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Science
Jun 11, 2026 · 03:30 GMT
NASA's chief is defending the all-male crew picked for the Artemis 3 Moon landing, saying the choice reflects experience and readiness. Critics note that Artemis — named after the Greek goddess — was long sold as the mission to land 'the first woman and first person of color' on the Moon, and say an all-male crew breaks that pledge.
NASA's administrator defends the Artemis 3 crew selection as based on astronauts' experience and readiness for a demanding, high-stakes mission — not on optics or quotas — arguing the agency picked the people best prepared to fly.
The Hill ↗ Phys.org / AFP ↗Critics point out that the Artemis programme — named after the goddess of the Moon — was repeatedly billed as the mission to land 'the first woman and first person of color' on the lunar surface; an all-male crew, they say, quietly abandons that high-profile promise.
Phys.org / AFP ↗ The Hill ↗
The Ebola outbreak is now spreading at an 'unprecedented' pace, the Africa CDC says, with the virus crossing from DR Congo into Uganda — the WHO chief has flown in and the EU pledged €5 million. The response leans on vaccines and emergency funds, but a burned treatment centre and clashes with responders show that trust and community engagement matter as much as any vaccine.
When the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS swept through our solar system, Harvard's Avi Loeb flagged 'anomalies' he said could hint at alien technology. Most astronomers said it was simply an unusual comet.
Most physicists invoke invisible 'dark matter' to explain how galaxies move; a minority argue our laws of gravity need modifying (MOND) instead. Decades on, neither side has landed a knockout blow.
Years on, the origin of SARS-CoV-2 is still contested: most scientists favour a natural jump from animals at a Wuhan market, while others — and some US agencies — suspect a leak from a Wuhan lab.