nandi's blog

How Sharks Outlived Dinosaurs and Adapted to Suit Their Environment

Friday, November 29, 2019

A Tiger Shark swims over coral reef in Fuvahmulah, Maldives. After millions of years of adaptations, more than 500 species of sharks swim the planet's oceans today, and sharks are found in almost every type of ocean habitat.

Sharks are some of the ocean’s top predators. In fact, sharks and their relatives were the first vertebrate predators on Earth.

Shark fossils date back more than 400 million years — that means sharks managed to outlive the dinosaurs, survive mass extinctions, and continue to serve an important role near the top of underwater food chains.

After millions of years of adaptations, more than 500 species of sharks swim the planet’s oceans today, and sharks are found in almost every type of ocean habitat. So how have sharks evolved to suit their environments?

From ancient ancestors to modern sharks

To understand how modern sharks adapted and evolved, we first have to look back through the fossil record of their ancestors.

Originating from a time before dinosaurs walked the earth, the earliest shark scales date back about 425 million years, and the earliest shark teeth are from the Devonian Period, about 410 million years ago. And some fossils of shark-like chondrichthyans scales (from a group of fish including sharks, rays, and their relatives) date as far back as 440 million years.

Because shark skeletons are made of soft cartilage, which doesn’t fossilize well, most of what scientists know about ancient sharks comes from teeth, scales and fin spine fossils. But the cartilage of early sharks would also be similar to shark cartilage today, which distinguishes sharks from most fish that have heavier skeletons made of bone. Having a skeleton made of lightweight cartilage allows sharks to conserve energy and swim long distances.

“From some of the soft tissue we have found fossilized, early sharks would have had a similar body plan to most modern day sharks,” said Emma Bernard, fish fossil curator at the British Natural History Museum.

That means sharks’ bodies were tapered at both ends and the fins were in similar places, optimized to make them high-speed predators. But the size of sharks varies greatly. Present-day sharks can range from about 1 to 55 feet. And according to Bernard, sharks about 60 feet long (18 meters) exist in the fossil record.

“The common thread is that they exploit different parts of the marine ecosystem,” Bernard explained. “So the more generalist an animal is the more likely it will be to adapt and survive changes in its environment, and the group as a whole will survive.”

Wide variety of sharks and adaptations

Teeth are one good illustration of how modern day sharks evolved in different ways. Many early sharks had conical, non-serrated teeth. Meanwhile, many sharks today evolved to have triangular teeth that were flat and serrated like a steak knife, which helps them bite off chunks of prey.

But not all shark teeth are the same. Some bottom-dwelling sharks that feed on mollusks have teeth suited to grinding and cracking shells open. Others, such as goblin sharks (which have a crazy jaw protrusion), have needle-like teeth used for piercing fish. And the biggest fish in the ocean, the filter-feeding whale shark, eats plankton and doesn’t actually use its 300 rows of pointed teeth to eat.

“The most interesting adaptation for me, as someone who studies shark feeding, is probably their flexibility in diet,” said shark evolution researcher Lisa Whitenack in an email. “If one prey type decreases in abundance, then they could potentially switch to something else.”

Sharks also have a wide variety of migration patterns. Marine conservation biologist David Shiffman said. He once saw a nurse shark stay under the same rock for a week.

“But some shark migrations are thousands of miles,” Shiffman said. “It’s amazing how far they can swim and for how long.”

Some species travel long distances on a daily basis, yo-yo-ing from shallow to deep water to hunt. For example, the blue shark will dive more than a thousand feet during the day but return to the surface to spend the night.

In general, sharks and their adaptations are difficult to generalize.

“They are in deep water and shallow water, cold and warm water, even occasionally freshwater,” said Whitenack, an Associate Professor of Biology and Geology at Allegheny College. “When you look at ‘sharks’ as a group, it’s no wonder that they’ve survived mass extinctions — chances are some small pocket of species will survive somewhere.”

Need for speed

One way to survive in an ocean full of other predators is to be fast. So many sharks are built for speed.

Shark skin is made up of tiny V-shaped scales called dermal denticles, because they resemble teeth more than fish scales. These skin denticles decrease drag in the water and help sharks glide more quietly.

Many sharks’ tails, called caudal fins, are larger on top than on the bottom, which allows the animals to swim more efficiently.

