PARIS — Humanity could use a nuclear bomb to deflect a massive, life-threatening asteroid hurtling toward Earth in the future, according to scientists who tested the theory in the laboratory by blasting X-rays at a marble-sized "mock asteroid."

The biggest real-life test of our planetary defenses was carried out in 2022, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's fridge-sized DART spacecraft smashed into a 160-meter (525-feet) wide asteroid, successfully knocking it well off course.

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