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Ludovic Ferriεave;re is one of the few scientists searching Earth for undiscovered impact craters from asteroids and comets. He tells Joshua Howgego why it is so important [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ranajay Ghosh at the University of Central Florida and his colleagues wanted to know if the dust and loose rocks on the moon and Mars, known as regolith, could be made into sturdy bricks. BRICKS made of salt water and moon or Mars dust can withstand enough pressure to be used in any future extraterrestrial construction. [Extracted from the article]

PLUTO has huge ice volcanoes that may still be active. Singer's team examined images, data and maps of the area and found that it was probably created via effusive cryovolcanism. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses various views regarding the hydrological history of planet Mars. Mars was a watery world like Earth, but the large bodies of water were gradually lost through climate change according to the conventional view. However, Gerhard Neukum of the Free University of Berlin found no evidence to support the conventional view that Mars lost its water once based on the number of craters present as a yardstick.

When an asteroid hits the Earth, nothing in its path survives. But did such deadly impacts trigger life in the first place. Standing at ground zero in the center of Haughton crater, Nunavut it is difficult to grasp the enormity of what occurred here 23 million years ago. Lush forests grew, giant rabbits hopped around and small rhinoceros grazed. All this changed when a comet or asteroid more than a kilometer wide slammed into the forest. The impact excavated between 70 and 100 billion tonnes of rock, forming a crater 24 kilometers wide. The warmth of the impact heated groundwater, creating hydrothermal systems, perfect homes for intrepid colonizing organisms, such as bacteria and algae. But if the new thinking on impact craters is right, then although devastating impacts were common, so too were fertile hydrothermal systems.

Focuses on the theory that the earth was hit by an extraterrestrial body at the time of the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) boundary and the location of a crater that was possibly the impact point. Evidence of an impact on the Yucatan Peninsula at the edge of the gulf of Mexico; Size of the extraterrestrial object; Dissenters of the impact theory.

The article discusses research on the crater formation process and estimated age of the asteroid Ryugu, conducted by Masahiko Arakawa of Kobe University and colleagues, published in an issue of "Science" journal.

Extraordinary fossils may hold evidence of the catastrophic asteroid strike, finds Michael Marshall [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the discovery of a meteorite crater underneath the Greenland ice sheet, referencing an article coauthored by scientist Iain McDonald in the "Science Advances" journal.

The article reports that the second world war bomb craters in Hungary have effectively produced a rich mix of rare saline water species like the algae (Halamphora dominici) and the endemic fairy shrimp (Eubranchipus grubii).

The article discusses research by Clemens Rumpf and colleagues in which they calculated the mortality risk if an asteroid were to hit a residential area. Their research suggests that an asteroid would deposit a huge amount of energy into earth's atmosphere, resulting in a powerful shock wave that would create tornado-like winds and a trail of fire, making a huge crater and hurling debris into the air if landing on ground or creating a tsunami if landing in the water.

The article reports on a study by Donald Lowe of Stanford University published in the journal "Geology" that estimates large meteorite impacts on Earth occurred until 3 billion years ago, almost a billion years longer than previous estimates. Topics include evidence of asteroid strikes in spherule particles; estimates of the size of the meteors; and implications of the theory on ancient single-celled life.

The article discusses a 2013 report in the journal "Nature Geosciences" regarding research by Kieren Torres Howard and colleagues of the University of Tasmania in Hobart, Australia, investigating the distribution and composition of the impact glass of the 800,000-year-old Darwin crater in Tasmania, Australia. Chemical analysis showed the glass was rich in organic material similar to that in a peat swamp, suggesting that microbes traveling on meteors could have seeded the planets.

The article provides information related to the impact of asteroid to dinosaurs. Soot particles from across the globe suggest that the smoke that shrouded the world after the collision came from immature oil in rocks at the crater site. Over 20 years ago, researchers found large volumes of soot in the distinctive layer of iridium-rich sediment that marks the impact. Theory had it that the rock from the crater was vaporized, and the soot came from extensive wildfires sparked by the smash.

The article reports that the Mars rover Spirit has finally crawled to the top of Husband Hill in the Red Planet's Gusev Crater and the view is spectacular, the crater is 160 kilometres in diameter. The Martian weather has also helped to spice up the view. Spirit has filmed several dust devils working their way across the plain below. Meanwhile, Spirit's twin, the Opportunity rover, continues to cruise toward the Meridiani plain's Erebus Crater, on the other side of the planet.

The article presents a study on meteoroid impacts on asteroids, conducted by Peter Thomas and colleagues. The study was published in the vol. 436 of the journal "Nature." Meteoroid impacts can give facelifts to asteroids, apparently knocking hundreds of millions of years off their actual age. The researchers studied the asteroid Eros and noticed that 40 per cent of the asteroid's surface had far fewer craters than the rest of it. Thomas thinks a collision with a meteoroid caused an asteroid-quake, and the seismic waves set Eros shaking so hard that small craters in a wide area around the crash site were smoothed out.

The article reports that the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Deep Impact spacecraft smashed into comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. NASA says it cannot see the crater formed by the collision because its computers cannot fix the fuzzy pictures taken by the High Resolution Instrument (HRI), a camera on the fly-by spacecraft. NASA first discovered that the HRI was not focusing properly in March 2005 and blamed the fuzzy images on moisture settling in the camera. The agency was confident that some nifty image processing on Earth would reveal more detail. When the impactor probe struck Tempel 1, it raised so much dust that surface features became too faint for computers to work their magic.

