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A 13-year-old German schoolboy corrected NASA’s estimates on the chances of an asteroid colliding with Earth after spotting the boffins had miscalculated, a German newspaper reported.

Nico Marquardt used telescopic findings from the Institute of Astrophysics in Potsdam (AIP) to calculate that there was a one in 450 chance that the Apophis asteroid would collide with Earth, the Potsdamer Neuerster Nachrichten reported.

NASA had previously estimated the chances at only one in 45,000 but told its sister organisation, the European Space Agency (ESA), that the young whizz-kid had got it right.

The schoolboy took into consideration the risk of Apophis running into one or more of the 40,000 satellites orbiting Earth during its path close to the planet on April 13, 2029.

Those satellites travel at 3.07 kilometres a second, at up to 35,880 kilometres above Earth - and the Apophis asteroid will pass by Earth at a distance of 32,500 kilometres.

If the asteroid strikes a satellite in 2029, that will change its trajectory making it hit Earth on its next orbit in 2036.
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According to latest news reports British scientists proved that love at first sight really exists. Their latest research on the human face and sexual behavior was published this Wednesday.

News reports say that the study conducted by the universities of Durham, St Andrews and Aberdeen on 700 heterosexuals in their twenties, showed that one look can be enough for you to determine whether a long-term relationship is on the cards, or just a one-night stand.

The journal “Evolution and Human Behaviour” says that subtle sexual signals emanate from the shape of the jaw, nose size or narrowness of the eyes, “although people were not always sure about their judgments,” the authors noted.

“Lots of previous studies have shown that people can judge a lot about a person from their face, including things like health and even some personality traits like introversion,” said Ben Jones, from the University of Aberdeen’s Face Research Lab.

“But this really is the first study to show that people are also sensitive to subtle facial signals about the type of romantic relationships that others might enjoy.”
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