SCIENCE

Valery Mitko, a renowned Russian polar scientist has died while being under house arrest on charges of treason.

Swedish scientist Svante Paabo has won this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine for his discoveries on human evolution, the award’s panel said Monday.

The beginning of October means Nobel Prize season.

Two space telescopes have captured this week's asteroid strike, the first planetary defense test of its kind.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has made the closest approach to Jupiter's tantalizing, icy moon Europa in more than 20 years.

Three Russian cosmonauts have returned safely from a mission to the International Space Station.

A scientist who built a global COVID-19 website received this year's Lasker award for public service.

Researchers in China have found a major catch of fish fossils, including the oldest teeth from any species.

A new government report says oil spills from tankers and pipelines in U.S. dropped dramatically from the last decade of the 1990s to the one from 2010 through 2019.

NASA's moon rocket is safely back inside its hangar as Hurricane Ian approaches Florida, its launch now unlikely before mid-November.

A NASA spacecraft has rammed an asteroid in an unprecedented test to see if a potentially menacing space rock could be knocked off course.

Hurricane Ian is prompting NASA to move its moon rocket off the launch pad and into shelter.

Pfizer is asking the Food and Drug Administration to expand use of its updated COVID-19 booster shot to children ages 5 to 11.

NASA is skipping next week's launch attempt of its new moon rocket because of a tropical storm that's expected to become a major hurricane.

While the coronavirus pandemic was not the main focus of the U.N. General Assembly, the conversations were still happening on the sidelines.

NASA's new moon rocket could face more launch delays, this time by tropical weather.

Young activists have staged a coordinated “global climate strike” to highlight their fears about the effects of global warming and demand more aid for poor countries hit by wild weather.

Two more whales have died in Australia after a handful that had been refloated a day earlier stranded themselves again.

Scientists are still trying to understand the effects of the Tongan volcano eruption earlier this year.

A NASA spacecraft is about to clobber a small, harmless asteroid millions of miles away.

Saudi Arabia plans to launch a training program with the goal of sending its own astronauts, including a woman, into space next year.

Wildlife experts have rescued 32 of 230 whales that were found stranded on the wild and remote west coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania.

A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake has struck Mexico, causing at least two deaths, damaging buildings and setting off landslides.

A flood in 2019 in an Indian state started eight-year-old Jerifa, her brother Raju, 12, and their parents on a journey that led the family from their Himalayan village to a poor neighborhood in Bengaluru.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates combined characteristic optimism with sobering questions about persistent gender inequality and hunger at an event the Gateses’ foundation convened on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

The International Space Station is welcoming three new residents following a smooth Russian launch.

NASA has released new glamour shots of Neptune, and the planet and its rings haven’t looked this good in decades.

NASA's new moon rocket sprouted more fuel leaks in a test ahead of a possible launch attempt next week.

A day after 230 whales were found stranded on the wild and remote west coast of Australia’s island state of Tasmania, only 35 are still alive despite rescue efforts that were to continue Thursday.

The parents of children killed when a school collapsed during Mexico’s 2017 earthquake were celebrating a Mass in their memory, And then the ground began to shake again, as people cried out: “No, not again.

A NASA lander on Mars has captured the vibrations and sounds of four meteoroids striking the planet's surface.

The United Arab Emirates will launch its first lunar rover in November.

Russia's space agency says Valery Polyakov, the Soviet cosmonaut who set the record for the longest single spaceflight, has died at age 80.

Two Chinese astronauts have completed a spacewalk from a new space station that is due to be completed later this year.

Seven decades after cheetahs died out in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released eight cats that were transported from Namibia to their new home: a national park in the heart of India.

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History says a prehistoric human skeleton found recently in a flooded cave system along the country’s Caribbean coast was actually discovered and registered by the institute in 2019 and will not be threatened by a nearby tourist train project.

The sex lives of constipated scorpions, cute ducklings with an innate sense of physics, and a life-size rubber moose may not appear to have much in common, but they all inspired the winners of this year’s Ig Nobels.

A new study says human-caused climate change juiced the rainfall that triggered Pakistan's floods by up to 50%.

A new online atlas of bird migration draws from an unprecedented number of scientific and community data sources to illustrate the routes of about 450 bird species in the Americas.

Philippine officials are warning of potential danger to aircraft and ships from debris from a new Chinese rocket launch that might fall in northern Philippine waters.

