Giant space rock helped life

More than three billion years ago, a huge rock from space – 200 times bigger than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs – hit the Earth. However, new research suggests it may have turbo-charged life here. Scientists discovered the S2 meteorite in 2014. A meteorite is a piece of rock from space that has fallen to the Earth’s surface (rather than burning up in the atmosphere), and the crater where S2 hit the planet is in South Africa. From the size of crater, it’s thought that S2 was between 25 and 37 miles wide. A team of researchers travelled to South Africa to take samples of rock from near where the meteorite crashed. They wanted to learn more about what happened when S2 hit the Earth. At the time…

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The Week Junior (UK) (Digital) - 1 Issue, 464

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