Meteorite impacts are often associated with huge disasters, mass extinction and why the dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the Earth some 65 million years ago. However, the opposite may also occur — that new and more varied animal life arises following such a catastrophe, is shown by new research. In prehistoric times, the Earth was hit by a hailstorm of meteorites with a belt of dust that subsequently covered the planet. At this time new and more varied animal life arose.