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Israeli nonprofit ‘SpaceIL’ has signed a contract to launch its robotic lunar lander towards the moon. There was a press conference held on Wednesday in Jerusalem to share the news in which it was announced that SpaceIL, a team of 16, would be participating in the Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP) competition to reach the contract landmark. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and XPRIZE President Bob Weiss also attended the conference.

X Prize Vice Chairman and President Bob Weiss said, "We are proud to officially confirm receipt and verification of SpaceIL's launch contract, positioning them as the first and only Google Lunar X Prize team to demonstrate this important achievement thus far”.

While looking for planets forming in the huge disk of dust surrounding a young star, scientists got surprised to encounter fast-moving, wavelike arches racing across the disk like ripples in water.

They for the first time discovered the five structures in data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, when the team was looking for lumps and bumps that could give any clue about formation of planets around the young star.

While looking back at images captured with the Hubble Space Telescope in 2010 and 2011, researchers managed to spot the same features but in different locations. A latest footage of the mysterious ripples has very well described the odd features as seen by ESO scientists.

On Wednesday, professors from Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. This has prompted a joint celebration by rival universities. The scientists, including Paul Modrich of Duke and Aziz Sancar of UNC, have been awarded for their decades of work in understanding how cells repair damaged DNA.

Swedish scientist Tomas Lindahl, an emeritus leader at Francis Crick Institute and emeritus director of Cancer Research UK at Clare Hall Laboratory in England, has shared the $960,000 prize with them.

According to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the work done by the scientists has given the fundamental knowledge regarding the functioning of a living cell functions. The work done can also be used to develop new ways for cancer treatment.

A novel study has found that face-to-face contact can help lessen severity of depression among elderly. Other ways of communication, including texts, emails and phone calls, were not found to be effective when it came to improving mental-well being of old people.

Study’s lead researcher Dr. Alan Teo said that study participants who regularly met with their friends and family were having less chances of reporting symptoms of depression when compared with participants who used methods of communication including email or phone.

Joan Kennedy, 1st wife of longtime US Senator Ted Kennedy, has cleared that she has nothing to do with her son Patrick Kennedy's explosive tell-all book describing his father as an uncontrollable alcoholic. As per Joan, she did not have any knowledge that Patrick was even writing it and has not received its advance copy.

The tell-all book, ‘A Common Struggle: A Personal Journey Through the Past and Future of Mental Illness and Addiction’ unveils that Ted was suffering from disabling alcoholism. Joan’s statement is completely opposite of Patrick, who during an interview has claimed that he has consulted his mother. In fact, Patrick has also said that his mother was the only family member to support the project.

On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration gave permission to Alkermes PLC’s schizophrenia treatment. The drug Aristada will be available in monthly and six-week dosing options. The company wants to introduce the drug immediately.

Aristada is in injectable form of Abilify developed by Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Pharmaceuticals and sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb in the US. It is available as once-a-day oral medication.

Schizophrenia is a serious, disabling brain disorder that affects around 1% of the US population. Patient suffering from it often suffer from psychotic experiences, including hallucinations and delusions. Aristada is not meant to treat patients with dementia-related psychosis.