Some sharks also have a mechanism on their caudal fins called a horizontal keel, which reduces turbulence and allows them to swim faster.

One of the fastest fish in the ocean is actually a shark — the shortfin mako — which can reach a top speed of about 55mph. Unlike other sharks that swim in a wavy pattern, mako sharks swim in a straighter pattern. These speedy sharks also have a face shaped like a cone to glide through the water more efficiently.

A sixth sense

Sharks also have an extra sense — the ability to sense electromagnetic fields. That means they can detect the Earth’s magnetic field as well as the small electric fields that marine animals create when moving their muscles.

“They use that for navigation, to swim in the open ocean, and also to find prey that’s buried under the sand,” Shiffman said. “That’s why hammerheads have that shape. It’s like sweeping a metal detector across the sand.”

Sharks can also detect vibrations in the water, using special cells that run in a line along the middle of their bodies. This “lateral line” system allows sharks to sense ripples in the water created by their prey, meaning they can even hunt in the dark.

Despite adaptations, sharks face threats

As a result of these adaptations, most large sharks have few natural predators apart from other sharks. But about 100 million sharks are killed each year by humans.

Movies would have you think that sharks are bloodthirsty predators that pose a threat to swimmers and surfers. But actually, people pose a much greater danger to sharks than the other way around.

“The biggest threat facing sharks as a group is unsustainable overfishing,” Shiffman said. “Some of it is sharks being targeted, and some of it is sharks being caught as bycatch, typically for tuna and swordfish.”

Despite adaptations that make them great predators, sharks — and their ecosystems — are still at risk. Losing sharks due to overfishing and recreational fishing can harm ecosystems and disrupt the food chain in unintended ways.

“It’s important to have healthy shark populations,” Shiffman said. “Predators at the top of the food chain help regulate the food chain. They eat the sick and the weak, and that keeps prey populations from growing out of control.”

Source: https://fox6now.com/

Majungasaurus Replaced All Its Teeth Every Two Months: Study

Saturday, November 30, 2019

Two individuals of Majungasaurus chasing Rapetosaurus, with Masiakasaurus in the foreground. Image credit: ABelov2014, abelov2014.deviantart.com / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Majungasaurus, a carnivorous dinosaur that lived approximately 70 million years ago (Cretaceous period) in what is now Madagascar, grew new teeth roughly 2 to 13 times faster than those of other predatory dinosaurs, according to new research.

“I’m hoping this project spurs more people to study other species. I bet that will reveal further surprises,” said lead author Dr. Michael D’Emic, a researcher at Adelphi University and Stony Brook University.

“And hopefully that will lead to a better understanding of how dinosaurs evolved to be successful for so long.”

In the study, Dr. D’Emic and colleagues estimated tooth formation and replacement rates in three carnivorous dinosaurs: MajungasaurusAllosaurus, and Ceratosaurus.

The researchers used a collection of isolated fossil teeth to examine microscopic growth lines in the teeth.

These growth lines are similar to tree rings, but instead of being deposited once a year, they are deposited daily.

At the same, they used computerized tomography (CT) on intact jaws to visualize unerupted teeth growing deep inside the bones.

They found high tooth replacement rates in all three dinosaurs, with Allosaurus and Ceratosaurus rates of around 100 days and 56 days for Majungasaurus.

Craniofacial and dental histology of the predatory dinosaurs included in the study: (a) Allosaurus, (b) Ceratosaurus, and (c) Majungasaurus surface reconstructions derived from computed tomography data and dentine histology. Histological sections derived from (d) Majungasaurus, (e) Ceratosaurus, and (f) Allosaurus, illustrating incremental daily lines in dentine, which extend obliquely from upper left to lower right in each image. Scale bars – 10 cm (a-c) and 100 μm (d-f). Image credit: D’Emic et al, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224734.

Majungasaurus would form a new tooth in each socket approximately every two months,” Dr. D’Emic said.

“This meant they were wearing down on their teeth quickly, possibly because they were gnawing on bones.”

“There is independent evidence for this in the form of scratches and gouges that match the spacing and size of their teeth on a variety of bones — bones from animals that would have been their prey.”

“Some animals today, too, will gnaw on bones, including rodents. It’s a way for them to ingest certain nutrients,” Dr. D’Emic noted.

