Extra Time: Biden's grants for 'moonshot' initiative to fight cancer, possibility of water on Mars

NEW YORK (WABC) -- In this edition of Extra Time, we detail President Joe Biden is zeroing in on the policy goals closest to his heart now that he's no longer seeking a second term, visiting New Orleans on Tuesday to promote his administration's "moonshot" initiative aiming to dramatically reduce cancer deaths as well as data from a retired NASA mission has revealed evidence of an underground reservoir of water deep beneath the surface of Mars, according to new research.

As for weather, low humidity and comfortable conditions remain in control.

A few showers can show up to the north on Thursday and across the rest of the area this weekend.

Other headlines from Tuesday's show:

Water on Mars?

The findings released Monday are based on seismic measurements from NASA's Mars InSight lander, which detected more than 1,300 marsquakes before shutting down two years ago.

This water - believed to be seven miles to 12 miles (11.5 kilometers to 20 kilometers) down in the Martian crust - most likely would have seeped from the surface billions of years ago when Mars harbored rivers, lakes and possibly oceans, according to the lead scientist, Vashan Wright of the University of California San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Biden announces $150 million in research grants as part of his 'moonshot' push to fight cancer

The president and first lady Jill Biden toured medical facilities that receive federal funding to investigate cancer treatments at Tulane University, where researchers demonstrated using a piece of raw meat how they are working to improve scanning technology to quickly distinguish between healthy and cancerous cells during surgeries.

The pair then championed the announcement of $150 million in awards from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Those will support eight teams of researchers around the country working on ways to help surgeons more successfully remove tumors from people with cancer.

You can watch 'Eyewitness News Extra Time' live Monday-Friday at 6:30 p.m. on ABC7NY.com or our ABC7NY app on Roku, FireTV, Apple TV and Android TV.