Early life probably fell victim to massive space rocks

Planet-sterilizing asteroids struck Earth until around 4.3 billion years ago

PUMMELED PLANET  Colossal rocks pelted Earth during the planet’s early years, annihilating any emerging life and creating magma-gushing gashes (red), as seen in an illustration. Scientists now estimate that the final Earth-sterilizing object hit 4.3 billion years ago.

S. Marchi

Space rocks larger in diameter than Utah bombarded the early Earth, probably repeatedly eradicating emerging life on the planet’s surface.