Scientists examine dust from the crash in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which triggered an ice age on Earth.
The dust floated towards Earth over two million years, gradually cooling the planet and allowing new species to adapt.
Scientists say that the finding, documented in the journal Science Advances, could help them explore different ways the planet could be cooled artificially. "We have during the last 25 years leaned against very different hypotheses in terms of what happened," he said.Finding a way to cool the Earth could help prevent a major climate crisis.
Mr Schmitz said:"Our results show for the first time that such dust at times has cooled Earth dramatically.
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