466m years ago, there was a very, very large asteroid impact. But, despite what you’re thinking, it actually helped life on Earth be fruitful and multiply. And that’s because the asteroid impact wasn’t on Earth. It was in the inner asteroid belt. A new paper points the accusatory finger at… dust. A lot of it, blasted outward when 2 big asteroids collided. This dust made its way to Earth, blocked a significant fraction of warming sunlight, started an ice age, and that put stress on marine environments which caused a burst of evolutionary diversity.

• Uncategorized