Feeling Ill? It’s all in your head...

If you’ve been feeling sick lately, I’m sorry to say that it may just be in your mind. Granted, the majority of you have probably contracted some sort of virus, but it’s also possible that your symptoms are caused by fear or anxiety. Called psychosomatic illness (warning: boring Web site alert), symptoms could appear in conjunction with a physical illness or after a stressful event, such as a meteorite crashing into your hometown.

Scientists think this may be the case with a recent illness in Peru. You see, a meteorite supposedly hit the country over the weekend near everyone’s favorite lake with a funny name - Lake Titicaca. After testing the area for toxins, the scientists cannot figure out what is making the people sick. Therefore, like with most other unexplained phenomena, the only explanation is that it’s all in the Peruvians’ heads.

Or something like that. Anyway, to get some of this horribly confusing space-rock lingo out of the way: A meteoroid is a rock, which is larger than interplanetary dust but smaller than an asteroid, that hangs out in our solar system. When we see it shoot across the sky, it’s called a meteor, but when it hits a planet, it’s called a meteorite.

Some witnesses claim that bubbling, muddy water appeared once the meteorite crashed, leading skeptics to believe that the gaping crater was formed by a volcanic eruption, since meteorites are cold when they strike earth. Given that Peru has around 15 volcanoes, I’d expect most of the residents to know the difference between a rock falling from the sky and molten rock spewing from inside the earth; I guess the same could also be said about the scientists.

Anyway, someone else confirmed that it was, indeed, a meteor, which is rather frightening (but not frightening enough to get me sick over, yet). According to NASA, around four billion meteorites enter Earth’s atmosphere every day. Fortunately for us, most of them burn up before hitting anything.

The meteorites that do hit Earth leave an impact crater or basin, and there are only around 120 discovered on Earth so far. In the Peru incident, the impact of the meteorite caused a tremor equal to setting off 4.9 tons of dynamite, and caused a 42 foot by 15 foot crater.

I’d say that is definitely enough to cause some sort of trauma to the residents. One lady reported that rocks were raining down from the sky right after the meteorite’s impact and she was afraid her house was going to collapse. If I was in her position, I’d probably be feeling ill, too.

So even if the mystery illness turns out to be psychosomatic, I’d say it’s well justified, at least for now. As for the queasy feeling you’re having because you didn’t study for your exam, you totally brought that one upon yourself.