News Flash (1st May 2020): Top 8 Stories Of The Day

1. Around 10 of the 115 COVID-19 vaccine candidates look promising: Bill Gates

Microsoft founder, Bill Gates has said that in the hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine candidates, about 8-10 are promising ones. Bill Gates is putting in millions of dollars through his organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Through the foundation, he has also raised funds of $250 million towards fighting the virus. He recently published a blog post explaining the entire process of developing and distributing vaccines. In this post he mentioned, “a COVID-19 vaccine is likely to take around 18 months to develop, alt though he writes in his blog it “could be as little as 9 months or as long as two years.” He further mentioned, “As of April 9, there are 115 different COVID-19 vaccine candidates in the development pipeline. I think that eight to ten of those look particularly promising.”

2. Prime Minister of Russia tests positive for Coronavirus

Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin was tested positive for Coronavirus on the same day Russia recorded  7,099 new coronavirus cases. He conveyed the same to President, Vladimir Putin. Mikhail Mishustin who had taken over the office of Prime Ministership in January was actively involved in handling the pandemic situation in the country. Post his test result, Mr. Mishustin has now asked the Deputy Prime Minister, Andrei Belousov to take over the duties and responsibilities while he now goes under self-isolation. The total number of coronavirus cases in Russia has crossed 100,000.

3. 1st Known swimming dinosaur discovered by scientists could outgrow a T-Rex

Researchers in Morrocco have recently discovered that the first evidence that proves that dinosaurs swam and lived underwater 100 million years ago. This discovery was made when they studying the skeletons of dinosaurs. The new type of skeleton of the “’Spinosaurus aegyptiacus’ had a fin-like tail which propelled it through the water while pursuing prey” said the researchers. They also added that this ‘river monster’ had the ability to grown 50 feet longer than an adult T-Rex specie (Tyrannosaurus rex). 

4. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, & Musk’s SpaceX to be used to develop Moon landers: NASA

NASA recently announced its decision to pick three private companies to build lunar landers for its upcoming moon landing missions. These three private companies are Blue Origin which is owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, SpaceX owned by Elon Musk, and Dynetics a company based in Huntsville, Alabama. These lunar landers will be used to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and return. The contract between NASA and Blue Origin is worth $579million, SpaceX’s $135million, and Dynetics’ $253million.

5. DD’s Ramayan world’s most-watched entertainment show with 7.7cr viewers

Doordarshan’s evergreen entertainment show ‘Ramayana’ directed by Ramanand Sagar has now become the world’s most-watched entertainment show by attracting 7.7 crore viewers on April 16. Doordarshan’s official twitter channel tweeted this information. The channel began re-telecasting this show during the lockdown period from March 28th for the purpose of providing entertainment to people in every corner of the country. It was originally telecasted back in the late 1980s. 

6. Greta Thunberg donates $100,000 to UNICEF amid pandemic

Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday donated  $100,000 to UNICEF which she won as a prize from a Danish foundation, for the use against the COVID-19. The UNICEF said that this generous donation of hers will give a boost to the efforts they are taking in ensuring the welfare of children across the world during COVID-19 times. The 17-year-old activist said, “Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis. “It will affect all children, now and in the long term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most. She has also urged people to “step up and join me in support of UNICEF’s vital work to save children’s lives, to protect health and continue education.”

7. Astronomers claim to have discovered Exoplanet, 3 times the mass of Jupiter

Astronomers at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy have claimed of discovering another exoplanet which is three times the mass of Jupiter. This exoplanet is named as named Kepler-88 d The scientists claim that this newly discovered planet takes four earth days to go around its star. An exoplanet is a planet that exists outside the Solar System. Since this newly discovered planet is three times the mass of Jupiter, it is the most massive planet in the Kepler system. In the previous years, astronomers have discovered other planets too in the Kepler system namely Kepler-88 b and c. 

8. Piece of Moon that fell on Earth up for sale at $2.49 million

A piece of moon in rock from that weighs 13.5 kg fell on Earth possibly due to the Moon’s surface colliding with an asteroid or comet, after which it fell on Earth. It fell straight into the Sahara and was found by an anonymous person. This rock is now put up from sale by a firm named Christie for $2.49 million. The firm is known for conducting premier auctions and private sales of the finest art, antiques and interiors, and more. This, however, isn’t the first time a meteorite has been found in the Sahara. There have been such similar incidents in the past as well.