In the year 2182 -- 172 years time -- there's a 1 in 1000 chance that we might be hit by a very large asteroid. With two centuries advance notice, will we be able to develop effective asteroid deflection techniques? [more inside]
posted by zarq on Jul 29, 2010 - 53 comments

80 percent of Americans say global warming is real and poses a threat to humanity. Which is good because if the global temperature raises by 4 degrees we're all dead. However only 44 percent would be willing to face any financial hardship in the name of a solution.
posted by Artw on Aug 10, 2008 - 89 comments

NASA scientists say that a large gamma ray explosion within our own galaxy may have triggered a mass extinction hundreds of millions of years ago.
posted by C17H19NO3 on Apr 13, 2005 - 25 comments

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement "Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense." More inside...
posted by Irontom on May 30, 2002 - 21 comments

Stop the world, I want to get off: A group of scientists thinks that a "wobble" in the orbits of Earth and Mercury may have attracted an asteroid, and not a stray comet, to hit the Earth and wipe out the dinosaurs.
posted by logovisual on Jul 5, 2001 - 2 comments