According to a study from the Scientific Reports, the Otodus megalodon was the largest shark to swim in Earth’s oceans. Its body size was 15 meters (50 feet). (Phys.org) (Forbes)

Tasmanian devils are introduced to the Australian mainland for the first time in 3,000 years. (CBS News)

The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to Roger Penrose “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity,” and to Reinhard Genzel and Andrea M. Ghez “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.” (CBC)

Mars makes its closest approach to Earth since 2018. Mars will not be closer to Earth again until 2035. (Space.com)

The European Medicines Agency announces that they will launch a review for vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. (CNBC)

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna “for the development of a method for genome editing.” (ABC)

Multiple skeletons of Oksoko avarsan are discovered in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. (BBC)

Canadian Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announces that Canada will ban plastic bags, drinking straws, cutlery and other single-use items by the end of 2021. (CTV)

The European Union signs a deal with Johnson & Johnson to supply up to 400 million doses of its potential vaccine. (Reuters)

Boulders are discovered on the Bennu asteroid by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which is expected to collect samples from the asteroid’s surface later this month. (Space.com)

NASA announces that the SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the International Space Station would be delayed to mid-November. Furthermore, NASA calls for SpaceX to investigate the issue that caused a GPS Block III to abort two seconds before launching on October 2. (CBS News)

 

Sunday, Oct 11th, 2020

The United Kingdom is expected to test the BCG vaccine on frontline care workers to see if it’s effective against COVID-19. (Reuters)

Officials in Brooklyn and Queens announce that they have given 62 fines totalling $150,000 for violations of COVID-19 restrictions. (New York Daily News)

Florida’s Department of Health reports 5,570 additional COVID-19 cases, the highest number of reported cases in a single day since August. It comes a day after Florida did not report any new cases or deaths because officials were left combing through 400,000 test results a private lab resent Friday night. (Miami Herald)

Colorado Governor Jared Polis extends the statewide mask mandate for 30 days. (KKTV-TV)

India surpasses seven million COVID-19 cumulative cases, becoming the second country to reach that milestone after the United States. (AP via ABC News)

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun announces that South Korea will begin easing social distancing rules from Level 2 to Level 1 nationwide tomorrow, allowing limited audiences at sporting events and the reopening of nightly entertainment facilities, as long as they comply with anti-virus health protocols, as new cases have been edging lower in recent weeks. However, some restrictions will be kept in place in Seoul Capital Area and other high-risk facilities. (The Jakarta Post)

Russia registers 13,634 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative nationwide total to 1,298,718, the fourth highest in the world. This marks a new record of confirmed cases in a single day since the first cases were confirmed in January. (Times of India)

Riot police in Belarus use water cannons and grenades to break up mass protests against President Alexander Lukashenko. (BBC)

 

The End