How Will Humans Meet Their End? 5 Cosmic Risks

[madokie]

Can we find ​our demise​ in the heavens?

On Sunday, a large asteroid passes close to Earth, reminding us once again that our existence on this planet is fragile. Humanity will, in fact, meet its end someday, but whether it's tomorrow or millennia from now is all just speculation, even if the threats to the planet are very real.

We have a morbid fascination with our own demise: Doomsday cults gather on mountaintops waiting for the Rapture or commit mass suicide, while other people fret over the prophecies of the Mayans or Nostradamus. And while judgment days come and go, these prophecies prey on our worries that humankind is ephemeral: We know it is just a matter of time until we stop inhabiting the Earth.

But even as zealots and psychics like to guess the date of our demise, there are real risks to our existence, and many doomsday scenarios are actually discussed among scientists and rational people. They run the gamut from natural disasters to plagues; and of course, the biggest and most imminent threat to our survival: global warming.

Can people be destroyed by heavens above us? Here are six frequently deliberated scenarios and the reality behind them.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/how-will-humans-meet-their-end-5-cosmic-risks

[longship]

1. Note: Betelgeuse is NOT 640 million light years away.

More like 640 light years.

IMHO, not a very good article. Lots of bad science.

No! We cannot blow an asteroid to smithereens with a nuke. Even if such a nuke existed -- it doesn't -- it would utterly stupid to use it to prevent an asteroid impact by blowing up the asteroid. No scientist working on this thinks that is a good idea. Not one.

All told, this is a horrible article.

[SamKnause]

2. Access denied ???

[DhhD]

3. A National Geographic movie about destruction of Earth by an invading Neutron Star.

https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AjmJwjI89YuWfjI1M561voWbvZx4?p=You+Tube+video+of+newtron+star+destroying+our+Earh&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

When the trailer ends, the hour and a half movie play list comes up. And as that ends other videos are listed about other possible objects from outer space that could destroy Earth.

Have Fun.