space rock

NASA astronauts Edward Lu and Stanley Love first proposed using a robotic spacecraft to nudge space rocks away from Earth using the gentle force of gravity a few years ago. Now a European aerospace giant has begun seriously investigating the concept.

In an auction battle between two odd items yesterday at Bonhams New York, a few fossilized pieces of 130-million-year-old dinosaur dung sold for nearly one thousand dollars, but a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite didn't find any takers.

A large meteorite supposedly fell from the sky over the weekend, excavating a 65-foot-wide crater in a remote area of the Andes. But whether the space rock really gave off fumes that caused hundreds of people to become ill is another issue. Some scientists are wondering whether it was a meteorite at all, or if, on the other hand, some kind of hydrothermal event produced the fumes.

Others speculated that the water collected in the crater may have boiled for up to ten minutes, and this could have emitted some vapors. One official reportedly experienced nose and throat irritation upon approaching the crater even though he was wearing a mask. According to the AP, though, doctors that visited the area uncovered no evidence of a stomach bug. Clearly, none of these Peruvians have seen Smallville. They should really be testing the locals for superpowers. Duh.—Gregory Mone