AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF THE WORLD ; What If.? What Would the World Be like Now Had the Past Unfolded Differently? What If the Dinosaurs Had Survived? or Hitler Won in 1945? or the Areoplane Been Invented 1,000 Years Earlier? Science Fiction Writer Stephen Baxter Canvasses the Possibilities

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65 million years ago: The dinosaur extinction does not happen

Earth is spared collision with asteroid

Sixty-five million years ago, the dinosaurs still ruled land and sea, as they had for more than 100 million years. Then a comet or asteroid struck our planet, wiping out 60 to 80 per cent of all species. Earth was unlucky to have been hit so late in its evolution. With no impact, the climate would have continued to evolve, species to rise and fall. Intelligence could have arisen, among birds or mammals, so they relied on brains rather than brute strength. One day, something similar to humans might have faced something like the dinosaurs. But we were hit and, …