“It also requires exceptionally strong teeth — but Majungasaurus did not have those.”

“That’s our working hypothesis for why they had such elevated rates of replacement,” he added.

“The rapid-fire tooth growth puts Majungasaurus in same league with sharks and big, herbivorous dinosaurs.”

The study is published in the journal PLoS ONE.

_____

M.D. D’Emic et al. 2019. Evolution of high tooth replacement rates in theropod dinosaurs. PLoS ONE 14 (11): e0224734; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0224734

Source: www.sci-news.com/

‘Remarkable’ Fossil Features an Insect Trapped in Amber, Stuck to a Dinosaur Jaw

Saturday, November 30, 2019

EMMA JONES/UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

It isn’t every day that scientists dig up a dinosaur jaw—or unearth the remains of fossilized insects. So paleontologists couldn’t believe their luck when, in 2010, they found the 75-million-year-old jawbone of a duck-billed hadrosaur in Dinosaur Provincial Park in Canada’s Alberta province, topped with a 7-centimeter-wide blob of amber containing traces of trees and sap-sucking aphids (above).

The “remarkable” two-for-one fossil would have been preserved in an incredibly unlikely chain of events, the researchers write today in Scientific Reports. The paleontologists believe that after the Prosaurolophus hadrosaur died—and the flesh had decayed off its jawbone—it washed into a river. There, a blob of sticky resin from either a redwood or an araucarian conifer tree also fell. The blob, containing an unlucky aphid, washed up against the bone and was pressed against it by the flow of water, the scientists argue. It was then covered in sediment for tens of millions of years, during which time the resin hardened into amber.

The find—the first of its kind in North America—carries a cargo of secrets about the dinosaur’s environment. For example, the plant and insect traces inside confirm what many paleontologists already hypothesized: Some hadrosaurs, including the 9-meter-long Prosaurolophus, fed on conifers near coastal floodplains.

Source: www.sciencemag.org/

Jeholbaatar kielanae: Cretaceous-Period Mammal Had Bizarre Middle Ear

Saturday, November 30, 2019

A life reconstruction of the Cretaceous multituberculate Jeholbaatar kielanae. Image credit: Yong Xu.

Paleontologists in China have unearthed a nearly complete skeleton of a previously unknown Cretaceous mammal species with well-preserved middle ear bones.

The ancient creature is a multituberculate mammal (order Multituberculata), a distant relative of today’s rodents.

Named Jeholbaatar kielanae, the animal lived approximately 120 million years ago (Early Cretaceous period) in what is now China.

It had a body mass of about 50 grams and a middle ear very distinct from those of its relatives.

Jeholbaatar kielanae displays the first well-preserved middle-ear bones in multituberculates, providing solid evidence of the morphology and articulation of these bony elements, which are fully detached from the dentary,” said team leader Professor Yuanqing Wang, a researcher in the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“It reveals a unique configuration with more complete components than those previously reported in multituberculates.”

Jeholbaatar kielanae, a holotype in dorsal view. Image credit: Wang et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1792-0.

The well-preserved skeleton of Jeholbaatar kielanae was discovered in the Jiufotang Formation (Jehol Biota) near Changzigou, Lingyuan City, China’s Liaoning Province.

According to the team, it represents a transitional stage in the evolution of the surangular — a ‘reptilian’ jawbone.

“Fossil evidence shows that postdentary bones were either embedded in the postdentary trough on the medial side of the dentary or connected to the dentary via an ossified Meckel’s cartilage in early mammals, prior to their migration into the cranium as seen in extant mammals,” the scientists said.

“Detachment of the mammalian middle ear bones from the dentary occurred independently at least three times. But how and why this process took place in different clades of mammals remains unclear.”

“Our findings suggest that the co-evolution of the primary and secondary jaw joints in allotherians (extinct branch of mammals, which includes Multituberculata) was an evolutionary adaptation allowing feeding with unique palinal (longitudinal and backwards) chewing,” they added.

“Thus, the evolution of the allotherian auditory apparatus was probably triggered by the functional requirements of the feeding apparatus.”

The team’s paper was published in the journal Nature.

