Future Collision with Asteroid?

Hi, Polly (a.k.a. Karstuhl) here!

Mummy is concerned about many things that are rather distant from the day to day life. When I said I could write today's blog entry, she told me her plan was to write about the asteroid 1999 RQ36, and that I could very well write today, as long as it would be about what might happen to Earth and this asteroid in the year 2182. Spanish researchers have found out that the asteroid may collide with Earth that year. The probability of a collision is only about one in a thousand, and it would happen long after Mummy, I, and any other dogs or humans we know have left this life. Still, Mummy believes it is important to make people aware of what might happen. In the event of a collision, this 549 metres thick asteroid would likely wipe out life on Earth.

Mummy says humans have the ability to come up with counter measures until 2182, but must be aware of the need for it. She also told me that most of us would have direct decendants living on Earth in 2182, and it is important for us to do what we can to save them and thus our lineage to even later centuries.

I had not given our decendants any thought, but then again, I am still but a pup and have not had the reason to calculate the advantages and disadvantages of reproduction. As Grandma pointed out, if neither she nor Mummy would have wanted to reproduce, I would not have been. Still, I believe the odds for a collision is so high that I am not really concerned. Mummy must be pleased that I managed to write a long blog post nevertheless.