The article reports on the method used by planetary scientists to estimate the ages of various regions of Mars. Some of the Martian surfaces may be up to 100 times older than previously estimated. To estimate the age of any region on Mars, geologists count the number of meteor craters they can see in images of the area. The idea is that the older a surface, the more craters should have accumulated over time. Crater counts give an indication of the relative age of different Martian regions. Assuming that the rate of meteor impacts at any given time was roughly uniform throughout the inner solar system, those ages should translate directly to Mars.

The article presents information on meteor impacts in the recent past. The discovery of the largest field of impact craters ever uncovered on Earth is the first evidence that the planet suffered simultaneous meteor impacts in the recent past. The field has gone unnoticed until now because it is partially buried beneath the sands of the Sahara desert in south-western Egypt. Philippe Paillou of Bordeaux University Observatory in Floirac, France, first noticed circular geological structures in the Sahara last year, while analyzing radar satellite pictures of the area. The previous largest known crater field covers a mere 60 square kilometers in Argentina. In February, Paillou led a joint Egyptian and French mission to find the site and examined 13 of the craters, confirming that they were the result of simultaneous impacts.

Two massive objects that hit the Earth about 35 million years ago were believed to be comets. But an analysis of one of the craters is showing that the culprit was asteroid. If the second crater was also caused by an asteroid, it would mean that asteroids this big can strike the Earth at intervals of only a few thousand years. The two impacts that created the 100-kilometre Popigai crater in Siberia and the 85-kilometre Chesapeake Bay crater just off the shore of Virginia happened a mere 10,000 years apart. As such massive events are expected to occur only once in 26 million years, the thinking was that the two had to be related and that only a comet shower could have been responsible. Massive asteroids were thought to be loners.

The Mars rover Opportunity discovered that surface water existed on early Mars not just for years but for aeons, making it more likely that life had enough time to get a foothold on the planet. Within a few weeks of landing on Mars in January 2004, Opportunity found evidence of a watery past on the surface of Mars, first in a small crater called Eagle near its landing site Meridiani Planum, and then in the much larger Endurance crater. In both places, the layered bedrock provided multiple lines of evidence, including voids left by dissolved salt crystals, and haematite spheres, showing that liquid water was once there.

The article presents latest news updates from the field of science and technology. In what could be a journey of no return, the Mars rover Opportunity plunged over the rim of Endurance crater, a bowl the size of a football stadium, to study exposed bedrock. A second case of vCJD, the human form of mad cow disease, is suspected in Italy. Brain scans of a 30-year-old woman admitted to a Palermo clinic matched those of a 27-year-old woman who last August became the first Italian victim. Fish stocks in the United States coastal waters are showing some signs of recovery.

A meteorite impact crater dating from the 4th or 5th century A.D. has been discovered in the Italian Apennine mountains. As well as leaving a distinct scar on the land, the impact may have changed the course of history. Jens Ormo, a young impact geologist from Sweden and his colleagues, Roberto Santilli, Angelo Pio Rossi and Goro Komatsu, have discovered an impact crater in the Sirente mountains that is larger than a football field and dates from the 4th or 5th century. Ormo made his discovery when he came across a photograph of a lake in Italy's Sirente-Velino Regional Park in a guidebook and was immediately struck by its round shape. He hiked to the lake with his colleagues and they quickly identified several telltale features of an impact crater. The unusual seasonal lake, which measures 115 by 140 meters, has a pronounced raised rim and no inlet or outlet, being filled by rainfall.

Reports on observations made by astrobiologists that could help them to trace origins of life on Earth. Implications of the study of a 65 million year old crater at Chicxulub on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, by Susan Kieffer and her team at the university of Illinois; Findings of a gene study regarding the age of cyanobacteria on Earth.

Reports on Western Australia Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources researcher Robert Iasky's discovery of the Woodleigh asteroid impact crater as of January 26, 2002. Discovery of minerals released or brought by the asteroid during impact 360 million years ago.

Reports on the idea to use geothermal energy from a meteorite crater to heat homes in Stockholm, Sweden. Efforts of a team from the Royal Institute of Technology led by Herbert Henkel to harness energy from the crater; Effect of the project on the level of carbon dioxide emissions in Sweden.

Highlights a study led by University of Hawaii researcher Luann Becker, published in volume 97 of the `Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,' which found buckyballs in samples of debris from an impact crater and from two meteorites which were thought to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Gases contained in the buckyballs; Implications of the findings for studies on the Earth's impact history.

Reports on findings that the Manson asteroid crater in Iowa predated the mass extinction of the dinosaurs in the cretaceous period. Chicxulub crater on the Yucatan coast in Mexico as the only asteroid landing which occurred at end of the Cretaceous era; Magnetic age of the Manson rocks.

Reports on the inaccuracy of previous estimates of the size of the asteroid that created the Chicxulub crater. Presence of multiple rings; Cause of the widespread extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous period.

Reports on the discovery of an impact crater measuring 39 kilometers under the Barents sea by Steinar Thor Gudlaugsson of the University of Oslo. Estimates of the crater's age coinciding with the late Jurassic or early Cretaceous period; Other crater impacts; Data on the Mjorlir structure; Possible correlation with the extinction of dinosaurs.

Reports on research by Peter Schultz of Brown University on a string of craters in Argentina that may provide vital clues about the threat earth faces from small asteroids. Location of the craters in Argentina; How the craters were formed; Wind erosion theory by Arthur Bloom of Cornell University.

Presents a letter to the editor about the crater at Barringer in response to the article "Will we catch a falling star?" in the September 7th edition.