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Earth's Asteroid Risk Downgraded

Posted by simoniker on from the i-was-worried-for-a-while dept.

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!"

8 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by Bigthecat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will this finally put an end to all those damn asteroid-hitting-the-Earth movies?

    Please?

    1. Re:Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, but an asteroid hitting the earth certainly would.

  2. I can't help but think... by NightWulf · · Score: 5, Funny

    That the dinosaur version of Slashdot released that same story on the Jurassicnet just 48 hours before they left the earth.

  3. Re:Okay, so we don't have to worry... by cgranade · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That still gives you 100 yrs, right?
    Seriously, tho, that would be one of statistician's largest pet peeves: thinking that because outcome X has not occured at all in a period in which it is predicted to occur, that X is overdue to occur. IIRC, this is the Gambler's Fallacy. Somehow I'm reminded of the joke where three statisticians go duck hunting. First one shoots, and misses- too high. Second one shoots, and misses- too low. Third one yells, "We got 'em!"

    --

    #define DRM chmod 000

  4. THIS made the front page of Slashdot? by Chromodromic · · Score: 5, Interesting
    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.

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    Chr0m0Dr0m!C
  5. Re:Okay, so we don't have to worry... by MochaMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    >>I mean, there hasn't been a rock that large hitting us in, like, 599,000 years...

    >That still gives you 100 yrs, right?

    Glad to see the future of science and engineering is in good hands!

  6. Duh by benk · · Score: 5, Insightful

    > "Relax, everyone - the risk of a gigantic asteroid colliding with Earth just got smaller!"

    Surely the risk hasn't changed, just our estimate of it...

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    -- "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong." -- HL Mencken
  7. Re:More importantly... by RabidStoat · · Score: 5, Funny
    Depends on the advance warning. With 30-40 years notice, we'd probably have time to send out a scout team to characterize the asteroid. Then, we could send a follow on team with the proper explosives and nukes.

    Couldn't we send in a team of negotiators to try reasoning with it ? Maybe offer it a bribe to hit the next planet along ? If all else fails we could try mocking it.