It’s not just rocket fuel propelling America’s first moonshot after a half-century lull.

A newly constructed University of Michigan facility that will be home to the most powerful laser in the United States is hosting its first experiment this week.

A cave-diving archaeologist on Mexico's Caribbean coast says another prehistoric human skeleton has been found in a cave system that was flooded as seas rose 8,000 years ago.

Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem.

Jeff Bezos' rocket company has suffered its first launch failure.

Three Americans are among winners of this year’s Balzan Prize.

Authorities in New Mexico found an alligator and large quantities of drugs, guns and money at two homes in Albuquerque last month, but they're still searching for a young tiger they think is being being illegally kept as a pet.

NASA is replacing leaky seals in its moon rocket at the pad in hopes of launching it on its first test flight by the end of this month.

Heavy rains are complicating earthquake recovery efforts in southwestern China, where the death toll from Monday's disaster has risen to 82.

A skeleton from 31,000 years ago may be the earliest evidence found of an amputation surgery in humans.

Newsy's Heath and Science correspondent Lindsey Theis looks into whether nutrition advice is helpful or confusing.

Intel stocks fell 10% Friday, a day after the company reported disappointing second-quarter earnings that missed on the top and bottom lines.

Polar Bears An adult female polar bear, left, and two 1-year-old cubs walk over snow-covered freshwater glacier ice in Southeast Greenland in March 2015. Elsewhere in the world, polar bears need at least 180 days, usually more, of sea ice for them to use as their hunting base. When there's no sea ice bears often don't eat for months. However, scientists aren't sure if they are thriving because they are smaller and have fewer cubs than other polar bear populations. This population of polar bears are on the southeast tip of the giant island, where there are no towns.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has urged Congress to pass the CHIPS for America Act in order to safeguard national security and the future of the economy.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger the extended timeline for the chip crunch is now due to a lack of manufacturing equipment.

Raimondo and hundreds of others had attended the Gridiron Club and Foundation dinner.

Semiconductor stocks rose on Thursday as investors regained their appetite for beaten-down stocks and bet on a U.S. economic recovery.

The senators argued that the Transportation Security Administration "was created in the wake of 9/11 to protect Americans from future horrific attacks, not to regulate human behavior onboard flights.”

Senate Broadband Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022, to examine expanding broadband access, focusing on the Department of Commerce broadband programs in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool) (Andrew Harnik)U.S. government officials said Monday that they reached an agreement to essentially lift the 25% tariff that former President Donald Trump imposed on imported Japanese steel. The deal with Japan would exclude the first 1.25 million metric tons of imported steel from the tax. The Biden administration has bluntly centered its policies on competing against China, which accounts for the majority of global steel production, according to the Belgium-based World Steel Association. Trump announced the steel tariffs in March 2018 on national security grounds, even though the taxes initially hit many U.S. allies.

Nini’s Deli previously under fire for the owners' proclaimed stance on social issues, now faces citations for allegedly violating Chicago’s vaccine mandate.

“We’re working like the dickens to make sure we get a deal done today so I’m hopeful,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Sunday during a nationally-televised interview.

The immune-compromised patient could benefit from Paxlovid. So might the unvaccinated. Here’s why there won’t be enough for everyone.

“We do the science and they do the suspects,” said Larry Langford, spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department, of the distinct roles both the police and fire departments play while investigating arson.

The Senate hearing lasted more than three hours and witnessnes and lawmakers weren't wearing masks.

Washington must enforce phase one trade deal with China, and will raise broader policy concerns with Beijing, USTR Katherine Tai is expected to say on Monday.

Sen. Roger Wicker tests positive for COVID-19 Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) listens to Gina Raimondo, nominee for Secretary of Commerce, during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in the Russell Senate Office Building on January 26, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images, File)WASHINGTON — Officials with Sen. Roger Wicker’s office said that the Mississippi Republican tested positive Thursday for COVID-19 after experiencing “mild symptoms” of the viral infection. Senator Roger Wicker: https://t.co/aYK4AYlMgP — Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) August 19, 2021The diagnosis is the latest known breakthrough case of COVID-19 in Congress. Earlier this month, fully vaccinated Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tested positive for the viral infection after experiencing “flu-like symptoms.” Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., who is also fully vaccinated, announced last month that he had tested positive for COVID-19. More than 209.5 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, resulting in 4.3 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins.

