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Japanese scientists have succeeded in creating what they called the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid, a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved, the country’s space agency said Thursday. The announcement comes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid early this month to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material, aiming to reveal more about the origins of life on Earth. Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japanese space agency (JAXA), told reporters they confirmed the crater from images captured by the probe located 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) from the asteroid’s surface. “Creating an artificial crater with an impactor and observing it in detail afterwards is a world-first attempt,” Tsuda said. “This is a big success.” NASA’s Deep Impact probe succeeded in creating an artificial crater on a comet in 2005, but only for observation purposes. Masahiko Arakawa, a Kobe Universi...

Scientists in Chile say they have found a footprint dating from at least 15,600 years ago, making it the earliest such sign of man's presence in the Americas. The footprint was found at the Pilauco excavation in the city of Osorno (820 kilometers, or 500 miles, south of Santiago), where scientists have been digging since 2007. Archeologists from the Austral University of Chile said the footprint was first spotted in 2011 next to a house. It took years for paleontologist Karen Moreno and geologist Mario Pino to reliably confirm that the print was human. "There are other human footprints in the Americas," Pino told the Osorno newspaper El Austral, "but none has been dated as far back." He said scientists were able to do so by applying radiocarbon dating techniques to organic plant material where the print was found. Pino said the footprint appears to be that of a barefoot man weighing about 70 kilograms (155 pounds) and of the species...

Australia's Claire Polosak will become the first woman to officiate in a men's one-day international when Namibia play Oman in the final of the World Cricket League Division 2 in Windhoek later on Saturday. The 31-year-old never played cricket but blazed a trail in 2017 when she became the first woman to stand in a men's top-level match when New South Wales played a Cricket Australia XI in a one-day match in Sydney. "I am thrilled to be the first woman to stand in a men's ODI and how far I have come as an umpire," Polosak told the International Cricket Council (ICC) ahead of Saturday's match.   "It really is important to promote women umpires and there's no reason why females can't umpire in cricket. It's about breaking down barriers, creating awareness so more females can come into the role." Polosak has officiated in 15 women's ODIs, the first one in November 2016 between Australia and South Africa, an...