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4 Realistic Apocalypse Scenarios

Y2K. 2012. A couple hundred other dates that people have predicted to be the end of planet earth. Humans love to contemplate their eventual demise in the most fantastic ways possible. While most people think of sic-fi and alien invasions when apocalypse comes to mind, here are a couple of very realistic apocalyptic scenarios that could seriously wipe us off the planet in the near future.

4. Super Volcano Eruption



Because scientists want you to be scared, the title of "Super Volcano" is given to absolutely massive volcanoes. Compared to regular eruptions, Super Volcano eruptions are exponentially worse. Mt. Saint Hellen's is a volcano that erupted in 1980 and it was so big that it killed 57 people. That's pretty bas, right? Well, the last time the super volcano at Yellowstone National Park (Wisconsin, United States) erupted (1.3 million years ago), it created a blast that was approximately 25000 times larger! According to Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything", the super volcano at Yellowstone is due to erupt any decade now. If it were to happen, the magnitude of the blast would instantly kill 87,000 people and would throw up billions of tons of ash into the atmosphere, stopping communications and air travel in the U.S., and blocking out the sun for a long period of time. 


3. Alien Virus 



It's amazing to see humans exploring the cosmos as there are even current plans to land a manned mission on Mars! There are however, some dangers associated with travelling to places we don't know much about. The reason is precisely because...we don't know much about it! Viruses and diseases are around us all of the time, but our immune systems do a fantastic job of adapting and fighting them off. But the thing is our immune systems are only good at fighting bugs they've seen before. If a completely foreign virus was to come from outer space by accident, our bodies would have no clue as to how to fight it and it would be extremely difficult to make a vaccine. A hypothetical situation like this could wipe out the entire species - all thanks to one virus. 

2. Robots Take Over! 



I'm a person that loves technology and loves seeing people push the boundaries of what is possible. I'm not particularly scared of this one, but it is a legitimate worry for some - and for good reason. Researchers are getting closer and closer to artificial intelligence (basically, making a robot that would be indistinguishable from a human being). Humans are a pretty clever bunch with a lot of information lying around. If robots were to harness this information and take use of the potentially destructive weapons we have at our fingertips...who knows what could happen! That being said, it would be fun to see all of our toasters and hair dryers just get up and walk out of the house in a giant robot parade. 

1. Solar Flares 


They say "the sun giveth life and taketh life at its will"...or something like that. Anyways, the point is the sun is a giant beast that occasionally farts out charged particles towards the earth. In more eloquent terms, these are solar flares and they wreak havoc on communication systems. The last big solar storm was way back in 1859 - those people didn't rely as much on communication and the internet as we do. If a massive solar storm were to happen (which definitely could happen), there would be country - maybe even international - black outs with no power, internet, or any way to communicate with people far away. It would cause mass hysteria on earth and people would probably be driven into doing crazy things like killing one another. Oh, and in addition to that, these are very high energy blasts that have the possibility of damaging your skin and organ systems (especially since we have a depleting ozone layer protecting us). 

But don't worry! I mean, the odds of any of these happening in our life time our really slim...right...? 


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