Science, News & Critical Thinking.

Doom From Above (according to Fox news)

I came across this little gem this morning.
http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-narrow-miss-by-space-mass-2010al30,0,5025749.story

You will notice the NASA ambassador interviewed in the video clip viewed the event as pretty minor and nothing to freak out about. But to read the article on this page associated with the video clip and you would think we’re all about to die! What’s more… The difference in tone between the written article and the video makes me feel that there is more to the story than meets the eye.

As I commented to fox news-All I have to say is, do your math people! When the space shuttle broke up in the atmosphere it was much larger than a bus, and didn’t cause devastating consequences for life on our home planet. The MIR space station was brought down and didn’t interrupt breakfast for anyone… Heck, we get thousands of meteors zipping through our atmosphere every day, some the size of basketballs to volkswagon buses, and none of them have been on the news.

You get one crackpot with a theory based on his own improper interpretation of data and and you’re ready to throw the doomsday switch into overdrive. Ask an astrophysicist if a meteor the size of a bus would ruin anyone’s day on a global scale. Try selling the news with the facts instead of the hype, and maybe we won’t be so freakin’ terrified to look up.