Our solar system may have had another planet, that was swallowed up by the Sun. But before it was destroyed, this planet caused a lot of problems.
Space scientists John Chambers and Jack Lissauer of NASA think that along with Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars there was another planet, just outside of the orbit of Mars and inside the asteroid belt. They base their theory on computer modeling.
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Peruvian and British explorers have discovered a lost Inca city on a peak in the Andes that was used by the Incas as a place of resistance against Spanish conquerors in the 16th century. The site, about 25 miles from Machu Picchu, was already known to local people, and may provide new clues to the Inca civilization, since it was hardly touched by the conquistadors.
The expedition leader, British explorer Peter Frost, says the site is the largest that has been found since 1964. It may also contain evidence that could shake up current theories about the Inca civilization. ?It?s a jigsaw puzzle. What we?re finding are more pieces…to get a better sense of what was happening in that area,? Frost says.
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Cathy Zollo writes in the Naples (FL) Daily News that commercial fishermen along the Southwest Florida coast are reporting a massive dead zone that contains no marine life in an area of the Gulf of Mexico that has traditionally been a rich fishing ground. They want scientists and government agencies to find out what?s causing it, but scientists are baffled.
?It?s killed a lot of the bottom because recently a lot of little bottom plants are coming to the surface dead and rotten out in the Gulf,? says Tim Daniels, a Marathon Key fish-spotting pilot who has been flying over the Gulf for more than 20 years.
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Saudi Arabia’s religious police stopped 15 schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers. The Saudi media has accused the kingdom?s powerful ?mutaween? police of hindering attempts to save the girls, who died in a fire inside a school in Mecca.
About 800 pupils were inside the school when the fire started. According to the al-Eqtisadiah daily, firemen confronted police after they tried to keep the girls inside because they were not wearing the headscarves and abayas (black robes) required by the kingdom?s strict interpretation of Islam.
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