University of California San Francisco researchers have developed a method of translating signals from the brain to the vocal tract into words on a screen.

The NCAA Division I Council meets Tuesday and Wednesday and could act on an NIL proposal that has been stalled since January. "By July, all our athletes should be provided NIL opportunities regardless of the state they happen to live in," Emmert wrote in the memo. The NCAA has asked Congress for help in the form of a federal NIL law that would set uniform standards and preempt state laws. Emmert wrote that if NCAA rules changes are not in place by July, he will take action. We will provide more details next week as this approach is reviewed by the NCAA Board of Governors and the divisional governance bodies,” he wrote.

Merrick Garland said investigating the source of a massive leak of taxpayer information behind a ProPublica article will be one of his top priorities.

Hundreds of choirs have had to cancel rehearsals after the government said singing poses a health risk.

SAN ANTONIO — A 24-year-old Plant City woman was arrested Saturday after leading troopers on a high-speed chase in a stolen Cadillac, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. Rachael Stefancich was “nearly fully unclothed,” troopers say, and may have been driving for more than two hours when she was captured after a highway patrol cruiser pushed the stolen vehicle off State Road 52. It was ...

Researchers at the site of the catastrophic 1986 nuclear explosion in Ukraine have detected a spike of neutrons in an underground room at the power plant.

A vehicle mileage tax could be on the table in talks about how to finance the White House's expected multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure proposal, according to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "When you think about infrastructure, it's a classic example of the kind of investment that has a return on that investment," he said. This is a jobs vision as much as it is an infrastructure vision, a climate vision and more." "A so-called vehicle-miles-traveled tax or mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be a way to do it," he said. Democrats have slowly pivoted away from a gasoline tax in favor of a mileage tax amid a simultaneous, climate friendly effort to encourage consumers to drive electric cars.

Pete Buttigieg speaks at the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation nomination hearings to examine his expected nomination to be Secretary of Transportation in Washington. The U.S. Senate on Tuesday confirmed Pete Buttigieg as Transportation secretary, handing the former presidential candidate a wide array of challenges — from President Joe Biden's environmental priorities to the Covid-19 pandemic. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, last week easily won approval from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, following a largely friendly hearing. In its first two weeks, the Biden administration has already taken a hard line on transportation measures that aim to curb the spread of Covid-19. On Tuesday, the U.S. government started requiring passengers to wear masks on airplanes, trains, buses, ferries and other forms of transportation.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday that banning President Donald Trump was the "right decision for Twitter," but admitted that the internet shouldn't be controlled by a handful of private companies. He wrote that if a company like Twitter makes a decision that people don't like, they can go elsewhere, creating an inherent check on its power. "This concept was challenged last week when a number of foundational internet tool providers also decided not to host what they found dangerous," Dorsey wrote. Dorsey said the inconsistent policies and lack of transparency undermine the efforts to create an open internet. "The reason I have so much passion for #Bitcoin is largely because of the model it demonstrates: a foundational internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity," Dorsey wrote.

China has successfully launched a pair of satellites into space to learn more about gravitational waves , or echoes in space-time from huge mergers or cosmic events. China has successfully launched a pair of satellites into space to learn more about gravitational waves, or echoes in space-time from huge mergers or cosmic events. (Image credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images)From their orbits, the satellites will monitor the entire sky for events that generate gravitational waves , which could include cosmic confluences such as neutron stars merging or black holes coming together, Science said. The new mission launched on a Long March 11 rocket developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., and the launch was the 355th mission of the Long March series, Chinese state sources said. The moon mission was performed by the China National Space Administration, while the new gravitational waves mission is under the science-focused National Space Science Center.

Gianni De Zuccato a well-preserved colorful mosaic floor of an ancient Roman villa archaeologists have revealed among vineyards near the northern city of Verona, Italy. (Soprintendenza ABAP Verona via AP)SOAVE Archaeologists have briefly revealed a well-preserved mosaic floor of an ancient Roman villa first discovered almost a century ago near the northern Italian city of Verona. The recent discovery of two nearby mosaic floors confirmed the villa extended north and south of the original site. The unearthed mosaic from the villa's servants' quarters dates from the 3rd century and has since been covered back up. The city said archaeological officials would decide with landowners and Negrar officials the best way to make the site accessible to the public.

