Science News Roundup: Variant that combines Delta and Omicron identified; dogs sniff out virus with high accuracy; Meteorite gouged huge Greenland crater 58 million years ago, study finds and more

They found that the meteorite - roughly one to 1.25 miles (1.5-2 km) in diameter - struck Greenland about 8 million years after a larger asteroid impact at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula wiped out the dinosaurs. Original Buzz Aldrin moon walk photo sells for $7,700 at auction A series of original NASA photographs from the Apollo missions sold for a total of 1.16 million Danish crowns ($171,831) in an auction in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Variant that combines Delta and Omicron identified; dogs sniff out virus with high accuracy

The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review. "Deltacron" with genes of Delta and Omicron found

Meteorite gouged huge Greenland crater 58 million years ago, study finds

An immense crater in northwestern Greenland, buried under a thick sheet of ice and first spotted in 2015, is much older than previously suspected - formed by a meteorite impact 58 million years ago, rather than 13,000 years ago as had been proposed. Scientists said on Wednesday they used two different dating methods on sand and rock left over from the impact to determine when the crater - about 19 miles (31 km) wide - was formed. They found that the meteorite - roughly one to 1.25 miles (1.5-2 km) in diameter - struck Greenland about 8 million years after a larger asteroid impact at Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula wiped out the dinosaurs.

Original Buzz Aldrin moon walk photo sells for $7,700 at auction

A series of original NASA photographs from the Apollo missions sold for a total of 1.16 million Danish crowns ($171,831) in an auction in Copenhagen on Wednesday. The 74 privately-owned photographs from the Apollo 8-17 missions included the famous one of Buzz Aldrin's moon walk during the first manned lunar landing in July 1969, which sold for 52,000 crowns.

California startup Astrolab unveils space rover, more than a mere 'moon buggy'

A Los Angeles-area startup founded by a veteran spaceflight robotics engineer unveiled on Thursday its full-scale, working prototype for a next-generation lunar rover that is just as fast as NASA's old "moon buggy" but is designed to do much more. The company, Venturi Astrolab Inc, released photos and video showing its Flexible Logistics and Exploration (FLEX) vehicle riding over the rugged California desert near Death Valley National Park during a five-day field test in December.

Denmark says sorry for taking Greenland children in 1950s social experiment

Denmark's prime minister on Wednesday delivered a face-to-face apology to six living victims of a 1950s social experiment in which 22 Greenlandic children were taken from their families and sent to Denmark to be integrated into Danish society. The Inuit children were between four and nine years old when they were shipped to Denmark, then the colonial power, in 1951 to try to re-educate them as "little Danes".

(With inputs from agencies.)