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People have always had a morbid curiosity with the
end of life on Earth. There are Biblical stories like Noah’s Ark that
have natural disasters wiping out most of humanity. After World War II,
the very real fear of nuclear annihilation brought out many books and
movies that speculated about what the end of the world may look like if
the bombs were dropped. In modern days, the fear has shifted toward
environmental problems. However, out of the hundreds of pieces of
fiction produced about the “End of Days,” which ones are legitimately
possible?
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Hypercane
Innocent Venus
In this anime TV show from Japan, the world has been completely ravished
by a series of hyper hurricanes. The hurricanes managed to kill five
billion people, leaving economies and governments in shambles.
Terrifyingly enough, hyper hurricanes are theoretically possible. They
were discovered by an MIT professor who named them “hypercanes.” A
hypercane would be 64 kilometers (40 mi) high and have winds of over 965
kilometers per hour (600 mph). For some perspective, it would be eight
times larger than the biggest hurricane ever recorded on Earth, and the
wind speed would be double what humans have ever experienced. It would
destroy everything in its path.
A hypercane could happen if a large area of the ocean (perhaps 65–80
kilometers, or 40–50 miles) became heated to 48.8 degrees Celsius (120
°F). The problem is that it wouldn’t just be one hypercane. A number of
them would appear until the conditions dissipated. While they may only
destroy cities on the coast, the problem is that the hypercane would go
into the stratosphere which would bring water vapor into the ozone
later. This would destroy the entire ozone layer within a week. Anyone
who survived the hypercanes would have to live underground and hope the
ozone layer would grow back. |
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Dying Sun
Sunshine
It’s the year 2057, and the Sun is dying. Particles called “Q-balls”
have entered the Sun, eating away at its core. Physicist Brian Cox, who
served as scientific adviser on the film Sunshine, said that these
Q-balls theoretically exist. He also said it is a bit unlikely that they
would destroy the Sun from the inside out. However, that is just one
theoretical particle and it shows how much we truly don’t understand or
know about the Universe. So, while the Sun shouldn’t start to die until
five to seven billion years from now, who knows what tomorrow will
bring?
If the Sun were to die a slow death, at first it would enhance the
problem of global dimming, which is actually happening right now.
Currently, the Earth is getting less sunshine; it lost about 1–2 percent
globally each decade between 1950 and 1990. This is caused by pollution
in the atmosphere reflecting sunlight away from Earth.
If less sunshine gets to Earth, it will cool down the northern
hemisphere. This will result in slower evaporation, which would mean
less rain and lead to droughts and famines. This is thought to be one of
the culprits in the drought that killed thousands of people in
sub-Saharan Africa during the 1970s and 1980s.
Ironically, because of the pollution in the atmosphere, with less
sunshine the temperatures on Earth would actually go up. This would
happen for a while before everything got colder and colder until we
entered an ice age.
If the Sun stopped working altogether, it would take a while for it cool
off, but within a week we would notice because the average temperature
of the Earth would be –17 degrees Celsius (0 °F). Within a year, the
temperature would drop to –73 degrees Celsius (–100 °F). The oceans
would freeze on the surface. In order to survive, humans would need to
live under the frozen water in submarines. Or move to Iceland where 84
percent of the country is heated through geothermal power. |
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Global Firestorm
These Final Hours
In this Australian movie, a meteor has hit the Earth in the North
Atlantic. There is a large firestorm that engulfs the world from top to
bottom. People on the bottom of the Earth are celebrating their last
hours as the wall of fire makes its way to them with only 12 hours left
to live.
Meteors hitting the Earth are a staple of end-of-the-world films.
However, what sets These Final Hours apart from other films is the
unstoppable wall of fire that is consuming the Earth. Could something
like that happen? Well, one research team believes it already did.
When it comes to the extinction of the dinosaurs, most scientists
believe it was caused when a comet or an asteroid hit the Earth in what
is now Mexico. It created the Chicxulub Crater, which is about 180
kilometers (112 mi) wide. However, there is still much debate as to what
exactly the comet or asteroid did to the rest of the world to cause the
mass extinction.
A team at the University of Colorado–Boulder performed a test and they
believe that after the comet or asteroid hit, it created a wall of fire
that consumed the Earth. They said that when it hit, it would have sent
rock particles above the atmosphere. They would then form grains of sand
and reenter the atmosphere. They would have been incredibly hot and made
the atmosphere 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,700 °F).
