As the LHC reaches its operational capacity-earlier this month it set a new record for the rate at which collisions occur-curious results are bound to crop up more and more frequently.

But it has been luckier than vesta-and almost every other asteroid-in avoiding collisions, and has thus not yielded a huge crop of meteorites for Earth-bound scientists to examine.

A good farmer must prepare for lean years. Natural disasters, even bizarrely localized ones such as yours, are bound to happen. next year your crop will be stronger.