Life’s a Gamble
Most of us are familiar with mild concern caused by the sensation of racing down a runway for takeoff. Even frequent fliers have at some point, if only fleetingly, thought about the consequences [...]
Most of us are familiar with mild concern caused by the sensation of racing down a runway for takeoff. Even frequent fliers have at some point, if only fleetingly, thought about the consequences [...]
If a space rock were to hit the Earth at just the right location in the oceans, it could cause massive waves that could inundate U.S. coastlines, a new computer simulation suggests. For instance, [...]
This time it is a theory that scientists could ‘lasso’ the incoming space rock. In April 2009, David French, a doctoral candidate in aerospace engineering at North Carolina State [...]
After conception and birth, it can be argued that the biggest single event in life is death. It’s a subject most of us don’t like dwelling upon, even in individual circumstances, so [...]
But did you know that an asteroid measuring as little as 60 meters across hitting the Earth will cause an explosion 1,000 times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb? Given that with current [...]
Major manmade structures from ancient civilizations exist just about everywhere else on the planet, so why not on the greater part of the North American continent? A relatively new theory about [...]
There are hundreds of thousands of asteroids circling our sun, all so-called “minor planets” left over from the formation of the solar system. Much about them remains mysterious. [...]
From a purely defensive point of view, one could be forgiven for being under the impression that we have nearly licked this asteroid hazard thing after NASA’s phenomenal success with [...]
Scientists, philosophers, and dreamers have always contemplated variants in other time zones. They have shown us aspects from other points in time; historians and futurists have discussed and [...]
What sparked the idea of forming a society to support asteroid research? The first decent rains at the end of summer are often associated with electrical power cuts on Hydra Island, Greece, [...]
Predicted Crashes Don’t Make the News . . . Accidents Do! For most of the last century it was common knowledge that hundreds of thousands of lives were lost in motor accidents. Yet even [...]
The next giant leap for mankind may not be in the form of a footprint on Mars but a technological baby step here on Earth. A comparatively small, innocuous machine has already begun creeping into [...]
The FAIR Society concept and its subsequent website were inspired by an article in Time Magazine. On March 23, 1998, [Time] headlined its magazine with the title [ASTEROID SCARE: DOOMSDAY [...]
Imagine the pilgrims landing on the East Coast of America five centuries ago and, instead of encountering bead-swapping natives, meeting their descendants of today. What would Columbus’s crew [...]
At 2.40 am on June 3, 2004, over western Washington State, residents were awoken by a sudden pyrotechnic display more enthusiastic than the “shock and awe” missiles used on Baghdad. A [...]
Barely time to change a light bulb—the difference between life and death for millions on July 13, 2029 The closing velocity of an incoming asteroid is about 12.6 km per second, and if it were to [...]
As a kid, I got hooked on C. S. Forrester’s Horatio Hornblower series based on the life and times of England’s most famous admiral, Horatio Nelson. Despite documented facts and scientific data to [...]
Then, think of this as a project to save the donkeys! In fact, one could choose one’s favourite cause and still think of this as a project to save it because, ultimately, that’s what [...]
Too often, the negative aspect of asteroids is highlighted on the big screen and in the media. Predictions of megacatastrophes associated with this phenomenon tend to focus on our fears rather [...]
Why Governments Do Almost Nothing I initially thought that the powers that be, the blokes with budgets and degrees as long as your arm, must have some sort of emergency system in place. That some [...]
Unlike earthquakes, an asteroid impact can be prevented. Isn’t it ironic that the biggest disaster we fear is the only one that we can actually do something about—and yet this science comes last [...]
Astronomers have revealed how they came within minutes of alerting the world to a potential asteroid strike last month. Some scientists believed on 13 January that a 30m object, later designated [...]