Hello to you, dear Reader!
What better way to start the day than by reading an online article about different ways the world could end! That's how I kicked it off and I'd like to share the findings with you!
No 1: Asteroids
Hurtling straight in at No 1, a change in gravity may see an asteroid collide with Earth as early as 2038. But scientists say they can't predict the effects until 2028 at the earliest. Either way, please do get back to me on that, would you?
So now you can start planning how to tell your dream girl or dream boy how you feel, before an asteroid smashes into you both! Or you can go out and vandalise your neighbour's car, safe in the knowledge you'll escape the claws of Justice, if not those of the Reaper.
No 2: Solar Storms
Blazing the trail at No 2 are solar storms. The sun's magnetic field goes potty and sends massives geysers (not 'geezers') of hot gas and charged particles from the surface up into space. Solar flares can wipe out 300 transformers in 90 seconds and cut off power for 130 million people.
The Sun is set to reach the peak of its activity cycle in 2013. So if you've got nothing planned, set your watch because you've got this to look forward to now! Nothing like going out in a blaze of glory!
No 3: Pole Shifts
Drifting in at No 3 was a shift in the poles. Now we face the threat of a magnetic field reversal that would cause the Earth's entire mantle to shift, in turn causing the North and South Pole to move and triggering all kinds of cataclysmic events.
But NASA have played it all down. They predict this ain't gonna happen and that such a shift would not see Earth meet its fate. Call me cynical if you like but, with all those shuttles and spaceships right next to them, they're not likely to stick around if they're wrong!
No 4: Supervolcanic Eruptions
Smouldering at No 4, it's supervolcanic eruption. Mount Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia was the last supervolcano to erupt, which it did 75 000 years ago.
Thousands of kilometres of black ash and sulphur were belched into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun and causing global temperatures to fall by 21 degrees C, and gas poisoning produced acid rain. Only a few thousand of the population were said to be left.
International scientists are now saying that the Yellowstone caldera, in Wyoming, is showing signs of activity. This supervolcano is thought to erupt every 600 000 years, but the last eruption was 640 000 years ago, so it should be any moment now. In the meantime you can be digging out last summer's sun block!
No 5: Global Warming
Getting hot under the collar at No 5 is our old favourite: global warming. If the temperature rises by just 6 degrees C, rainforests will be obliterated and heat-related deaths will be more frequent.
Soil will become infertile and air quality will be so poor it would harm, if not possibly destroy, human respiratory systems. Natural disasters will also be more common.
That's in the worst case scenario, though. For all you sun freaks out there, the good news is that London would also be as hot as Cairo!
Okay, I'm messing around, but suppose you were told the world really was gonna end. You had one last day on Earth and were determined to go happy.
What would you do before you went?
Source: Yahoo! News:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110304/tsc-five-ways-the-world-could-end-98fda55.html
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