Recap

Space Viruses & Comets

Physicist James McCanney returned to the program to discuss meteors, comets and viruses from space. He noted that around 1100 AD the Chinese began relating flu epidemics with inferior conjunctions of Venus (when the planet passes between the Earth and the Sun). Viruses are not alive in the way that bacteria are, and can replicate simply from their complex chemical structure, he explained, suggesting that some viruses might travel from comets or celestial bodies to Earth.

He expressed grave concern over NASA's sample return mission from the comet WILD II, which he believes could contain virus laden material. They should study the materials from an orbital lab rather than bringing it back to Earth, he recommended. McCanney also discussed the passage of the comet Hale-Bopp in the last decade. If its tail (which contains a lot of water) had been closer to our planet, it would have caused massive flooding and a blocking of sunlight, he commented.

He also touched on the work of Velikovsky, whom he said was studying timelines for a monumental event, and concluded that Venus was originally a comet that passed through the solar system, on its way to its current position a mere 3,650 years ago—a theory McCanney supports.

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Texas Asteroid Impact

The site known as the Marquez Dome, 60 miles from Waco, TX, is actually the remnants of a huge crater formed during an asteroid impact 58 million years ago, scientists now say. Previously thought to be a salt dome, the crater filled in with rock over geologic time.

During the intial impact, the asteroid left a crater some 8 miles wide. The incident may well have had global consequences as "the amount of energy released was around 10 million to 100 million megatons," said Bill Deane, a University of Tenn. geology professor. Read more here.