It's just so neat to see the fruits of ever-advancing science: New technology, new medicines, new discoveries about things that might one day melt your face and destroy your dreams:
Violent star collisions, called a kilonova, could devastate our planet due to a lethal spew of radiation — namely gamma rays, cosmic rays and x-rays — that are emitted from the celestial event, scientists have discovered.
"We found that if a neutron star merger were to occur within around 36 light-years of Earth, the resulting radiation could cause an extinction-level event," University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher Haille Perkins told Space.com.
Nice.
Okay, on the one hand, the scientists inform us that these phenomena are "rare" and not worth getting too nervous about. As one researcher noted, "there are several other more common events like solar flares, asteroid impacts, and supernova explosions that have a better chance of being harmful."
Ultimately, we're all on borrowed time here on Earth: There's always the ever-looming threat of an asteroid, a microbe, a solar flare, a badly placed ladder, or a supervolcano.
Everything can kill you at any time, basically.
If you believe all the beauty and order in the universe came out of random chaos with no purpose or direction at all, that's terrifying. Your death, like your life, is a total accident that means nothing.
But, if you believe there's a God who created it all (including you) with a purpose - say, a God who loves you and placed eternity in your heart - well, now, the newest thing scientists are concerned about doesn't seem so bad. In that case, why worry? Is the God who made galaxies too small for your daily troubles?
When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made, and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, of what importance is the human race, that you should notice them?
Of what importance is mankind, that you should pay attention to them?
You made them a little less than the heavenly beings.
You crowned mankind with honor and majesty. You appoint them to rule over your creation; you have placed everything under their authority.
- Psalm 8:3-6
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