Searchers find sunken stern of doomed WW-II destroyer

Washington: Scientists discovered the missing 75-foot stern section of a ship that sank during a largely overlooked early campaign of World War II, after being torn off by an explosion while conducting an anti-submarine patrol. Seventy-one US Navy Sailors were lost in the aftermath of the blast. For almost 75 years, the stern of the destroyer USS Abner Read lay somewhere below the dark surface of the Bering Sea off the Aleutian island of Kiska. Heroic action by the crew saved the ship, but for the families of the doomed sailors, the final resting place of loved ones lost in the predawn hours of August 18, 1943 remained unknown. PTI

World’s most wear-resistant metal alloy created’

Washington: US scientists claim to have engineered a platinum-gold alloy that may be the most wear-resistant metal in the world. It is 100 times more durable than high-strength steel, making it the first alloy in the same class as diamond and sapphire, nature’s most wear-resistant materials. According to the researchers from the Sandia National Laboratories in the US, a set of tires made from the alloy would have to skid around Earth’s equator 500 times before wearing out the tread. With platinum-gold coating, only a single layer of atoms would be lost after a mile of skidding on the hypothetical tires. PTI  

Selena opens up about her life-saving kidney transplant

London: Singer Selena Gomez recently delivered a speech where she talked about her life-saving kidney transplant operation. In May 2017, the 26-year-old singer had undergone a procedure, for which her best friend Francia Raisa donated her own kidney. The singer had hosted WE Day, an annual gathering which aims to unite youth in order to create a better world in April this year. Gomez was present along with Nellie Mainor, an eight-year-old survivor who was once diagnosed with a rare kidney disease. The singer lauded Mainor for her efforts in spreading awareness about the disease, while also opening up about her health struggles. PTI