China Changes One-Child Policy Due to Earthquake

China has decided to change its one-child policy to exempt the families with a child killed, severely injured, or disabled in the country’s recent earthquake. The families can get a certificate to have another child.

On May 12th of this year, there was a devastating earthquake that killed 65,000 people and left more than 23,000 people missing. There were many children that were killed and injured in the disaster. Usually, having more than one child is illegal in China and families that have more than one child are punished by having to pay fines. If the families’ legally born child is killed and the family only has an illegally born child under the age of 18, then that child can be registered as a legal child. This is a positive thing because it gives the child that was once illegal the same rights as a legal citizen and nine years of compulsory education.

China started the one-child policy in the late 1970s to control China’s very large population and to provide better education and health care. There were already certain exceptions for ethnic groups, rural families, and families where both parents are only children. In some parts of rural China, most families are allowed to have a second child, especially if the first child is a girl.

Many people in China have shown interest in adopting children that have become orphans due to the earthquake. There are not any limitations to the number of orphans that a family can adopt. The adoptions and the future birth to a family that adopts an orphan is exempt from the one-child policy as the earthquake left 4,000 children to become orphans. Most of the orphans will be sent to live with other family members.

NASA Launching Music Into Space

On Monday, NASA will broadcast the Beatles song “Across the Universe” across the galaxy to the North Star, Polaris. This would be the first time that a song has ever been beamed by the space agency into deep outer space. It would celebrate the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45^th anniversary of NASA’s Deep Space Network, and the 50^th anniversary of NASA.

The song would be traveling at the speed of light and would take 431 years to reach Polaris. Polaris is 2.5 quadrillion miles away from Earth. The song would be transmitted digitally at 7 p.m. EST on Monday from a giant antenna in Madrid, Spain. For a person to hear the song on Polaris, they would need an antenna and a receiver for it to be converted back to music.

The original idea came from a man named Martin Lewis, a Los Angeles Beatles historian. He asked for permission from McCartney, Yoko Ono, and two companies that own the rights to the Beatles’ music. The Apple Company was happy to approve the idea.

Man Travels Across the Whole Planet in 13 Years

Read the story of the 40 year old man who spent the last 13 years of his life traveling across the entire planet. Click Here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,299861,00.html

Meteorite Causes Mysterious Illness in Peru

It is reported in Lima, Peru that a village has been faced with a mysterious illness after a meteorite crash to the earth this past Saturday. The villagers heard an explosion and saw a fireball near their village when the meteorite crashed. They later complained of headaches, vomiting, and a strange odor. The police that went to the scene also got sick and had to be given oxygen and hospitalized.

Google’s Mission to the Moon

Google is offering $30 million dollars to the first private company that can land a robotic rover on the moon and beam back a gigabyte of images and video to Earth. Google has partnered with the X Prize Foundation for this contest and it is open to companies around the world.
Whoever fills the requirements of the contest by the end of 2012 gets $20 million dollars. The winner must be able to have a successful landing and have high-definition video and still cameras. The rover must also be able to trek at least 1,312 feet on the moon and send self-portraits, panoramic views, and near-real time video back to Earth that will be streamed on Google’s website. The participants must create a secure launch vehicle for the probe by building it themselves or contracting with a private rocket company.
If there is no winner, the prize will drop to $15 million dollars until the contest ends in 2014. There is a $5 million dollar second-place prize and a $5 million dollar bonus to the teams that go beyond the minimum requirements.