds. Our best hope of learning more about these super-puffs is NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telesco... [Full Article...]
Astronaut Jessica Meir celebrates Hanukkah from, where else, space CNN
In her account, Jessica Meir uploads the picture and wishes everyone a Happy Hanukkah on Earth. And she did follow the tradition of placing the menorah close to the window, since behind her feet, the earth is visible thousands of kilometers away. [Full Article...]