The Discover Magazine, on the 28th of October 2008, has a list of different ways the earth will finial be destroyed. It gives a list of events and for some of them it also gives the odds of them happening in our own lift time.
Will it be a solar flare? Or a gamma-ray burst? DISCOVER's own Phil Plait lays out the odds.
Asteroid impact
1 in 700,000
Solar flare/cme, collapse of power grid, potential ozone depletion
Supernova, ozone depletion, radiation
1 in 10,000,000
Gamma-ray burst, ozone depletion, radiation, setting planet on fire
1 in 14,000,000
Black hole, destruction of Earth
1 in 1,000,000,000,000
Alien attack, humanity wiped out by aliens, space bugs give us runny noses
Death of the sun, earth cooked to a crisp
Galactic doom, ice ages, radiation, eaten by supermassive black hole
Death of the universe, decay of all matter, collapse of false vacuum
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Monday, 20 October 2008
Sun's protective 'bubble' is shrinking
On the Telegraph newspaper’s website, on the 19th October 2008, there is an article about the 25% decline of the heliosphere, the sun given shield against galactic radiation which can destroy DNA and the climate. It says,
New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago.
Dr Nathan Schwadron said: "The interstellar medium, which is part of the galaxy as a whole, is actually quite a harsh environment. There is a very high energy galactic radiation that is dangerous to living things.
"Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment."
Without the heliosphere the harmful intergalactic cosmic radiation would make life on Earth almost impossible by destroying DNA and making the climate uninhabitable.
If the heliosphere continues to weaken, scientists fear that the amount of cosmic radiation reaching the inner parts of our solar system, including Earth, will increase.
This could result in growing levels of disruption to electrical equipment, damage satellites and potentially even harm life on Earth.
New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago.
Dr Nathan Schwadron said: "The interstellar medium, which is part of the galaxy as a whole, is actually quite a harsh environment. There is a very high energy galactic radiation that is dangerous to living things.
"Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment."
Without the heliosphere the harmful intergalactic cosmic radiation would make life on Earth almost impossible by destroying DNA and making the climate uninhabitable.
If the heliosphere continues to weaken, scientists fear that the amount of cosmic radiation reaching the inner parts of our solar system, including Earth, will increase.
This could result in growing levels of disruption to electrical equipment, damage satellites and potentially even harm life on Earth.
Saturday, 18 October 2008
Agriculture unaffected by pollinator declines
The Nature web site, on the 16th October 2008, has an article about a report that found that bee declines were not affecting crop yields. It says,
Bees and many other insects may be in decline almost everywhere — but agriculture that depends on pollinators has been surprisingly unaffected at the global scale.
When the researchers compared crops that are cultivated almost exclusively in tropical regions, they found no difference between the success of insect-pollinated crops — such as oil palm, cocoa and the Brazil nut — and those crops that need only the breeze to spread their pollen.
Some scientists think that the pollinator crisis is overplayed. Jaboury Ghazoul, a plant ecologist at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, has argued that it is driven mainly by reported declines of crop-pollinating honeybees in North America and bumblebees and butterflies in Europe.
However, Klein points out that a sudden drop in crop yields could be just around the corner. "There could be a more widespread threshold effect coming," she says, "especially if the honeybee problems get worse in places like California."
The decline in bee numbers is not a big problem nor is it going to mean mass starvation. So the scare stories that popup every now and then can be ignored.
Bees and many other insects may be in decline almost everywhere — but agriculture that depends on pollinators has been surprisingly unaffected at the global scale.
When the researchers compared crops that are cultivated almost exclusively in tropical regions, they found no difference between the success of insect-pollinated crops — such as oil palm, cocoa and the Brazil nut — and those crops that need only the breeze to spread their pollen.
Some scientists think that the pollinator crisis is overplayed. Jaboury Ghazoul, a plant ecologist at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, has argued that it is driven mainly by reported declines of crop-pollinating honeybees in North America and bumblebees and butterflies in Europe.
However, Klein points out that a sudden drop in crop yields could be just around the corner. "There could be a more widespread threshold effect coming," she says, "especially if the honeybee problems get worse in places like California."
