The Real Apocalyptic Threat: Death by Space

By Brandon R. Reynolds Mon., Dec. 3 2012 at 2:03 PM

Categories: Events, Science, Technology

Richard Haick

With all the talk of climate change, unchecked nanotech, and over-fished oceans, it's kind of a shame that people forget about the old-school catastrophic scenarios -- volcanoes, man, plagues of things. And most apocalyptic of all, that old dinosaur-killer: impact from big space stuff.

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Comets and asteroids are, according to Donald Yeomans of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, more likely to wipe out human civilization than anything else. (And yet here we are, sporting a cultural boner about a bunch of perambulating corpses when there are really compelling death fantasies to heavy-breathe over.) To that end, you'd be remiss to miss Yeomans' talk tonight, "Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us," in which we consider the sexiness of death by space rock, but also what said objects reveal about our cosmic origins -- and suggest for the future of space exploration. 'Cause this place is dead, anyway.

"Near-Earth Objects" is December 3 at 7:30 p.m. at the California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse (at Martin Luther King Jr. in Golden Gate Park), S.F. Admission is $6-$12..

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