On:

David Whitehouse writes in bbcnews.com that astronomers have found a planetary system that’s similar to ours, with a big, Jupiter-like planet circling a Sun-like star. Jupiter absorbs most of the meteor impacts that come our way, and is one of the reasons life can exist on the Earth. Of the more than 100 planetary systems we know about, this is the one that is closest to our own.

Although astronomers have only seen the largest orbiting planet so far, they think it’s likely that there are smaller planets, like ours, in the inner orbits. The solar system is 95 light-years away, which is close in astrological terms. This means that if we could travel at the speed of light, we’d reach it in about 100 years.
read more

On:

Roger Highfield writes in the Telegraph (U.K.) newspaper that it may be dangerous for cancer survivors to have children, since the genetic changes caused by radiation and chemotherapy can be passed down to their children and grandchildren, putting them at greater risk of developing cancer.

Researcher Dr. Yuri Dubrova has discovered that this happens with mice, and he now wants to look at statistics to see if there’s evidence that this happens with human beings. “I am uncomfortable with extrapolating our results,” he says. “?The mouse data are not enough to change our perception. We are desperate for human data.”
read more

On:

Paul Harris writes in The Observer (U.K.) newspaper that newly released U.S. military documents, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show that fighter jets were scrambled in the U.K. in 1956 to chase UFOs.Other recently declassified documents revealed a 1980 UFO Sighting by British air force fliers.

In 1956, after receiving calls about bright lights darting across the sky, fighters from an RAF base spent more than seven hours trying to shoot down the UFOs. The U.S. Air Force intelligence report says “12 to 15” objects were picked up on radar screens on August 13, 1956 and tracked for more than 50 miles. One UFO was clocked at a speed of 4,000 mph, while others traveled in formation, making sharp turns.
read more

On:

Ever wonder why the notorious KKK is called the “Klan?” According to Scottish veterinarian and author Russell Lyon, it’s because it was started by a group of horse whisperers from Scotland.

Lyon spent five years tracing the history of these secret societies, which originated in 18th century Scotland. Six of them emigrated to America and were recruited by the Confederate army. After the war, they formed the Ku Klux Klan, which intimidated and killed southern blacks.

Lyon says, “The methods which the horsemen of Buchan used were totally different from the modern horse whisperers. They told the public they had this magic word to control their animals, but [they] were actually doing was to use different sorts of smells to condition their animal to behave. read more