_____

H. Wang et al. Cretaceous fossil reveals a new pattern in mammalian middle ear evolution. Nature, publihsed online November 27, 2019; doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1792-0

Source: www.sci-news.com/

Oldest Crinoid From The Iberian Peninsula

Thursday, November 28, 2019

This exceptionally well-preserved crinoid, Delgadocrinus oportovinum, was found on October 11, 1905, by Nery Delgado during his work mapping the geology and paleontology of Portugal.
Crinoids are marine animals in the class Crinoidea. They are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers and brittle stars. Adult crinoids have a mouth located on the upper surface surrounded by feeding arms. These have feathery pinnules and are spread wide to gather planktonic particles from the water.

Delgado's find resulted in the creation of a new family, Delgadocrinoinidae, a new genus and a new species. Ausich et al. published on New and Revised Occurrences of Ordovician Crinoids from Southwestern Europe in the Journal of Paleontology, November 2007. In their work, they honour Delgado. His find was the first record of an Ordovician crinoid from Portugal, Delgadocrinus oportovinum, marking it as the oldest known crinoid from the Iberian Peninsula (Arenigian/Oretanian boundary, early Darriwilian).

The team took a comprehensive look at the Ordovician crinoids of southwestern Europe, including taxa based on articulated crowns and stems. This summary incorporates new material, new localities, and a revision of some southwestern Europe occurrences and is well worth a read. The Type Specimen you see here is now housed in the Natural History Museum of Lisbon. Luis Lima shared a photo of his recent visit to their beautiful collections and kindly granted permission to share the photo here.

Reference: Ausich, William Sá, Artur-Gutiérrez-Marco, Juan. (2007). New and revised occurrences of Ordovician crinoids from southwestern Europe. Journal of Paleontology - J PALEONTOL. 81. 1374-1383. 10.1666/05-038.1.

Source: www.science20.com/

16-Million-Year-Old Dominican Amber Reveals Springtails’ Longstanding Dispersal by Social Insects

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Distribution of Electrosminthuridia helibionta springtails on termite and ant hosts within 16-million-year-old Dominican amber: (A) amber specimen; (B) illustration showing the location of springtails on social insects. Arrow – inflow of the tree resin before consolidation. Scale bar – 0.5 cm. Image credit: N. Robin & P. Barden.

An international team of paleontologists has announced the discovery of an ancient interaction preserved in a 16-million-year-old (Miocene Epoch) piece of amber from the Dominican Republic: a winged termite and an ant along with 25 springtails (one of the oldest terrestrial arthropod lineages living today) attached or in close proximity to the wings and legs of their hosts. This discovery highlights the existence of a new type of hitchhiking behavior among wingless terrestrial arthropods, and could be key to explaining how symphypleonan springtails successfully achieved dispersal worldwide.

“The existence of this hitchhiking behavior is especially exciting given the fact that modern springtails are rarely described as having any interspecfic association with surrounding animals,” said Dr. Ninon Robin, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

“This finding underscores how important fossils are for telling us about unsuspected ancient ecologies as well as still ongoing behaviors that were so far simply overlooked.”

Today, springtails (subclass Collembola) are among the most common arthropods found in moist habitats around the world.

Most possess a specialized appendage under their abdomen they use to ‘spring’ away in flee-like fashion to avoid predation.

However, this organ is not sufficient for traversing long distances, especially since most springtails are unable to survive long in dry areas.

The ancient hitchhikers Dr. Robin and colleagues found in the Dominican amber, dubbed Electrosminthuridia helibionta, belong to a lineage of springtails found today on every continent, known as Symphypleona, which may have been pre-adapted to grasping on to other arthropods through prehensile antennae.

Because springtails would have encountered such winged termites and ants frequently due to their high abundance during the time of the preservation, these social insects may have been their preferred hosts for transportation.

“Symphypleonan springtails are unusual compared to other Collembola in that they have specialized antennae that are used in mating courtship,” said Dr. Phillip Barden, from the Department of Biological Sciences at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the American Museum of Natural History.

“This antennal anatomy may have provided an evolutionary pathway for grasping onto other arthropods.”

“In this particular fossil, we see these specialized antennae wrapping around the wings and legs of both an ant and termite.”

“Some winged ants and termites are known to travel significant distances, which would greatly aid in dispersal.”

