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Zimmer133.jpg Carl Zimmer is a science writer. PLEASE VISIT THE LOOM AT ITS NEW HOME.

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Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life



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Charles Darwin's The Descent of Man: The Concise Edition



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Revised with a new introduction





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Why the Loom?

"...among the joyous, heartless, ever-juvenile eternities, Pip saw the multitudinous, God-omnipresent, coral insects, that out of the firmament of waters, heaved the colossal orbs. He saw God's foot upon the treadle of the loom, and spoke it; and therefore his shipmates called him mad."
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« Is There Nothing E. coli Cannot Do? Part One of a Continuing Series... | Main | Whales: From So Humble A Beginning... »

Little Asteroid, Big Fireball

Category: General
Posted on: December 18, 2007 10:19 PM, by Carl Zimmer

tunguska2.jpgIs it wrong to find pictures of destruction beautiful? This is a frame from a supercomputer simulation of the Tunguska meteorite. It exploded over Siberia in 1908 and flattened miles of trees. The simulation suggests that the devastation could have been caused by a far smaller explosion than previously thought--3 to 5 megatons, instead of 10 to 20. And since there are many more asteroids in that smaller size range, the risks of a devastating impact may be greater than previously thought. Maybe not enough to cause mass extinctions, but to knock out a fair piece of real estate. Go here to read more and to watch a series of simulation movies.

Comments

#1

Impresionant and really very interesting. Thanks

Posted by: Pasharati | December 19, 2007 12:54 PM

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