This week's hype around a "city-killing" asteroid possibly striking Earth raised the fears of many before the odds of impact dropped to nearly nothing, but the MIT scientist who developed the risk scale for this type of event said it still has a lot to teach the public.

The chances a ‘city killer’ asteroid will crash into Earth in seven years’ time have fallen, NASA has said. Scientists have kept an eye on the ‘near-Earth asteroid’, named 2024 YR4, as it has an orbit that brings it to our region of the solar system.