Apocalypse When?

APOCALYPSE WHEN? WHICH APOCALYPTIC THREATS ARE MOST LIKELY TO WIPE OUT EARTH'S POPULATION AND WHEN? MAN MADE = NATURAL = ANNIHILATION TAKES LESS THAN A YEAR APOCALOMETER HOW LIKELY IS IT TO END THE HUMAN RACE? KEEP CALM CHECK BUCKET LIST LIVE DANGEROUSLY THIS DECADE MOVE TO MARS IT'S ALL OVER HONEYBEES DIE OUT Pesticides and varroa mite kill off honeybees. Crops aren't pollinated and food supplies run out. THIS CENTURY NUCLEAR ARMAGEDDON Nuclear war breaks out. Dust released into atmosphere blocks out sunlight, causing a nuclear winter. BIOTERRORISM A deadly microbe strain is developed as a biological weapon, causing a global pandemic. LOSS OF TOPSOIL Deforestation and bad farming result in soil washing away. Plants can no longer grow and land becomes desert. NATURAL PANDEMIC COMBO-POCALYPSE A deadly microbe strain causes a global pandemic. A combination of disasters form a deadly chain of events that overwhelm the human species. OVERPOPULATION Human population growth damages the environment and outstrips Earth's capacity to produce food. NANOWEAPONS Atomically precise manufacturing leads to the production of new, super-lethal weapons. CLIMATE CHANGE Human activity alters the balance of Earth's atmospheric gases, warming the climate. FLAWED SUPER AI A malign or badly-programmed technological superintelligence annihilates humankind. HAL 9000 THIS MILLENNIUM UNDERPOPULATION Declining fertility rates in many countries mean the human population gradually dies out. GEOENGINEERING FAIL Humanity's attempts to remove CO2 from the atmosphere and reflect sunlight back into space go badly wrong. GREY GOO THEORY Microscopic nanorobots decide to devour everything in the Universe, turning it into so-called 'grey goo'. POSTHUMANITY Recognisably human people no longer exist due to genetic engineering and other technological enhancements. RISING SEA LEVELS Warming climate leads to thermal expansion of oceans and melting of ice caps. WITHIN A MILLION YEARS SUPERVOLCANO A massive volcanic eruption releases ash clouds that block out sunlight and cool the globe. METHANE RELEASE Methane released from melting permafrost and seabed deposits cause global warming to spiral out of control. ASTEROID IMPACT A large asteroid or comet smashes into Earth or the moon. ALIEN INVASION We encounter hostile aliens who conquer us with their superior technology. MORE THAN A MILLION YEARS VENUS SYNDROME Extreme runaway climate change makes Earth as hot as its nearest neighbour Venus. UNKNOWN UNKNOWN Something very deadly and unavoidable happens that we have no clue about...yet. GAMMA RAY BURST A star explodes, releasing an intense burst of gamma rays that destroy Earth's ozone layer. MATRIX SCENARIO Our universe turns out to be a simulation and it gets shut down. ROGUE BLACK HOLE A black hole enters our Solar System. It's gravitational pull rips Earth apart. DEATH OF THE SUN The Sun expands into a red giant as it nears the end of its life. In doing so, it engulfs inner planets, including Earth. DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE The universe comes to an end as a result of either over-expanding or collapsing. APOCALYPSE THEN HOW DEADLY WERE PAST EXTINCTIONS? END-ORDOVICIAN 82-88% of species wiped out END-PERMIAN 93-97% of species wiped out END-CRETACEOUS 71-81% of species wiped out |-- 450 MILLION YEARS AGO 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 TODAY 79-87% of species wiped out LATE DEVONIAN YOU ARE 76-84% of species wiped out END-TRIASSIC НERE Sources: Our own judgement, based on Bostrom (2002, 2003, 2006), Nasa, Universe Today and others. Full source list: http://bit.ly/Apocalypse-When BBC iibstudio for FUTURE nnnnnua