Asteroids might not be as dangerous as you think! Most space rocks are weaker than those on Earth and crumble on entry

The fear of the Earth being struck by an enormous asteroid has been the source for many science fiction films, but the threat of mankind being wiped out by an impact may be lower than we think. Until now, scientists used the strength of rocks found on Earth to model the damage these giant space boulders would cause. But researchers have now sacrificed a rare sample of meteorites to test the physical properties of asteroids and found they crumbled more easily than expected. It is an idea popular in science fiction, but the threat of mankind being wiped out by asteroids (artist's impression pictured) might be a lot lower than you think. Even though space rocks fall to Earth as meteorites all the time, very few are recovered.