Residents in the Cuban town of Rodas have reported a meteor strike that made an enormous noise as it hit. It is possible there is a debris field in Earth’s gravity well, possibly following the asteroid that just passed the planet. If so, more strikes are possible, and there is no way to detect them prior to entry into the atmosphere, or to stop them.
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As Asteroid 2012 DA14 approached Earth, a significant meteor strike took place in central Russia. Most experts do not believe that the two events were related, and NASA has confirmed that the asteroid has not broken up. However, smaller debris is sometimes present near asteroids, and is not generally detectable, so it is possible that such debris comprised the meteor.
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No, we don’t just mean that we all have some nasty folks in our family tree–We’re talking about an actual rat-like mammal that is the common ancestor of all humans. It weighed about half a pound, had a long furry tail and ate insects (something WE may do more of in the future).
This ancestor emerged within 200,000 to 400,000 years after the dinosaurs died off. However, it took millions of years before the first members of this modern mammal appeared in great numbers. A research team used a combination of fossil evidence and genetic data encoded in DNA to determine the ancestor’s status.
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How would you like radioactive metal from nuclear weapons facilities to be recycled for use in consumer goods like silverware, pots and pans, eye glasses, zippers, kid’s braces, and even pacemakers and artificial hip joints? This practice was banned in 2000, but if the US Department of Energy gets its way, it will be reimplemented in the future (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show).
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