The asteroid impact which led to the extinction of the dinosaurs
I find the tone of absolute certainty off-putting.<p>&gt; The asteroid is falling towards Earth on a fixed trajectory, but the Earth itself is spinning beneath it, one revolution every 24 hours. This corresponds to around 1,000 miles an hour in the region of interest. So arriving ten minutes earlier or later would have placed the impact some 150 miles further to the East or West. And if this had happened, the asteroid would have missed the shallow gypsum-rich continental shelf, and encountered only the oceans on either side. No gypsum in the impact zone, no sulphuric acid haze, no long deep winter. While things might have been pretty rough for anything living within a couple of thousand miles or so, the rest of the world would hardly have noticed.<p>&gt; ...<p>&gt; And if the meteorite had arrived ten minutes earlier, or ten minutes later, it would still no doubt have inflicted devastation, but the dinosaurs would still be here and you wouldn&#x27;t.<p>While the specific hypothesis about the chemistry of the impact zone is very cool - and drilling and analysis a very compelling project - I think that the credibility of the conclusion is clouded a bit by the idea that the reader is supposed to accept with certainty that the events unfolded exactly as the author describes to within a 10-minute window.