🛩️ US prosecutors urge DoJ to charge Boeing over fatal crashes, Chang’e-6 set to unveil moon’s volcanic secrets, scientists use finger sweat to track drugs in bloodstream with 96% accuracy

US prosecutors have advised the Department of Justice (DoJ) to file criminal charges against Boeing. This recommendation comes after the DoJ alleged that Boeing breached a settlement agreement related to two fatal crashes of its 737 Max aircraft, which resulted in the deaths of 346 people.

These incidents, involving Boeing’s 737 Max airplane, occurred within six months of each other: the first with Indonesia’s Lion Air in October 2018 and the second with Ethiopian Airlines in March 2019.

For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

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> Forensic Mechanical Engineer
> Senior DevOps Engineer

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MUST READ

🛩️ US prosecutors urge DoJ to charge Boeing over fatal 737 Max crashes

Both plane crashes, involving Boeing’s 737 Max aircraft, occurred within six months. Last week, the victims’ families urged prosecutors to impose a $25 billion (£14.6 billion) fine on Boeing and pursue criminal charges.

In a 2021 agreement, Boeing agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement, with prosecutors promising to request the dismissal of a criminal charge after three years if Boeing complied with specific conditions outlined in the deferred prosecution agreement.

However, the DoJ accused Boeing of breaching this agreement last month, stating that the company had failed to “design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of US fraud laws throughout its operations.”

☄️ China: Chang’e-6 set to unveil moon’s volcanic, meteorite secrets

China’s space administration made history this month when its Chang’e-6 (CE-6) lunar probe collected the first samples ever collected from the far side of the Moon. The probe took off from the lunar surface on June 5, and it is expected to return to Earth on June 25.

As they waited for the historic mission to touch down on Earth, scientists were hard at work predicting what materials the samples might hold.

Scientists theorize that Chang’e-6 samples will likely contain 2.5-million-year-old volcanic rock, as well as traces of materials from meteorite impacts. These could shed new light on the differences between the near and far sides of the moon.

💊 Scientists use finger sweat to track drugs in bloodstream with 96% accuracy

A new study from the University of Surrey aimed at tuberculosis detected antibiotics in the bloodstream using fingerprint sweat with almost the same accuracy as a blood test.

A study author told Interesting Engineering that they decided to work with finger sweat due to their work in forensics. “A fingerprint is a convenient sample to take in clinical testing as it’s completely painless and non-invasive, without any loss of dignity from the patient.”

Scientists detected antibiotics and the metabolite produced by ingesting the drug with 96 percent and 77 percent accuracy, respectively. They were able to identify the presence of the drug “between one to four hours after ingestion while the metabolized version showed up best after six hours.”

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The answer is: 6

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