Astronomers have announced that 715 new planets have been discovered outside the Earth's solar system, including four planets that are more than double the size of our own. This discovery boosts the number of known planets in our galaxy to over 1,700.

The newly discovered planets were all found in multi-planet systems and most are relatively small. Scientists found planets - all of which orbit 305 stars, making up what are known as planetary systems - when they were analyzing the observational data obtained by NASA's Kepler space telescope.

"We've almost doubled today the number of planets known to humanity," Jack Lissauer, a NASA planetary scientist, said Tuesday during a press conference with reporters.

Kepler was first launched in 2009 and spent four years waiting to see what bodies would float by when the telescope was pointed at 160,000 target stars.

For Kepler to discover a new planet it must be perfectly aligned with a star in the telescope's view, something that is made especially difficult by the fact that planets orbiting a greater distance from their parent star are far less likely to be found. When a planet and star do successfully align with the telescope it is known as a "transit."

NASA's announcement became even more exciting when the researchers said that at least four of the planets, the same ones that are roughly 4.5 times larger than Earth, exist in orbits that are within a star's habitable zone, or the "Goldilocks zone." At such a distance these planes could host liquid water and, potentially, life.

READ MORE: NASA discovers 715 new planets, including four that could host life

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King City residents gather at Veronica Villa's, center with red apron, restaurant to discuss a police car theft ring on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014, in King City, Calif. The district attorney charged four police officers and a civilian in a scheme to steal cars from poor Latinos by having their cars impounded at a local tow yard. When the motorists were unable to pay their fees, the tow yard operator sold the cars or gave them for free to police officers.

The misgivings had been building for some time. Investigators heard people — many unable to speak English — complain that police were taking their cars and money, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"I'm not at all surprised by the arrests, I'm just surprised there weren't more charges," restaurateur Vivian Villa said Wednesday in Spanish while sizzling a pan of beef in preparation for the lunch rush. "Now maybe some of them are going to feel what we feel when they target us."

READ MORE: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2014/02/26/california-town-shaken-as-police-officers-arrested

Five European universities are working on a social media lie detector in an attempt to verify online rumors. The technology developed in the wake of the London riots is set to help not only journalists and the private sector, but also governments.

Researchers, led by Sheffield University in England, are cooperating on the system, which could automatically ascertain if a rumor can be verified and whether it originates from a reliable source. It will attempt to filter reliable factual information from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

The project called PHEME is being funded by the European Union and has already been in development for three years. It is named after the Greek mythological character of Pheme, who was famed for spreading rumors.

The system will classify online rumors into four different types, the group said in their press release:

- Speculation, if interest rates might rise

- Controversy, as over the possible dangers of the MMR vaccine

- Disinformation, where a rumor is spread unwittingly

- Misinformation, where there is malicious intent to deceive

The project originated from research about the use of social media in the London riots of 2011.

The system will try and use three different factors to establish the accuracy of a nugget of information. It will examine the information itself (lexical, syntactic and semantic), and then cross-reference the information with a trust worthy data source and the dissemination of information.

It will also attempt to examine the background and history of a social media account to see if an account has been set up just to spread rumors.

However, concerns have already been voiced over the program, as one of the target consumers may be governments. Steven Poole in an opinion piece for the Guardian points out that the system and even the idea is not fool proof.

READ MORE: Lie detector to weed out truth from social media

A basic principle in the classification of GMO foods is fundamentally flawed and "has failed miserably" at protecting public health, a study argues. The error has allowed companies to market potentially dangerous GMO products.

The principle itself is known as 'substantial equivalence' and is the basis for the safety protocol used by most international food regulators. It works off the idea that if a new food product (GMOs in this case) are found to be similar to an already-existing non-GMO product, then it can be treated the same with regard to safety regulations.

However, the Australia-based Permaculture Research Institute has revealed that new studies, independent of the biotech industry, are showing up "glaring differences" between GMOs and their non-GMO counterparts, suggesting the concept of substantial equivalence is flawed.

"This makes a mockery of the regulatory principle of 'Substantial Equivalence' which has facilitated approvals of GMOs with practically no protection for public health and the environment," writes a study published on Friday.

At present the international regulation bodies that use the principle include the World Health Organization, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization.

READ MORE: GMO assessment has ‘failed’ at protecting public health

Spy chief says Americans would've supported surveillance in wake of 9/11

Read more: DNI Clapper: We Should've Come Clean About Phone Surveillance.

Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said in an interview published on Monday that the intelligence community should've told the American public about secret phone-data collection when that program first began years ago.

"I probably shouldn't say this, but I will," Clapper told the Daily Beast. "Had we been transparent about this from the outset right after 9/11 — which is the genesis of the 215 program — and said both to the American people and to their elected representatives, we need to cover this gap, we need to make sure this never happens to us again, so here is what we are going to set up, here is how it's going to work, and why we have to do it, and here are the safeguards ... We wouldn't have had the problem we had."

Clapper added that "if the program had been publicly introduced in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, most Americans would probably have supported it."

The government's phone-records collection program was authorized by its interpretation of section 215 of the Patriot Act. It was kept secret from the American public until it was exposed last year in documents revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Clapper has previously come under fire for denying during Senate testimony that the National Security Agency collects data on millions of Americans. Clapper later said he gave an answer in what he "thought was the most truthful or least untruthful manner," given the 215 program was classified when the question was asked.

READ MORE: Spy chief says Americans would've supported surveillance in wake of 9/11

The US Department of Homeland Security is hoping to find a private company that is technologically capable of providing a system that will track license plates across the nation, according to a new report.

A government proposal noticed by various media outlets including The Washington Post on Tuesday shows that DHS is trying to gain the ability to sift through large amounts of data collected from roadside surveillance cameras and law enforcement license plate readers.

The justification given on the document in question is that the database will be able to identify and track immigrants who entered the United States illegally and are on the run from authorities. The method could easily create such a vast network of information, though, that American citizens suspected of no wrongdoing could easily be snagged in the dragnet and unknowingly have their information shared between police agencies.

A spokeswoman for the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), which falls under DHS authority, said the information would only be used in a way that it would not put civil liberties at risk.

READ MORE: Homeland Security seeking to develop massive license plate database

Read more: Homeland Security seeking to develop massive license plate database