Asteroid Incoming

As we sit soundly in our homes, a menace lurks up in the sky, slowly approaching Earth more and more every year. This menace is an asteroid, that could bring about the downfall of humanity. NASA has named this asteroid Apophis, after the Egyptian god of evil.

Apophis is estimated to hit the Earth in 2036, a shockingly soon date. Scientists all around the Earth have collaberated ideas to stop this catastrophe from occuring. Of course, there is no certainty that it will collide with us. On a rating of 1 to 10, there is a 4 rating of collision. However scientists must be prepared for the worst. so, they came up with a plan.

The easiest plan could be the solution. NASA will send two space crafts. One will collide with Apophis at a ridiculously high speed, while the other craftt will study the change in the rocks orbit. But this is no gaurentee.

Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer from Queen's University Belfast, said: "When it does pass close to us on April 13 2029, the Earth will deflect it and change its orbit. There's a small possibility that if it passes through a particular point in space, the so-called keyhole, ... the Earth's gravity will change things so that when it comes back around again in 2036, it will collide with us." The chance of Apophis passing through the keyhole, a 600-metre patch of space, is 1 in 5,500 based on current information.

So, there is hope of survival. Untill then, keep on working scientists! Valuble info from http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/dec/07/spaceexploration.research

Honey Bees Vanish from Earth

As humans buy fruit from the grocery store, or as we gaze at beautiful flower garden and inhale the wonderful scent, people don't realise who are responsible for these pleasures. Well, the answer is honey bees. However, we might not have as much fruit in the future as we do now. Honey Bees have been rapidly vanishing from the Earth for 35 years now. No one is sure why this is happening. Some people say that this is due to global warming or desecration to forests. German bee expert Professor Joergen Tautz from Wurzburg University said: "Bees are vital to biodiversity. There are 130,000 plants for example for which bees are essential to pollination, from melons to pumpkins, raspberries and all kind of fruit trees - as well as animal fodder - like clover." As stated, bees serve an extensive role in ecology. So, when plants are ready to be pollinated, bees come and take the pollen to make honey. But if the plants are not pollinated, the plants decompose instead of turning into seeds to allow new life. Eventually, there might be no more honey bees, which would lead to no more plants, endangering the animal kingdom. To conclude we must do something about the extinction of bees before time runs out.

Valuble informatin from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1545516/Honey-bees-in-US-facing-extinction.html