ADVANCES
Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
Scientists have found the first exoplanet, or a planet that revolves around another star, close to the size, mass, and composition of earth. Kepler-78b is 1.2 times the radius of Earth and 1.7 times as massive. Do not be fooled, though, other than these three comparisons this planet is nothing like Earth. The exoplanet travels around its star every 8.5 hours which makes it an inferno that is not fit for any known life. The planet is held in the constellation Cygnus the swan. Kepler-78b is one more planet added to the list of the hundreds of exoplanets found so far. While this planet may not hold life, there are billions of other exoplanets waiting to be found. - GR
Read more and find more exoplanet stories from- nasa.gov- Scientists Discover the First Earth-Sized Rocky Planet
All around the world, the vulture population is diminishing to extremely small numbers. Solely in rural West Africa, almost all of the populations of species of vultures in the area have plummeted 95% in the last thirty years. There are multiple reasons that vultures have come so close to extinction including drugs in livestock, hunters, and ivory poachers trying to hide their elephant carcases. Are vultures important to our world, though? The answer to this can be found in India’s close to extinct population of vultures. In India rats and feral dog populations have soured. These two species, prey for certain vulture species, carry the terrendous diseases of leptospirosis and rabies. Other animals usually eaten by African Vultures include common livestock and wildebeests. If these populations grew, diseases such as anthrax would also grow. Vultures may be considered ugly by some, but without them the diseases that would rise would be horrendous. - GR
Read more from- Scietific American Online-Vultures Face Extinction and Indifference
SHEM COMPION Getty Images
First Earth -Sized Planet Found
Vultures Going Extinct?