Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water, Sanitation Jan -Feb 2014 Vol.10 No1 | Page 42
Roundup
Discovery of five new earth-like planets gives hope for
discovery of water-based life
Discovery shows
that Earth-sized
planets have formed
throughout most of
the time the Universe
has been around
— increasing the
possibility of finding
another planet like
ours
Five Earth-sized planets have been identified around a
distant star in the Milky Way galaxy in a discovery that
raises the possibility of eventually finding another rocky
planet where water-based life may exist, scientists said.
All five planets are too close to their sun and too hot to
harbour life but the fact that they were formed many
billions of years ago when the galaxy was still young
suggests that rocky, Earth-sized planets could be more
ubiquitous than previously thought.
The planets in the distant solar system range in sizes
between Mercury and Venus and were discovered by
analyzing data gathered by Nasa’s Kepler space telescope
which has so far identified more than 4,000 planetary
“candidates”, of which 1,013 have been confirmed as true
planets.
Comets ‘did not bring water to Earth’
contains about three times more deuterium – a heavy form
of hydrogen – than water on Earth.
The discovery seems to overturn the theory that Earth got
its water, and so its ability to harbour life, from waterbearing comets that slammed into the planet during its
early history.
Comet 67P is thought to have come from what is called
the Kuiper belt, a broad band of frozen bodies that begins
beyond the orbit of Neptune. The main asteroid belt
contains more rocky objects that circle the sun between
the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Army cadet LICKS toilet to prove to baffled drill
sergeant that it’s clean enough
A tough Chinese drill
sergeant furious that a
squad of new recruits had
not cleaned the toilet to his
standards got a shock when
one of them squatted down
and started LICKING the
loo.
Sergeant Cai Peng had
ordered the recruits to
clean their dormitories
and the bathroom, which
included a porcelain hole
Cadet training: Student Ho Liao knelt
on the floor and licked the porcelain in the floor that was used
surround leading down to the sewer where as a toilet. He told them to
soldiers squatted to do their business make sure it was spotless
when he returned but the
strict military commander, from the Sichuan Vocational
and Technical College of Communications in the city of
Chengdu in Sichuan Province, was furious that it had not
been done to his satisfaction.
He was shouting at the students, detailing the punishment
they would have to do, when one of them spoke out.
The student, named Ho Liao, had apparently told the
instructor: “Excuse me sir, but I don’t agree and with your
permission I would like to prove it.”
Scientists have dealt a blow to the theory that most water
on Earth came from comets. Results from Europe’s
Rosetta mission, which made history by landing on Comet
67P in November, 2014 shows the water on the icy mass is
unlike that on our planet.
The presence of water is not a surprise, but what has
wrong-footed researchers is the makeup of the water,
which is nothing like that seen on Earth.
Measurements from Rosetta’s Rosina instrument found
that water on comet 67P /Churyumov-Gerasimenko
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Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • January - February 2015
The young cadet then knelt down and licked the floor of
the bathroom including the porcelain surround leading
down to the sewer where soldiers squatted to do their
business.
He then went to the dormitory and licked the floor there
as well before standing back up to attention with a salute.
Many Chinese colleges and universities include military
training that encourages strict discipline, including keeping
a clean bedroom and sanitation, and the drill masters have
a reputation for being severe.