SpaceX signs first customer for used Falcon rocket

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX has signed its first customer to use a previously flown rocket, with launch planned for later this year, the companies said on Tuesday.

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Scientists find Earth-like planet circling sun's nearest neighbor

(Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a planet that appears to be similar to Earth circling the star closest to the sun, potentially a major step in the quest to find out if life exists elsewhere in the universe, research published on Wednesday showed.

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Curious radio signal stirs talk of extraterrestrials

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A curious radio signal picked up by a Russian telescope is probably not a transmission from an extraterrestrial civilization, but astronomers in California are taking a second look anyway, the SETI Institute said on Tuesday.

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India government panel clears GM mustard but hurdles remain: sources

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A government panel has cleared commercial use of what would be India's first genetically modified (GM) food crop, but the political establishment will still have to give final approvals amid wide-spread public opposition to the technology.

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Scientists hope new test could help contain meningitis outbreaks

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A test has been developed that could help diagnose bacterial infections including meningitis in minutes, but it could take several years before a cheap testing device is available to developing countries, scientists said on Wednesday.

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What are the origins of life? There's a rocket for that

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA scientists are putting the finishing touches on a spacecraft designed to rendezvous with Asteroid Bennu in 2018 to find clues about the origins of life.

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China shows first images of Mars rover, aims for 2020 mission

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has showed off its first images of a rover it plans to sent to Mars in mid-2020, which is designed to explore the planet surface for three months, state media said, the latest aim of China's ambitious space program.

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Long-term study links neonicotinoids to wild bee declines

LONDON (Reuters) - Wild bees that forage from oilseed rape crops treated with insecticides known as neonicotinoids are more likely to undergo long-term population declines than bees that forage from other sources, according to the findings of an 18-year study.

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U.S. astronauts prepare station for commercial space taxis

(Reuters) - Two NASA astronauts left the International Space Station on Friday for a 6-1/2-hour spacewalk to install a parking spot for upcoming commercial space taxis, which will end U.S. reliance on Russia for rides to the orbiting outpost.

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Long in the tooth: the Greenland shark may live four centuries

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Greenland shark, a big and slow-moving deep-ocean predator that prowls the frigid waters of the Arctic and North Atlantic, can claim the distinction of being the planet's longest-living vertebrate, with a lifespan perhaps reaching about 400 years.

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China launches 'hack-proof' communications satellite

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday launched the world's first quantum satellite, which will help it establish "hack-proof" communications between space and the ground, state media said, the latest advance in an ambitious space program.

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Rare tarantulas hatch at British zoo

(Reuters) - A clutch of around 200 rare Montserrat tarantulas have successfully hatched at a British zoo in what keepers hailed on Friday as a first in breeding such spiders.

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Piltdown breakdown: new details about a famed scientific hoax

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers applying modern forensic techniques to a century-old puzzle have laid bare intriguing new details about one of the most notorious scientific hoaxes on record, the so-called Piltdown Man, and are confident in the culprit's identity.

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Paralysis partly reversed using brain-machine interface training

(Reuters) - Paraplegic patients recovered partial control and feeling in their limbs after training to use a variety of brain-machine interface technologies, according to new research published on Thursday in the journal "Scientific Reports."

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What3words keeps Olympics visitors on track in Rio

(Reuters) - An innovative addressing system that assigns every patch of earth in the world an easy to remember three-word address is being used to help visitors get around at the Olympics in Rio de Jeneiro. Some 500,000 foreigners are expected to pass through the city during the Games that run until August 21.

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Tethered drone could fly 'forever’

(Reuters) - An unmanned aircraft system (UAS) developed by engineers from the University of Southampton uses a powered tether to provide unlimited flight time for drones. The developers say it could offer a more cost-effective solution for aerial monitoring and surveillance than other options on the market.

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‘Flying Bum’ edges out of hangar before debut flight

(Reuters) - The Airlander 10, known in Britain as 'the flying bum' because of its unique structure, has slowly edged its way out of a hangar in central England ahead of its debut flight as a civilian aircraft.

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Thaw could release Cold War-era U.S. toxic waste buried under Greenland's ice

OSLO (Reuters) - Global warming could release radioactive waste stored in an abandoned Cold War-era U.S. military camp deep under Greenland's ice caps if a thaw continues to spread in coming decades, scientists said on Friday.

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Spiders and scorpions join fight against superbugs

(Reuters) - A British lab is searching for new medicines in the poisonous secretions of some of the world's deadliest creatures, addressing the increasingly desperate challenge of finding viable new drugs.

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Hear! Hear! Exquisite fossils preserve ear of prehistoric whale

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils unearthed in a South Carolina drainage ditch are providing insight into the development of ultrasonic hearing in prehistoric whales, a trait closely linked to their uncanny ability to hunt and navigate using sound waves and echoes.

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Private company wins U.S. clearance to fly to the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida-based company won U.S. government permission on Wednesday to send a robotic lander to the moon next year, the firm's founder said, marking the first time the United States has cleared a private space mission to fly beyond Earth’s orbit.

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Study finds cosmic rays increased heart risks among Apollo astronauts

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Apollo astronauts who ventured to the moon are at five times greater risk of dying from heart disease than shuttle astronauts, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, citing the dangers of cosmic radiation beyond the Earth's magnetic field.

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