The Falcon 9, with the Crew Dragon spacecraft on top of the rocket, is scheduled to liftoff from Launch Pad 39-A Saturday. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. SpaceX pressed ahead with its second attempt to launch astronauts for NASA a historic first for a private company but more stormy weather threatened more delays. Elon Musks company came within 17 minutes Wednesday of launching a pair of NASA astronauts for the first time in nearly a decade from the U.S., before the threat of lightning forced a delay. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said managers were debating whether to bump the next launch attempt from Saturday to Sunday to take advantage of a slightly improved forecast at Kennedy Space Center. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex reopened Thursday, after a 2 1/2-month shutdown, and within a few hours, all 4,000 tickets were snapped up for Saturdays launch attempt.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A SpaceX rocket is ready to boost two NASA astronauts into orbit Wednesday, the first launch of Americans from the U.S. in nearly a decade. Riding aboard the brand new SpaceX Dragon capsule for the historic flight: veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. SpaceX is controlling the vehicle, theres no fluff about that, said Norm Knight, a NASA flight operations manager. The last time astronauts launched from Florida was on NASAs final space shuttle flight in July 2011. Development of SpaceXs Dragon and Boeings Starliner capsules took longer than expected, however, and the U.S. has been paying Russia to launch NASA astronauts in the interim.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASA is rolling out the International Space Stations red carpet for Tom Cruise to make a movie in orbit. Bridenstine said hell leaving it to Cruise and SpaceX to provide the mission details. I will tell you this: NASA has been in talks with Tom Cruise and, of course, his team, and we will do everything we can to make it a successful mission, including opening up the International Space Station," he told The Associated Press. Asked about Cruise filming on the space station, Musk told CBS This Morning, Actually, I think that remains to be seen. The question is, Can Tom Cruise make a new movie that inspires the next generation Elon Musk. And if he can do that, then were all for it.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON President Donald Trump is hoping the first launch of American astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly a decade will give the nations spirit a boost after months of battling the coronavirus. Its the latest visit to an important 2020 battleground state as the president emerges from his White House bubble and expands his travel itinerary. Trump is encouraging states to loosen restrictions on economic activity put into place to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A Quinnipiac University poll last month found older Florida voters divided on Trumps handling of the coronavirus outbreak, with 47% saying they approved and 50% disapproving. Vice President Mike Pence got to Florida ahead of Trump and was to meet with the astronauts families and NASA officials before the launch.

The two astronauts are set to travel on the SpaceX test flight to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)TITUSVILLE, Fla. For the spectators gathered along the Space Coast on Wednesday for an astronaut launch, the rumbling thunder and darkening clouds were more worrisome than any pandemic. They turned out to watch the first launch with astronauts from Florida in almost a decade, and the first by a private company, SpaceX. About half of the spectators at the Titusville park wore masks as encouraged by health officials to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. I wanted them to see the flip side and get to see the next era of space travel," said Gatz, who lives about an hour away in Deltona.

DENVER Nearly two dozen states and several cities on Wednesday filed a legal challenge to the Trump administrations rollback of Obama-era mileage standards, saying science backed up the old regulations developed with the help of the nation's car makers. The new mileage standards require automakers to achieve 1.5% annual increases in fuel efficiency. The Obama-era standards called for 5% annual increases and were seen as the government's most forceful initiative against climate-changing fossil fuel emissions. The states and cities claim the rule violates the Clean Air Act, the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. Opponents claim dirtier air from the rollback will kill and injure more people than the rollback claims to save in roadway accidents.

Blood clots that can cause strokes, heart attacks and dangerous blockages in the legs and lungs are increasingly being found in COVID-19 patients, including some children. Some hospitals have found 40% of deaths in COVID-19 patients are from blood clots. Spyropoulos said thats been true at his 23-hospital system in the New York City area, Northwell Health, which has treated over 11,000 COVID-19 patients. Some COVID-19 patients, like Gildersleeve, develop dangerous clots when their infections seem to have subsided, Spyropoulos said. Concerns about blood clots in COVID-19 patients prompted a recent 30-page consensus statement from an international group of physicians and researchers.