The study was published in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

_____

N. Robin et al. 2019. Fossil amber reveals springtails’ longstanding dispersal by social insects. BMC Evol Biol 19, 213; doi: 10.1186/s12862-019-1529-6

Source: www.sci-news.com/

Jeff Goldblum Teases ‘Nice Part’ in Jurassic World 3

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Jeff Goldblum stars in Jurassic World 3 (Picture: Matt Baron/REX)

Jeff Goldblum will reprise his iconic role of Dr Ian Malcolm from the Jurassic Park films in the newest franchise release, Jurassic World 3. The 67-year-old said he has a ‘nice part’ in the upcoming film, which is due to be released in 2021. Jeff revealed: ‘Yes, I have a nice part in it.’ The Thor actor then praised Jurassic World’s director, Colin Trevorrow as ‘so wonderful’. ‘He’s going to write in and direct it,’ he told Collider. Jeff then explained: ‘I’ve been reading it every day, working on it. ‘I am eager to do it and get reunited with Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Chris [Pratt] and Bryce [Dallas Howard] and I can’t wait.’

Jeff originally played the role of Dr Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park (1993), then The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018). This will make the fourth film he’s played the brainy Ian Malcolm, out of six films in the franchise. It was revealed last year Jeff’s iconic Jurassic Park role almost never came about. Jeff confessed that Steven revealed that his character and that of Sam Neill’s, Dr Alan Grant, were set to get merged into one during a cast roundtable. ‘When I first met Steven Spielberg at Amblin, he came in and said, “You know, there’s a movement afoot, a new rewrite is happening, and your character, Ian Malcolm, is being written out,’ he said. ‘We probably wanna give these funny lines and kinda incorporate your character into the Sam Neil character.”’

Thank god that didn’t happen. Jurassic World 3 is set for release in 2021.

 

Source: https://metro.co.uk/

The JP Power Wheels Jeep is the Perfect Gift for Jurassic Park Fans

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

A functioning toy replica of Jurassic Park's Jeep Wrangler has been released by Walmart Canada and Power Wheels, just in time for Christmas.

The latest release from Power Wheels can allow young fans to truly embrace their dinosaur hunter and get around in true Jurassic Park style. Based on Michael Crichton's novel of the same name, Jurassic Park was directed by Steven Spielberg. The film follows a handpicked group chosen to experience a new titular park themed around genetically recreated dinosaurs. Unfortunately, things famously go awry when some of the more deadly creatures released from captivity. A huge hit critically and commercially, the film would go on to spawn a host of sequels centered alternately on Jeff Goldblum's Ian Malcolm and Sam Neill's Alan Grant.

The dino-themed adventure franchise was later soft rebooted/continued by Colin Trevorrow with Jurassic World. Starring Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard, the modernized installments were met with praise and a healthy box office - most notably for its somewhat self-referential tone and commitment to nostalgia. Jurassic World ultimately received a cinematic sequel of its own. It also spawned a short film - Battle at Big Rock - which directly followed on from the status quo established in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It also offered a teasing insight into what fans can expect from the already confirmed third outing. Jurassic World 3 will see Goldblum, Neill, and Laura Dern all reprise their rolesRegardless of everything that has come since, however, nothing has resonated quite as strongly with fans as the beloved original.

Channeling that nostalgia just in time for Christmas, Walmart Canada has unveiled a functioning replica of the film's Jeep as part of their "50 Cool Ideas for Boys" range. Able to seat two, the Power Wheels Jeep Wrangler comes packed with Jurassic Park-themed graphics and styling. It also features cool dinosaur sounds and realistic Jeep Wrangler "chase" sounds. The Jurassic Park Jeep can reach up to 2.5 mph on grass and 5 mph on hard surfaces. All come with parent-controlled high-speed lockout and power-lock brakes. Made for ages 3-7, there is also a real working light bar, roomy storage area, and fully functioning doors.

It is just one of many 2019 Christmas Gift Guides on offer this season, and just in time for Black Friday. It also perfectly timed with the production on Jurassic World 3, which continues to ramp up its casting process. Pratt and Howard are also set to return. Equally, Justice Smith and Danielle Pineda will reprise their roles from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. They will be joined by franchise newcomers DeWanda Wise in a lead role and Sorry For Your Loss star Mamoudoun Athie in an unknown role. Official plot details, however, remain firmly under wraps. After passing the baton to J.A. Bayona for the middle installment, Trevorrow will return to the director's chair. He also co-wrote the script with Emily Carmichael.

