This painting, by Donald E. Davis, depicts the Chicxulub asteroid slamming into tropical, shallow seas of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is today southeast Mexico. The aftermath of this immense asteroid collision, which occurred approximately 65-66 million years ago, is believed by some (though, I\u2019m commonly told, not by me) to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The impact spewed hundreds of billions of tons of sulfur into the atmosphere, producing a worldwide blackout as well as freezing temperatures that persisted for at least a decade. Shown in this painting are pterodactyls, flying reptiles with wingspans of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. \u00a0 \u00a0(A public domain image from NASA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I strongly, strongly recommend the New Yorker<\/em> piece. \u00a0Permit me to quote two paragraphs (and a tiny portion of a third) from its conclusion:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
One day sixty-six million years ago, life on Earth almost came to a shattering end. The world that emerged after the impact was a much simpler place. When sunlight finally broke through the haze, it illuminated a hellish landscape. The oceans were empty. The land was covered with drifting ash. The forests were charred stumps. The cold gave way to extreme heat as a greenhouse effect kicked in. Life mostly consisted of mats of algae and growths of fungus: for years after the impact, the Earth was covered with little other than ferns. Furtive, ratlike mammals lived in the gloomy understory.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nBut eventually life emerged and blossomed again, in new forms. The KT event continues to attract the interest of scientists in no small part because the ashen print it left on the planet is an existential reminder. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t be here talking on the phone if that meteorite hadn\u2019t fallen,\u201d Smit told me, with a laugh. DePalma agreed. For the first hundred million years of their existence, before the asteroid struck, mammals scurried about the feet of the dinosaurs, amounting to little. \u201cBut when the dinosaurs were gone it freed them,\u201d DePalma said. In the next epoch, mammals underwent an explosion of adaptive radiation, evolving into a dazzling variety of forms, from tiny bats to gigantic titanotheres, from horses to whales, from fearsome creodonts to large-brained primates with hands that could grasp and minds that could see through time.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe can trace our origins back to that event,\u201d DePalma said.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t help but think of the command given in Genesis, to \u201cmultiply and replenish<\/em> the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know when the next exterminating meteor will strike. \u00a0So donate to the Interpreter Foundation<\/a> and\/or to the Witnesses<\/em> film project<\/a>\u00a0soon, while there\u2019s still time.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 This is an absolutely fascinating but utterly horrifying article, and, although it\u2019s a bit on the long side, I recommend it enthusiastically. \u00a0Moreover, since it appears in the New Yorker, it\u2019s well-written and accessible: \u00a0 \u201cThe Day the Dinosaurs Died:\u00a0A young paleontologist may have discovered a record of the most significant event in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>