They said it would have been like a one-megaton bomb going off every 6
kilometers (4 mi). It would move in a rolling wave, burning everything
in its path. The major difference between a real global firestorm and
the one depicted in the film is that it would take a lot less than 12
hours.
Will an asteroid hit the Earth? Well, a kilometer-sized asteroid, called
1950 DA, could hit the Earth. It would be like 44,800 megatons of TNT
exploding. The good news is that it isn’t expected to crash into the
Earth until March 16, 2880. Even then, there is only a 1 in 4,000 chance
of a collision. |
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Worldwide Flooding
Flood
In Stephen Baxter’s 2008 novel Flood, the world is submerged underwater.
At first, everyone thinks that it is happening because of climate
change. However, since it is happening so fast and the water levels are
getting way too high, they realize there must be something else causing
the flood. Turns out there were seismic shifts on the ocean floor that
opened up reservoirs that released so much water that, by 2052, even
Mount Everest was underwater.
Some readers of the Bible will say a great flood that spanned the world
already happened. While evidence suggests that levels in the Black Sea
did rise up about 9,400 years ago, the Earth didn’t flood. Also, not
even all the ice caps melting would cause the Earth to flood like in
Waterworld.
However, like in Flood, there are real reservoirs under the Earth’s
surface about 650 kilometers (400 mi) below the surface between the
upper and lower mantle, which they call the transition zone. The water
is locked in a mineral called ringwoodite.
Based on their findings, they believe that, trapped underground, there
is enough water to fill the oceans of the world three times. Now, could
the water travel to the surface? Interestingly enough, that is one
theory on where the water on Earth originally came from. They believe
that, due to seismic activity, the water escaped and came to the
surface, filling the oceans. If it happened once, there is a possibility
it could happen again. |
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Brain Wave Disruption
Cell
In Stephen King’s 2006 novel, Cell, every cell phone in the world rings
at the same time. If people answer the phone, it disrupts their brain
waves and turns them into homicidal zombies. In the first couple of
minutes, people are attacked and killed off. Then, all the people who
answered their phones turn into a horde of zombies seemingly controlled
by one unknown master.
So, is it possible for waves from a cell phone to disrupt our brain
waves? Well, according to some researchers, it already does. Researchers
found that if a phone signal was at the right frequency it could affect
behavior in people. For example, they found that it made it harder for
people to fall asleep when a phone attached to their head was turned on
without their knowledge. While it is nothing too major, researchers are
just starting to learn what effects cell phones have on the brain.
If a transmission were to find the right frequency to alter the brain’s
limbic system, we might have a problem. The limbic system is where
things like emotion and adrenaline are controlled. If the frequency were
to turn up the rage and increase adrenaline levels, then anyone carrying
a cell phone could become homicidal.
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Microorganism Invasion
The Andromeda Strain
Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel was adapted into a film in 1971 and was
made into a miniseries in 2008. In the story, a satellite crashes near a
small town in Arizona. Once on Earth, the satellite releases a
microorganism that spreads quickly and causes deadly blood clotting or
insanity. A team of experts is sent in to hopefully stop the outbreak
from spreading.
So, are people on Earth in danger of being infected with a microorganism
or some type of virus from space? Well, the good news is that there is
no proof that bacterial or viral pathogens exist anywhere else, except
for Earth. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, and it is a
genuine fear among experts when exploring space.
One of the biggest problems is that, as humans evolved, they built
defenses against Earth-bred diseases. A completely alien virus, even a
weak one, could be devastating to humankind. And how bad could it get?
Well, there is a group of astronomers from Cardiff University who
believe that people already have gotten sick from the dust from comets.
They think that one of the biggest outbreaks caused by comet dust was
the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918 that killed at least 20 million people.
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Global Famine
Interstellar
In Christopher Nolan’s 2014 sci-fi epic, the world is running out of
food and dust storms plague the Earth. If another hospitable planet is
not found soon enough the people on Earth will starve to death. It’s a
terrifying way to go, but is it possible?
Well, one thing that most people know is that dust storms are real
events that cause serious damage to crops. One of the most famous dust
bowls happened in the 1930s in the Canadian and American prairies, which
led to destroyed crops and droughts. But, is it possible for this to
happen on a global scale?
Sadly, giant dust bowls are already happening in some areas like China
and northern Africa, where millions of acres are being destroyed by dust
storms that happen on a yearly basis, caused by overgrazing. Overgrazing
is when animals eat from the same area of land over and over again,
which tramples the soil and causes erosion.
The problem is that, due to population growth, more food is needed.