It's the return of Goldblum, Neill, and Dern, however, that has fans truly excited. Goldblum, of course, had a role in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Unfortunately, it turned out to be little more than a cameo. In Jurassic World 3, though, each character will have a much more prominent and expanded role. Having survived the initial violent mayhem (and a few other adventures since), they will doubt have welcome experience and expertise necessary to navigate the new world order. The Jeep Wrangler in Jurassic Park was often crucial to Ian Malcolm, Alan Grant, and Ellie Sattler's survival - even at one point, helping them escape a Tyrannosaurus Rex. As such, it'll be a perfect gift for young fans to escape an imagined T-Rex of their own.

Source: https://screenrant.com/

Xunmenglong yingliangis: New Dinosaur Species Found in North China

Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Models of Xunmenglong yingliangis, a tiny, bird-like theropod dinosaur found in North China. (Photo/Sina Weibo account of Xing Lida)

A tiny, bird-like theropod dinosaur found in North China has been identified as a new species, which will help scientists to better understand the evolution of dinosaurs, according to a research team, the thepaper.cn.

The research team, consisting of scientists from home and abroad and led by Xing Lida, associate professor at China University of Geosciences, discovered the new species of the compsognathid dinosaur in Fengning Manchu autonomous county in North China's Hebei province.

Scientists have published their findings on the new species - a very small bipedal carnivorous dinosaur, in Cretaceous Research, a journal issued by the publisher Elsevier, and named it Xunmenglong yingliangis.

Once living in the early Cretaceous period, around 65 million years ago, the Xunmenglongdiffers from other family members in its physical features, including a unique combination of postcranial traits and disproportionately long lower legs.

Despite the incomplete fossil records, scientists estimated that the dinosaurs were approximately 30 centimeters in length, and had long necks, small skulls, and tiny but deadly teeth, all of which made them excellent hunters.

What's more, with the help of inherited good vision and strong rear limbs, these tiny carnivores were able to seize smaller animals, and even flying insects and moving lizards when hunting.

Presently, questions remain about its habitat preferences and diversification patterns, but the new findings will provide evidence of its co-living animals and the distribution of the compsognathid dinosaur.

Source: www.ecns.cn/

Mathematician Claims Another Dinosaur-Ending Asteroid Will Hit Earth Again

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Earth faces danger of getting hit by asteroids, warn scientists (Representational picture)

A massive asteroid hit the Earth around 66 million years ago, and it resulted in magnitude 11 earthquakes as well as a sudden climate shift that eventually caused the end of the dinosaur era.

In Q&A website Quora, Mathematician Robert Walker answered the question of whether an asteroid will hit the Earth again. He said an asteroid as massive as the Chicxulub asteroid will hit the Earth again because they do so every 100 million years on average.

Since it has been about 66 million years since the dinosaur-killing asteroid hit Earth, this could mean that another one could strike again in about 44 million years.

According to NASA, space objects large enough to threaten Earth’s civilization come once every few million years, while potentially hazardous meteoroids the size of football fields hit the Earth about once every 2,000 years.

So far, 90 percent of near-Earth objects over a kilometer in size are already accounted for by NASA, which means that 10 percent of them are still unknown. While the chances of a major asteroid hitting Earth and causing significant regional damage in a year is rather small at 1 in 300,000, it is still not an impossibility.

This is why NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are already teaming up for Asteroid Impact Deflection Assessment (AIDA) mission in hopes of finding a way to deflect the potentially hazardous asteroid from hitting the Earth.

For the project, NASA will deliberately crash a spacecraft onto asteroid Dydimos to hopefully change its orbit speed, albeit by a little, then ESA’s Hera spacecraft will come three years later to assess the changes to the asteroid more closely.

Meanwhile, NASA’s OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft is already on asteroid Bennu, a 500-meter space rock with the potential to wipe out a country on Earth in 120 years. With this mission, scientists hope to gather vital information on how to avert potentially hazardous asteroids from hitting Earth.

That said, it is worth noting that there is only a small chance of asteroid Bennu hitting the Earth. In fact, of the planets in the solar system, Bennu is most likely to hit Venus. 

Source: www.ibtimes.com/

Pages