Did Gravitational Tides Cause Earth's Extinctions?
A new research paper suggests that gravitational tides from dwarf planets in the outer Solar System may have triggered mass extinctions on Earth. The study proposes that these celestial flybys caused significant geological and climatic shifts that impacted biological life over the last 600 million years.
Why it matters
This theory offers a potential new explanation for historical mass extinction events, shifting the focus from asteroid impacts to gravitational interactions.
Life on Earth took a long evolutionary journey that eventually created us, the purportedly intelligent species that dominates the planet. But there was no grand plan or design, only happenstance, nature, and luck. Life on Earth suffered multiple extinctions, but got up, dusted itself off, and continued on its long march to complexity.
The article reports on scientific research without political or social agenda.
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