- The end of the world is likely something
you don't want to think of often.
The idea of everything coming to an end
can send chills up your spine.
But what's more chilling is the fact that there are
very real scenarios that could happen in our lifetime
that could, in fact, end this world.
The following are just those scenarios.
Here are 10 signs the world might end.
Number 10 are supervolcanoes are becoming active.
There are volcanoes known as supervolcanoes which,
if they erupted, could end the world as we know it.
Worse still, it could be just about to happen.
The most famous supervolcano
is underneath Yellowstone National Park.
This volcano covers 3,884 kilometers squared
and is still active.
Some experts claim that we're actually due for an explosion
in the short term, which would wipe out
a large chunk of North America.
But it's the Campi Flegrei supervolcano in Italy
which is closest to exploding.
Experts believe this supervolcano is at a critical state
and getting ready to erupt.
When it does, it has the potential to turn Europe
into a desert of ash and create a volcanic winter
around the world by blocking the sun from the sky
with its gas and debris.
The last eruption was 39,000 years ago,
and it was beyond devastating.
Number nine is permafrost is melting.
A layer of frozen soil called the permafrost is melting,
and it may be about to unleash catastrophe.
The permafrost covers 25% of the northern hemisphere,
much of that in Russia.
It has remained frozen for tens of thousands of years.
When it originally froze, it acted like a huge freezer,
preserving everything beneath it.
That includes an estimated 1,400 gigatons
of plant and animal matter.
As the permafrost melts, this organic material will rot,
releasing more than double the amount of carbon
currently in our atmosphere.
Carbon stores heat in the atmosphere,
and so a runaway greenhouse effect could occur.
Another terrifying thought is that microbes dormant
for thousands of years under the permafrost
are about to be released into the atmosphere.
We may not have the immunity to stop them.
Number eight is the Doomsday Clock is ticking.
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic device which predicts
how close humanity is to the end of the world.
It's been maintained since 1947 by a group of scientists
and is used to warn the world of how precarious
our current global situation is.
Based on the pressures and challenges the world faces,
the clock time is set in relation to midnight
with the stroke of 12 symbolizing the end of the world.
For example, in 1991 after the Cold War Ended
and the threat of nuclear war diminished,
the clock was set to 17 minutes to midnight.
That might sound like a lot, but it's the farthest
from midnight the clock has ever been set.
The closest the Doomsday Clock has ever been to midnight
was in 1953 and in 2018, just two minutes to midnight.
So the clock's owners believe that because of new conflicts
around the world, we are closer than ever to the end.
Number seven is water levels are rising.
With climate change already affecting millions
around the world, it's the continuing rise in sea levels
which could prove the most catastrophic.
Recent studies suggest this trend is much worse
than we previously thought.
It's estimated that 275 million people
currently live in areas that would be completely underwater
in the coming decades.
That doesn't even take into account the billions more
who would severely be affected by swelling rivers,
flash floods, and fatal mudslides.
With storm surges wiping out inland areas as well,
trillions need to be spent on flood defenses.
But even that might not be enough.
In the end, the world could see billions forced
from their homes, looking for safe haven.
If the water levels don't halt civilization as we know it,
the resulting violent power struggles for what's left
after the flood will.
Number six is asteroids are around the corner.
We've all seen the Hollywood blockbusters
depicting gigantic chunks of rock from space
hurtling towards our planet,
threatening to wipe out life as we know it.
But this danger isn't just science fiction, it's real.
And what's worse is that those big chunks of rock
seem to be getting closer.
In recent years, several massive asteroids have passed
close to Earth, with an asteroid called 99942 Apophis
at one time considered as a real threat.
But it's not the asteroids or comets we know about
which are the problem, it's the ones that we can't see.
If a comet or asteroid hurtled towards us
from behind the sun,
we wouldn't know about it until it's too late.
We'd only have months to come up with a plan to stop it.
And if an asteroid of comet just a few miles wide
did hit our planet, well,
just ask the dinosaurs what happened.
Number five is a pandemic is overdue.
Medical experts say that it's only a matter of time
until we have another flu pandemic,
one which could kill us all.
The history of recent pandemics makes for grim reading.
The Spanish Flu of 1918 killed more than 50 million people.
Then the Asian Flu of 1959 killed 70,000
in the United States alone and over two million worldwide.
Just 10 years later,
the Hong Kong Flu of 1968 killed another million.
While medical science has improved greatly since then,
we're still vulnerable to another fatal flu pandemic,
especially considering our reliance on air travel.
A horrific flu would travel fast,
and who knows how many would die before we find a cure.
We're overdue for such a scenario, and we can only hope
that science defeats influenza once and for all
before it threatens our entire species again.
Number four are the nukes are coming.
In recent years, the danger that someone will use
a nuclear device is greater than ever.
One reason is that North Korea
has become a rogue nuclear state.
The North Korean government has continued
to develop nuclear weapons
and the capacity to hit international targets has increased.
In response, the US under Donald Trump has prioritized
the modernizing of America's nuclear arsenal.
That, in turn, may create a new arms race
with Russia and China.
Another reason nuclear weapons are now more dangerous
than ever is that 50 nukes went missing
during the collapse of the Soviet Union,
and who knows who has them or what they do with them.
All it takes is for one bomb to go off.
This could provoke another nuclear powers to launch
their weapons, and if enough missiles were fired,
we might render the Earth uninhabitable,
at least for those that are still alive.
Number three is the advent of artificial intelligence.
Science fiction writers have warned us for hundreds of years
that the development of intelligent machines
could prove fatal for the human race.
Up until the last decade, the actual possibility
of creating an artificially intelligent being
has seemed like a pie in the sky.
But with top engineers and scientists
such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk now actively
warning us against the oncoming age of robots,
it's clear that the dangers are real.
If we create something which is truly self-aware,
then perhaps at some point it will see us
as either a threat or as inconsequential.
With our smartphones and computers becoming smarter
by the year, it's possible that by the time we realize
the machines are moving against us
that it'll already be too late.
Consider that every time you want a more powerful computer.
Number two is weaponized diseases exist.
For decades, militaries have been weaponizing diseases.
Should they escape, we may go extinct.
Weaponized diseases have been around for a long time.
In the military, their use is known as biological warfare
and dates back as early as the sixth century B.C.
One of the first ever uses of them was by the Assyrians
who poisoned enemy water sources with a fungus.
Another example includes the British Army
allegedly using smallpox to wipe out an encampment
of Native Americans in 1763.
By the 1950s, weaponized anthrax and plagues
had been developed by the U.S.
While their use was banned in the Warsaw Pact of 1969,
many of these diseases have simply been stored away,
waiting to be used or accidentally released.
If you think these fears are unfounded,
then just look at the H1N1 Flu of the 1970s.
Most recent findings suggest that the disease
was unleashed accidentally.
And number one is the sun is acting strange.
The sun has been acting odd in recent years,
and the consequences could be disastrous for our planet.
Our sun goes through an 11-year cycle
where its energy output changes.
At solar maximum when the sun is most active,
we see sunspots on the surface
and then expect to see solar flares.
These flares eject masses of high-energy particles
into the solar system.
When one of these flares hits Earth,
it can knock out satellites and power grids.
But the last solar maximum was in 2014,
so things should be calming down.
But instead the sun has been getting more active.
Solar flares have increased in activity and size
towards the end of 2017.
This could be a sign that the sun is getting ready
to produce some of the biggest solar flares ever.
If one of those hits Earth, it would render
technology useless and send us back to the Dark Ages.