Earth's Asteroid Risk Downgraded

xanthines-R-yummy writes "Relax, everyone - the risk of a gigantic asteroid colliding with Earth just got smaller! Nature reports: "A new survey revises down the likelihood of a massive asteroid hitting the Earth by 20-30%. We're only due to collide with rocks larger than one kilometre across roughly once every 600,000 years, it concludes." Whew! What a relief!"

Comments

THIS made the front page of Slashdot?

[Chromodromic]

This must just be an abysmally slow news-for-nerds day or something because, you know, the joke in the post is valid. Did anyone breathe a sigh of genuine relief here? Did anyone go, "Oh, God, well, now I can stop worrying about that!"

Did anyone see Armageddon and then go home unable to sleep for nights on end?

I just find it hard to believe that in the vast informational space of the Internet, this is a story that collided with the front page of Slashdot.

The analysis doesn't change the chance of an asteroid hitting the Earth, points out astronomer Iwan Williams of Queen Mary University of London, UK. "But assuming that there are fewer large asteroids, the damage will be less," he says.

When news editors say, "Damn it, just print something!", this is what we get.