High and low

First woman to walk in space travels to ocean’s deepest point. Yes, Katy Sullivan, the first woman to walk in space, travels to Challenger Point, the ocean’s deepest depth.

Kathy Sullivan, 68, an astronaut and oceanographer, is the first person to both walk in space and to descend to the deepest point in the ocean.

With her diving partner, they were even able to coordinate a call with the International Space Station. Dr Sullivan and Victor L. Vescovo, an explorer funding the mission, spent about an hour and a half at their destination, nearly seven miles down in a muddy depression in the Mariana Trench, which is about 200 miles southwest of Guam.

Sullivan became an astronaut in 1979, made history in 1984 as the first US woman to walk in space.

First drug to treat peanut allergies is FDA-approved

For everyone who has a peanut allergy, this news may help your health tremendously. On January 31, 2020, the FDA approved the first drug to treat peanut allergies due to accidental exposure. The drug is called Palforiza and may be administered to individuals who are four-years old or older.

Largest electric aircraft

On May 28, 2020, the world’s largest all-electric commercial aircraft made its first successful flight. This marks a milestone in the world because it brings us closer to using clean-air aviation. There is still more work to be done, but before we know it, we may all be travelling in all-electric planes.

Kangaroos can learn to communicate

Kangaroos can learn to communicate with humans similar to how domesticated dogs do, by using their gaze to “point” and ask for help, researchers said in a study.

The study involved 11 kangaroos that lived in captivity, but had not been domesticated. Ten of the 11 marsupials intently gazed at researchers when they were unable to open a box with food, nine alternately looked at the human and at the container, as a way of pointing or gesturing toward the object.

“We interpreted this as a deliberate form of communication, a request for help,” Alan McElligott, the Irish researcher who led the study, told Reuters.

The findings challenge the notion that only domesticated animals such as dogs, horses or goats communicate with humans, and suggests many more animals could grasp how to convey meaning to humans, the paper asserts.

Published in Dawn, Young World, January 2nd, 2021