Without a change in our food sources, there is going to be more
overgrazing. Another problem is that we will keep reusing the soil until
there are no nutrients left in it. If things do not change, the dust
storms could get worse and spread across the world, leading to even less
food. Hopefully we won’t have to rely on Matthew McConaughey to save us.
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Rage Virus
28 Days Later
In Danny Boyle’s take on the zombie movie, a highly contagious
person-to-person virus that turns people in homicidal savages is
released. The virus is passed through bites or other transmission of
bodily fluids from one living person to another. (There is a huge
difference between that and George A. Romero’s reanimated corpses, which
aren’t possible.)
One way humans could turn into homicidal maniacs via a virus is a
mutated form of rabies. Currently with rabies, symptoms don’t appear
until 10 days to a year after infection. It could become much more
dangerous if it mutated and symptoms appeared sooner. Viruses tend to
mutate in order to survive.
However, the real danger is if rabies mutates with another virus, like
the flu. Luckily for humankind, the influenza virus and rabies are
completely different and would not become a hybrid on their own in
nature. However, in 28 Days Later, it wasn’t a naturally occurring virus
either—it was made in an underground lab.
While it would be very hard and quite unlikely, it is possible.
According to Samita Andreansky, who is a virologist at the University of
Miami’s Miller School of Medicine, you could mix the flu with rabies to
make it more contagious, then add in elements from the measles to alter
the personality, and add in the encephalitis virus, which would give the
infected person a fever to make them even more aggressive. Those
elements would create a scary and contagious virus that could turn
people into homicidal maniacs. |
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Man-Made Virus
12 Monkeys
In 12 Monkeys, a man-made a virus wipes out most of mankind. The
remaining humans are forced underground. Luckily, they have invented
time travel, and they send a man named James Cole to the past to collect
information on the disease and a group called the 12 Monkeys.
Disease is, of course, a good way to wipe out a whole lot of people.
Currently, there are no diseases in the world that are that quite as
deadly or contagious as the film’s virus—not even Ebola. However, what
happens if a virus is manufactured like in the movie? Well, the bad news
is that scientists have already done that.
For example, a research team at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam,
Netherlands mutated the H1N1 virus to become more contagious to ferrets.
Ferrets respond in similar ways to humans when infected with the flu. In
fact, we can transfer the flu to them, and they can infect us. What’s
scary is that after 10 generations of infected ferrets, the disease
became airborne and healthy ferrets housed next to infected ferrets
would catch the disease.
Scientists said that this is one of the most dangerous diseases to alter
because H1N1 is currently hard to transfer from person to person but,
when it does, it’s highly fatal. By making it airborne, they are housing
an incredibly dangerous and contagious pathogen, and if it were somehow
released or got into the wrong hands it would be a pandemic that could
kill millions.
The research has proven controversial enough that the US and Dutch
governments initially sought to prevent the publication of certain
details.
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Electromagnetic Pulse
Revolution
In this two-season television series that started in 2012, all
electronics in the world stopped working all at once. Everything simply
turned off and never turned back on again. Societies and governments
collapsed, effectively ending life as we know it and plunging everyone
into the 19th century. The scary thing is that this is a very real
problem that governments are worried about.
There are two ways that electronics could be wiped out. The first is
through an attack from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). This could happen
if a nuclear weapon was detonated at a high altitude above the Earth. It
wouldn’t even need to be a large warhead, and the projectile it’s
attached to wouldn’t have to do anything other than reach a high
altitude; it could destroy entire electrical grids of countries like the
US. It is feared that small rogue countries like North Korea could
cripple major world powers using this form of attack.
The second way is that it could happen naturally because of solar
storms, which occur with increased activity from the Sun. If a solar
flare or a coronal mass ejection (CME) were to hit Earth, it could
create the same effects as an EMP. Parts of the world could be without
power for months or even years. And this has already happened on Earth.
One notable example was in 1857, called the Carrington Event, and it
affected the telegraph. Another event in 2012 just barely missed Earth,
and the chances of a CME hitting Earth before 2024 are 12 percent.
Due to the fact that we’re so dependent on everything connected to the
electrical grid, the results could be devastating to people in urban
areas. Almost every aspect of life would be affected, including banking,
communications, and basic essentials like getting food and water.
Another major problem is that we would lose refrigeration, which we’ve
become highly dependent on for things like storing food and basic
medicines.
The danger is so real that the US government actually formed The
Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from
Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. It released reports in 2004 and 2008 that
said up to 90 percent of Americans could die from disease, starvation,
and from the ensuing breakdown of society.
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