ALIENS?: NASA’s Kepler mission discovered the most earth-like planet to date, a 6 billion-year-old planet called Kepler 452b. Located 1,400 light years away, the planet—which NASA is calling Earth’s “bigger, older cousin”—has a 385-day orbit around a star that resembles our sun and is roughly 60 percent larger than Earth.

ARCTIC DRILLING OK'D: The Obama administration allowed Shell to start drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska, though the company is required to have equipment in place before it begins that shuts down wells during emergency spills. The authorization came after the Interior Department conditionally approved the drilling in May.

INNOVATIVE ANTI-POACHING: British conservation group Protect developed a monitoring device for animals threatened by poaching that combines a GPS satellite collar with a video camera and heart rate monitor. The technology alerts anti-poaching teams when an animal’s heart rate jumps, allowing immediate response to a poaching attempt.

SAVING HIS BABE: A high school student in Fullerton, California saved a pig he had purchased through the Future Farmers of America program when he found a home for her at the Farm Sanctuary’s location in Orland, California. Most animals are slaughtered after the program ends.

AN ALARMING SEA RISE...OR NOT: Former NASA climate scientist James Hansen’s recently released study, in which he predicts a possible 10-foot sea level rise by the end of the century, has been met with skepticism from leading scientists who say Hansen’s estimate is too extreme. Many coastal cities, including New York, would be uninhabitable if Hansen’s study proves accurate.