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Animation of the Chicxulub impact and subsequent crater formation

The Chicxulub crater is an impact crater buried underneath the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula, with its center located offshore, near the town of Chicxulub. The crater is about 180 kilometers (110 mi) in diameter, making it one of the largest confirmed impact structures in the world; the asteroid whose impact (animation shown) formed the crater was at least 10 km (6 mi) in diameter. Discovered by geophysicists looking for petroleum in the late 1970s, the impact structure was formed around 66 million years ago near the end of the Cretaceous period. It is widely accepted that the devastation and climate disruption from the impact was the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, in which around 75 percent of all plant and animal species on Earth became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. A 2021 study stated that the impactor likely originated in the outer main part of the asteroid belt. (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Interior of St. Martin, Sindelfingen

... that the flat wooden ceiling of St. Martin (pictured), the Lutheran main church of Sindelfingen built in the 11th century, is still preserved?
... that Cephas L. Bard, the first American physician in Ventura, California, was also the first person to die in the hospital he built there?
... that independent media and scholars estimate that thousands might have perished in the Yarkand Massacre in 2014?
... that Reconstructing Womanhood by Hazel Carby, about the history of American black women writers, was said to be a "landmark study" and "groundbreaking"?
... that Henry Stock designed the Peek Freans factory where, in 1929, Twiglets were invented?
... that despite a song duration limit of three minutes and thirty seconds at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, the entry from Italy lasted over five minutes?
... that the search engine of Geliyoo was found to be retrieving its results from Google, in contrast to the company's claims of spending 10 million Turkish liras on development?
... that Jamie "Canhead" Keeton is also known as the "human suction cup"?

In the news

Svante Pääbo

Svante Pääbo (pictured) is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on human evolutionary genetics.
Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Kenyan Amos Kipruto win the London Marathon women's and men's races.
In motorsport, Kalle Rovanperä wins the World Rally Championship, becoming its youngest champion at 22 years old.
In Malang Regency, Indonesia, at least 131 people are killed in a human crush at an association football match.

On this day

October 6: German-American Day in the United States

Egyptian forces crossing the Suez Canal

618 – Wang Shichong's army defeated Li Mi's at the Battle of Yanshi, allowing Wang to consolidate his power and soon depose China's Sui dynasty.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery were captured by British forces under Sir Henry Clinton, dismantling the Hudson River Chains.
1908 – Austria-Hungary announced the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, causing a crisis that permanently damaged the country's relations with the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia.
1973 – Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal (pictured) to launch an attack on the fortified Israeli Bar Lev Line, starting the Yom Kippur War.
1989 – About 200 members of the San Francisco Police Department instigated a police riot in the Castro following a peaceful protest held by ACT UP.

Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (b. 1289)
Meghnad Saha (b. 1893)
Hattie Jacques (d. 1980)

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Today's featured picture

Serge Gainsbourg (1928–1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop music, he was renowned for often provocative and scandalous releases that caused uproar in France, dividing its public opinion, as well as his diverse artistic output, which ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. He is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. His lyrical works incorporated wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Gainsbourg's music has reached legendary stature in France, and he has become one of the country's best-loved public figures. He has also gained a cult following all over the world with chart success in the United Kingdom and Belgium with "Je t'aime... moi non plus" and "Bonnie and Clyde", respectively. This photo of Gainsbourg was taken in 1981.

Photograph credit: Claude Truong-Ngoc

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