A Virgin Orbit Boeing 747-400 aircraft named Cosmic Girl takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles Monday, May 25, 2020. Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit failed Monday in its first test launch of a new rocket carried aloft by the Boeing 747 and released over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. (AP Photo/Matt Hartman)LOS ANGELES Virgin Orbit engineers were analyzing data Tuesday to find out what caused the maiden flight of its air-launched satellite booster to fail. Virgin Orbit, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, is among several new companies developing rockets specifically for launching small satellites. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hart said in a statement there was a treasure trove of data from flight instruments.

Veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken were set to make history Wednesday afternoon, riding SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule to the International Space Station on a test flight. On the eve of the launch, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said from Kennedy Space Center that both the space agency and SpaceX have been diligent about making sure everyone in the launch loop knows they're free to halt the countdown if there's a concern. SpaceX has been launching cargo capsules to the space station since 2012. NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing in 2014 to transport astronauts to the space station, after commercial cargo shipments had taken off. Development of SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's Starliner capsules took longer than expected, however, and the U.S. has been paying Russia to launch NASA astronauts in the interim.

CANBERRA A U.S. biotechnology company began injecting a coronavirus vaccine candidate into people in Australia on Tuesday with hopes of releasing a proven vaccine this year. About a dozen experimental vaccines against the coronavirus are in early stages of testing or poised to start, mostly in China, the U.S. and Europe. Still other vaccine candidates are more old-fashioned, made with dead, whole virus. Novavax used genetic engineering to grow harmless copies of the coronavirus spike protein in giant vats of insect cells in a laboratory. The way we make a vaccine is we never touch the virus, Novavax told The Associated Press last month.

Starting with the dream of growing a rose on Mars, Musks vision morphed into a shake-up of the old space industry, and a fleet of new private rockets. But for Musks company, SpaceX, its also the latest milestone in a wild ride that began with epic failures and the threat of bankruptcy. There are many space companies and like all of them, SpaceX is designed for profit. The idea of bigger roles for private companies has been around for more than 50 years, but the market and technology werent yet right. A 2005 pilot project helped private companies develop ships to bring cargo to the station.

(Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP)STERLING, Va. President Donald Trump plans to be on the Florida coast Wednesday to watch American astronauts blast into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center for the first time in nearly a decade. It will be the first time since the space shuttle program ended in 2011 that U.S. astronauts will launch into space aboard an American rocket from American soil. Elon Musks SpaceX is the conductor and NASA the customer as businesses begin chauffeuring astronauts to the International Space Station. The NASA/SpaceX Commercial Crew flight test launch will carry NASAs newest test pilots, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Vice President Mike Pence, who is chairman of the National Space Council, also plans to attend Wednesday's launch.

In ordinary times, the beaches and roads along Floridas Space Coast would be packed with hundreds of thousands of spectators, eager to witness the first astronaut launch from Florida in nine years, scheduled for May 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)ORLANDO, Fla. In ordinary times, the beaches and roads along Floridas Space Coast would be packed with hundreds of thousands of spectators, eager to witness the first astronaut launch from Florida in nine years. Earlier this month, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine asked potential spectators to watch the launch online or on TV from home. NASA astronauts have not launched from the U.S. since the space shuttle program ended in 2011. Although crowd sizes varied, a high-profile space shuttle launch could attract a half million visitors to the Space Coast.

In this Tuesday, May 19, 2020, photo, health investigator Mackenzie Bray sits in her office at the Salt Lake County Health Department in Salt Lake City. Bray normally works to track contacts for people with sexually transmitted diseases, but she was re-assigned during the coronavirus pandemic. She is now one of 130 people at this county health department assigned to track down COVID-19 cases in Utah's urban center around Salt Lake City. She is now one of 130 people at the Salt Lake County health department assigned to track coronavirus cases in the Salt Lake City area. Its normal to talk to like your doctor, but you dont ever expect the health department to call you and be like, You were exposed to a serious disease, said Anissa Archuleta.

Elon Musk's SpaceX is the conductor and NASA the customer as businesses begin chauffeuring astronauts to the International Space Station. The drama unfolds from the exact spot where men flew to the moon and the last space shuttle soared from Kennedy Space Center. NASAs newest test pilots, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, are launching from home turf with SpaceX presiding over the countdown. Plagued with software problems, Boeings Starliner capsule is still a year from launching with Ferguson and two NASA astronauts. In terms of launch power, the relatively small Falcon 9 has far less than the space shuttle did, another layer of safety.

