Nuclear blast could save Earth from large asteroid, scientists say

US physicists show how immense pulse of radiation could vaporise the side of asteroid and nudge it off course

Scientists, as well as Hollywood movie producers, have long looked to nuclear bombs as a promising form of defence should a massive asteroid appear without warning on a collision course with Earth.

Now, researchers at a US government facility have put the idea on a firm footing, showing how such a blast might save the world in the first comprehensive demo of nuclear-assisted planetary defence.