NASA has been forced to check its math after a 13-year-old German boy wrote to tell them their calculations for the probability of an asteroid hitting earth were incorrect. Agency bosses had predicted a one-in-45,000 chance of an interstellar object bringing an end to life as we know it; that was until teen Nico Marquardt told them that the figure was closer to one in 450.
(Source: Gizmodo)
Ouch!
Congrats to Nico Marquardt for outwitting NASA. On the other hand, it’s perhaps best that we all cancel any plans for after 2036.
Maybe use that pension fund money a bit sooner, eh? 😀
UPDATE – April 18th
Looks like the kid may be wrong.
Awww, shame! 🙁