Article: Rare amino acids support impact theory. (Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary composition)

Rare Amino Acids Support Impact Theory

For a decade, geologists and paleontologists have debated whether comet or meteorite impacts 65 million years ago wiped out a large fraction of existing species, including the last surviving dinosaurs. A rival theory holds that terrestrial processes such as volcanic eruptions caused the mass extinctions of that time, known as the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary. This week, scientists reported a startling new piece of impact evidence from the boundary -- extraterrestrial amino acids.

"The fact that we detect these amino acids, I think, makes the impact hypothesis really solid," says chemist Jeffrey L. Bada of the ...

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