Former Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) was unanimously confirmed by Senate on Thursday to serve as head of NASA.
The big picture: As NASA administrator, Nelson will lead the agency as it works to send astronauts back to the Moon, which would pave the way for an eventual Mars mission.
Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin teased the start of ticket sales for its New Shepard rocket on Thursday.
Driving the news: In a video, Jeff Bezos wears a cowboy hat (channeling Kimbal Musk) and drives a Rivian, an electric truck contracted by Amazon, to a New Shepard test flight landing site.
A renewed interestin using psychedelic drugs to help treat psychiatric disorders is fueling a search for compounds that have similar effects but don't produce hallucinations.
The big picture: There is a tremendous need for new tools to help people with themental and substance use disorders that are a leading cause of disability globally.
The White House announced the U.S. is sending more than $100 million worth of supplies to India — which set new records for COVID-19 cases and deaths in a single day on Thursday.
Driving the news: Coronavirus cases are surging in India amid a widespread oxygen shortage and slow vaccine rollout. The country's pandemic death toll surpassed 200,000 on Wednesday, amid reports that COVID fatalities and cases are going uncounted.
Officials in China launched the core element of a new permanent space station into orbit on a Long March-5B Y2 rocket from Wenchang in Hainan Province, Thursday, per the BBC.
Why it matters: The launch from Wenchang Space Launch Center marks a significant step in the space program drive of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, seen as a rival to the U.S. in space.
Fifteen people this week emerged from living in total isolation in a cave in France for 40 days as part of an experiment in "Deep Time."
Why it matters: Without smartphones and clocks the participants were forced to simply be with themselves. In doing so, they provided an object lesson for how artificially regulated our modern lives have become.
The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 94% effective in preventing hospitalization for COVID-19 among adults 65 years and older, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Why it matters: The research, which studied 417 hospitalized adults in 14 states between January and March, adds real-world evidence from the clinical trials that vaccination protects against severe illness and hospitalization.
Officials are stepping up efforts to reach some of the world's most remote regions in a global vaccination drive, as the world crosses 1 billion total COVID-19 vaccines administered.
Epicurious will no longer publish beef recipes in what is being called a "pro-planet" shift, the popular digital food magazine has announced.
Driving the news: The Condé Nast-owned publication's Maggie Hoffman and David Tamarkin wrote in a post Monday that the decision was "solely about sustainability, about not giving airtime to one of the world's worst climate offenders."
