Source: WSJ

France's Sanofi-Aventis SA has made an informal acquisition approach to biotechnology drug maker Genzyme Corp., people familiar with the matter said, continuing a trend of big drug makers consolidating smaller biotech firms.

The two sides have begun sounding out each other's interest in a deal before entering into formal talks and a completed transaction is far away, these people cautioned. Sanofi and Genzyme declined to comment.

Genzyme shares surged Friday, climbing $8.35, or 15%, to $62.52 in 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Sanofi shares slipped $1.29, or 4.2%, to $29.26 on the New York Stock Exchange. Read more here. 

Source: PopSci

Let’s assume that someday you will have, in your home, a humanoid robot helper. The robot, because it’s shaped like you, can use your tools and move easily around your house. It folds the laundry, it helps your elderly mother up the stairs, and on Sundays it makes brunch for the family. It’s capable of handling almost any household chore you can throw at it.

Now let’s imagine that you’re out on the lawn, kicking a ball around with your son. Your robot helper is in another part of the yard, its back to you both, fixing a drainpipe. Your son misses a kick, and the ball winds up a few feet from the robot. “Hey, robot!” you shout. “A little help?” The robot turns in place, spots the ball, walks over, and kicks it back to you. The game resumes. Read more here. 

Source: PopSci

The U.S. Senate appeared to have cobbled together a compromise with the White House concerning NASA’s immediate future as of late last week, but a new House Science Committee bill might undermine those dealings. The House proposal does not include an extra shuttle flight as the Senate compromise did, and it explicitly calls for a renewed commitment to develop thecanceled Constellation program for deep space technologies like the Ares I rocket and the Orion crew capsule.

A draft version of the bill, which was posted publicly late yesterday, provides for a $19 billion topline NASA budget, as do the White House and the Senate. But how that money is to be spent couldn’t be more different. Essentially, the House committee sees the $9 billion already spent on the Constellation program as being irresponsibly wasted, and therefore claims NASA is obligated to see it through. Read more here. 

Source: NYT

After fixing a leaking valve in the cap on its blown-out well under the Gulf of Mexico, BP prepared Thursday to resume a crucial test of the cap to determine whether the oil that has been gushing from the well for three months could be stopped.

The containment cap, however, may be only an interim solution, while the company completes relief wells that are meant to permanently seal the well, the national incident commander told reporters.

Overnight, engineers replaced equipment on the tight-sealing cap that has been placed at the top of well, 5,000 feet under water, said Kent Wells, a senior vice president of the company. Leaks were found late Wednesday in the equipment, part of a choke line that will be the last valve to be closed during the test, causing the company to delay the test for the second time in two days. Read more there. 

Source: PopSci

The European Space Agency has released the first close-ups of the asteroid Lutetia snapped by the Rosetta mission over the weekend, revealing that the mysterious asteroid has taken quite a beating over the years. And by years, we mean something like 4.5 billion. As suspected, it turns out that Lutetia is probably very, very old.

ESA's Rosetta mission got a quite a view of Lutetia as it passed within 1,965 miles of it while en route to its final destination, the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta's sensors and cameras grabbed reams of data during the flyby, which lasted just one minute as Rosetta was moving some 33,554 miles per hour. What Rosetta saw was a battered, cratered rock that appears to be a survivor from the very birth of our solar system. Read more here. 

Source: Popsci

The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission is poised for a flyby of asteroid 21 Lutetia, the largest asteroid to ever be visited by a spacecraft. On Saturday, July 10, Rosetta will skim past Lutetia at a speed of about 33,000 miles per hour, coming to within 1,965 miles of the asteroid.

Researchers and engineers at ESA and about two dozen European and U.S. institutes and universities have been preparing for the flyby for several months, working on a series of commands that will enable onboard instruments to autonomously conduct observations as the spacecraft passes the asteroid. The OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) camera, operated by Germany's Max Planck Institute, will capture visible-spectrum images at Rosetta's closest approach. About four hours before the approach, mission controllers at ESA's European Space Operations Centre will flip Rosetta over into its Asteroid Fly-by Mode, which keeps the spacecraft oriented in the imaging instruments' field of view. Read more here.

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Source: Gizmodo

This Sunday there will be a total solar eclipse over the south Pacific Ocean, Chile and Argentina. Watching solar eclipses from Earth is a rare occurrence. Watching them from space is extraordinarily rare. Here are the best photos and videos.

The first time that a solar eclipse was observed from space was in November 1966, during Gemini XII, the last mission of the Gemini program.

James Lovell—who later became the commander of Apollo 13—was the Command Pilot.Buzz Aldrin—mission pilot, later Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot and second man on the Moon—demonstrated the feasibility of true extra-vehicular activity for two hours and 20 minutes, following the underwater training that he pushed to introduce at NASA. He accomplished various chores, including taking these photos of the solar eclipse... Read more here. 

Source: WSJ

Dollar General Corp.'s fiscal first-quarter earnings jumped 64% as the discount retailer leveraged global sourcing to reduce product costs at the same time customer visits and spending continued to increase. The results beat analysts' expectations and the company boosted its earnings target for the year to between $1.62 a share and $1.69 a share from between $1.55 and $1.63 a share despite only affirming sales guidance. Read more here. 

Source: Swissnex

On the occasion of the 10th year program of venture leaders, a 10-day entrepreneurial bootcamp in Boston for Swiss-based startups, you will have the chance to interact with 40 leading entrepreneurs, select the best pitches and mingle with other members of the local innovation community.

Source: Xconomy

Even as the Detroit Red Wings seek to battle back in their NHL playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes, entrepreneurs and innovators in Michigan are working overtime to help the state meet an economic challenge far more imposing than the Coyotes are on ice. That’s how we see it here at Xconomy, and that’s why it is with special pleasure and excitement that we announce today that Xconomy is bringing its hyperlocal coverage of key innovation clusters to Michigan with the launch of Xconomy Detroit. The Motor City (with our coverage including much of the rest of Michigan and northern Ohio) is now the fourth region in Xconomy’s network, joining Boston, Seattle, and San Diego. Read more here