Ancient meteorite was ‘giant fertiliser bomb’ for life

A meteorite up to 200 times bigger than the one that killed the dinosaurs might have acted as a “giant fertiliser bomb” that helped early microorganisms to thrive more than 3 billion years ago. The space rock would have caused a tsunami, partially evaporated the oceans and plunged Earth into darkness. On the plus side for Palæoarchæan life, it also released phosphorus and sloshed iron-rich water up from the deep.