Published: May 19, 2020, 3:34 am Updated: May 19, 2020, 11:56 amSun sets behind a patterned cloud formed over the city in Kolkata, West Bengal state, India, Monday, May 18, 2020. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)NEW DELHI A powerful cyclone was moving toward India and Bangladesh on Tuesday as authorities tried to evacuate millions of people while maintaining social distancing. The cyclone had winds of 220-230 kilometers per hour (136-142 miles per hour) and is forecast to weaken before it makes landfall around Indias West Bengal state and Bangladesh. Videos and photos from India and Bangladesh showed families near the coast or in other flood-prone areas being evacuated to cyclone shelters. Authorities in Bangladesh warned that the cyclone could flood vast swaths of southwestern and southern areas.

The world cut its daily carbon dioxide emissions by 17% at the peak of the pandemic shutdown last month, a new study found. The world cut its daily carbon dioxide emissions by 17% at the peak of the pandemic shutdown last month, a new study found. For a week in April, the United States cut its carbon dioxide levels by about one-third. The study was carried out by Global Carbon Project, a consortium of international scientists that produces the authoritative annual estimate of carbon dioxide emissions. By contrast, the study found that drastic reductions in air travel only accounted for 10% of the overall pollution drop.

(Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)WELLINGTON Public health officials in some states are accused of bungling coronavirus infection statistics or even using a little sleight of hand to deliberately make things look better than they are. Public health experts say that can make for impressive-looking testing totals but does not give a true picture of how the virus is spreading. Still, health officials in Virginia, where Democratic Gov. In Texas, where health officials said last week that they were including some antibody results in their testing totals and case counts, Republican Gov. Health officials did not respond to requests for clarification.

FILE - In this May 18, 1980, file photo, Mount St. Helens sends a plume of ash, smoke and debris skyward as it erupts. May 18, 2020, is the 40th anniversary of the eruption that killed more than 50 people and blasted more than 1,300 feet off the mountain's peak. (AP Photo/Jack Smith, File)COUGAR, Wash. The coronavirus outbreak disrupted what had been big plans to mark the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. And Mount St. Helens may not be done yet. The first of a series of small explosions on Oct. 1 shot volcanic ash and gases into the air.

The U.S. militarys mystery space plane rocketed into orbit again Sunday, May 17 this time with an extra load of science experiments. Its the sixth flight of an X-37B, a solar-powered plane that's flown by remote control without a crew. (Boeing/USSF via AP)CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The U.S. militarys mystery space plane rocketed into orbit again Sunday, this time with an extra load of science experiments. Its the sixth flight of an X-37B, a solar-powered plane that's flown by remote control without a crew. Delayed a day by bad weather, this marked just the second rocket launch for the newly established Space Force.

China sent scientists to climb Mount Everest while the world's highest peak is empty of commercial climbers because of the coronavirus pandemic. (Purbu Zhaxi/Xinhua via AP)BEIJING A Chinese government-backed team plans to summit Mount Everest this week at a time when the world's tallest peak has been closed to commercial climbers. Chinas network of Beidou satellites, a rival to Americas Global Positioning System, is being used to survey the mountains current height and natural resources. China has also taken advantage of the lack of climbers to collect garbage from Everest and other popular climbing peaks. Last year, too many climbers formed long lines at the summit and some died from lack of oxygen.

FILE - In this Saturday, May 2, 2020 file photo community volunteer checks for appointments and directs cars lining up for coronavirus tests in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles. The city of Los Angeles is providing free coronavirus tests to anyone who wants one regardless of whether they have symptoms. Los Angeles has 75,000 tests available each week to use mainly at eight drive-thru sites open six days a week, though it also tests at homeless shelters, nursing homes and recreation centers. Its hard to mess up spitting into a tube really, or swiping the inside of your mouth.The day after Garcetti made his announcement, testing tripled to nearly 10,000 in Los Angeles, he said. In the first nine days after everybody was offered a test, sites averaged 8,900 tests a day, Garcetti's office said.

A new study published in Science magazine asks how self-driving cars should act. More than 75 percent of participants in one survey favor cars that would sacrifice one passenger rather than kill 10 pedestrians. But overall, the study found people prefer to ride in a driverless car that protects passengers at all costs. CBS News contributor Nicholas Thompson, editor of NewYorker.com, joins "CBS This Morning" to explain the study's findings and why it is challenging to program ethics into machines.