The decline in bee numbers is not a big problem nor is it going to mean mass starvation. So the scare stories that popup every now and then can be ignored.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
'Vaccinate now' to beat bird flu
The BBC’s website, on the 9th October 2008, has an article about a report telling us we need to vaccinate against bird flu now and not wait until the pandemic starts. It says,
A jab against one strain of avian flu, given years earlier, may "prime" the immune system to fight a wide range of bird flu strains.
When the pandemic arrives, "pre-vaccinated" people could then be given a booster shot, and be protected far quicker, said researchers.
The speed that pandemic flu - labelled the "gravest threat" to the UK by a recent government document - could sweep the world, is one of the great challenges facing scientists and governments.
Some suggestions say it might only be a matter of weeks before an emerging virus reached the UK.
By the time a vaccine exactly matching the pandemic strain is developed and administered, it may already have claimed many thousands of lives.
"If governments are thinking about stockpiling vaccine, you could actually be stockpiling it in people's arms."
The “gravest threat” now seems to have some magic snake oil to cure it.
A jab against one strain of avian flu, given years earlier, may "prime" the immune system to fight a wide range of bird flu strains.
When the pandemic arrives, "pre-vaccinated" people could then be given a booster shot, and be protected far quicker, said researchers.
The speed that pandemic flu - labelled the "gravest threat" to the UK by a recent government document - could sweep the world, is one of the great challenges facing scientists and governments.
Some suggestions say it might only be a matter of weeks before an emerging virus reached the UK.
By the time a vaccine exactly matching the pandemic strain is developed and administered, it may already have claimed many thousands of lives.
"If governments are thinking about stockpiling vaccine, you could actually be stockpiling it in people's arms."
The “gravest threat” now seems to have some magic snake oil to cure it.
Monday, 6 October 2008
No Geomagnetic Reversal in 2012
The Universe Today website, on the 3rd of October, has an article debunking the claims that the geomagnetic reversal (the north and south polls swapping around) will take place in the year 2012. It says,
Using the Mayan Prophecy as an excuse to create new and explosive ways in which our planet may be destroyed, 2012 doomsayers use the geomagnetic shift theory as if it is set in stone. Simply because scientists have said that it might happen within the next millennium appears to be proof enough that it will happen in four years time. Alas, although this theory has some scientific backing, there is no way that anyone can predict when geomagnetic reversal might happen to the nearest day or to the nearest million years…
Some 2012 theories suggest that the Earth's geomagnetic reversal is connected to the natural 11-year solar cycle. Again, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this claim. No data has ever been produced suggesting a Sun-Earth magnetic polarity change connection.
Geomagnetic reversal is an engrossing area of geophysical research that will continue to occupy physicists and geologists for many years to come. Although the dynamics behind this event are not fully understood, there is absolutely no scientific evidence supporting the claim that there could be a geomagnetic reversal around the time of December 21st, 2012.
The theory comes from man called Patrick Geryl who has authored the book “How to survive 2012”. The Mayans have a calendar that is said to end in 2012 and as a result there is a number of people who want to scare you into buying they books.
Using the Mayan Prophecy as an excuse to create new and explosive ways in which our planet may be destroyed, 2012 doomsayers use the geomagnetic shift theory as if it is set in stone. Simply because scientists have said that it might happen within the next millennium appears to be proof enough that it will happen in four years time. Alas, although this theory has some scientific backing, there is no way that anyone can predict when geomagnetic reversal might happen to the nearest day or to the nearest million years…
Some 2012 theories suggest that the Earth's geomagnetic reversal is connected to the natural 11-year solar cycle. Again, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this claim. No data has ever been produced suggesting a Sun-Earth magnetic polarity change connection.
Geomagnetic reversal is an engrossing area of geophysical research that will continue to occupy physicists and geologists for many years to come. Although the dynamics behind this event are not fully understood, there is absolutely no scientific evidence supporting the claim that there could be a geomagnetic reversal around the time of December 21st, 2012.
The theory comes from man called Patrick Geryl who has authored the book “How to survive 2012”. The Mayans have a calendar that is said to end in 2012 and as a result there is a number of people who want to scare you into buying they books.
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