Hey guys! Today’s post is about a website called TreeHugger.com. I sometimes like to go on it to find out what’s currently going on in the world. Well, today I have looked at a few articles on it, and I would like to share them with you!

The first article was “Lab-grown clones could save species from extinction“. We all know that saving endangered species from extinction is quite challenging. You’ve got to capture males and females, breed them in a lab, them make sure you set them free in the correct climate so they can survive. But one university student may have found another way. His name is Rajneesh Verma, and he managed to harvest some tissue samples from some snow leopards. From these, he created special cells that might actually allow scientists to clone an animal! If the cloning experiments are successful, just imagine how that could help in endangered species conservation. Instead of finding a fertile mother & father and taking them to a laboratory to breed, all you would have to do is find them, take the tissue, make the cells, and convert them into sperm! That would be a huge leap in conservation.

The second article was “NEOshield: what is Earth’s best defense against asteroids?“ Now, we all know that the possibility of a giant asteroid hitting the Earth is very, very small. But it could still happen. We have to make sure that it doesn’t, so scientists have thought of 3 different ideas for asteroid deflection. The first method is to use a “Kinetic Impactor”. For this idea, a spacecraft would be piloted to the asteroid, and the spacecraft would release an impactor that would push the asteroid just enough to knock it off its path and miss Earth. The second idea is the use of a “Gravity Tractor” This method involves once again piloting a spacecraft to the asteroid, and using thrusters to keep a safe distance between the two. Because there is a gravitational attraction between the asteroid & the spacecraft, the thrusters could nudge it off course. The final theory is “Blast Deflection”. For this one, A nuclear device would be planted near or on an asteroid, and then it would be blown up. These ideas might work, and if they do, they will prevent a catastrophic collision!

The final article was “2011 State of Observed Species Report lists 19,232 newly discovered species“. Yes. That is not a typo. 19,232. But anyways lets get to the list. 24% of the new plant species discovered included orchids, hyacinths, irises, daffodils, amaryllis, allium, aloe, and asparagus. 3,485 new beetles species were discovered, including 568 rove beetles, 421 ground beetles, 369 long-horned beetles, 356 leaf beetles & 288 scarabs. 41 new mammal species were discovered, 83% of which were bats & rodents. 133 of the new amphibian species were frogs. For birds, 34 new extinct bird species were discovered from fossils, along with 7 new living bird species. For new fish species, 22 were gobies, which includes some of the smallest fish on the planet, and 11 were cichlids, which includes angelfish. 626 new crustacean species were discovered, 224 of which were crayfish, crabs, lobsters, prawns, & shrimp. New reptile species included 31 snakes, 38 lizards, 29 geckos, 12 iguanas, 5 chameleons, & 2 turtles. 13% of new fungus species were gilled mushrooms, one-fifth of which included shiitake mushrooms. In addition to these, 1,905 new extinct species were found in fossils, 25.6% of which were spiders & insects.

Well, I think that just about wraps up the articles I read! The website for these articles and many more is TreeHugger.com. Check out my other posts, and feel free to add a comment!