Various Hollywood movies have several times depicted apocalyptic events, and it has made many people believe that such an event will be faced by the planet one day or the other. However, if such a catastrophic event happens on the earth, reality will turn much scarier than fiction, and earth may turn into a barren land that could be never ever colonized again.
International Business Times, India presents you five possible ways by which the world could end forever.
Global warming to wipe out life?
Even though global warming is a very slow series of events attributing to a rise in atmospheric temperature, many top scientists believe that this could trigger an apocalypse on the earth. Extreme weather events will affect the earth in various manners; in some areas, droughts will be increased, and while in some other places, it could cause a drastic increase in sea level. Low-lying areas in the planet may get submerged under water due to the melting of ice, and finally, the earth will be pulled to a state of chaos.
Recently, a study conducted by Eric Rignot, a researcher at the University of California has found that ice sheets in Antarctica are melting rapidly over the past four decades. The study report, now available in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also revealed that this rapid melting could finally mark the sea level rise of than 188 feet.
Doomsday asteroid
Movies like Armageddon have depicted a possible apocalyptic scenario usually caused due to a doomsday asteroid. Interestingly, many scientists have shared their worries about such an event that may happen in the future. Ian McDonald, a top researcher at the Cardiff University's school of earth and ocean sciences had recently warned that a doomsday asteroid could wipe out entire life from the planet one day or other. As per McDonald, devastating asteroid collisions have happened in the past, and the possibility of such an event in the future could not be ruled out.
It should be also noted that scientists have predicted the possibility of Bennu asteroid hitting the earth in the next 150 years. Space scientists speculate a one in 2,700 chance of the asteroid hitting catastrophically on the earth, and if it happens, it could trigger widespread devastations in all nooks of the planet.
Disease X
In the early months of 2018, scientists have warned that a hypothesized illness which they named 'Disease X' could wipe out millions of lives on the planet. Later, Marc Valitutto, a researcher at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Global Health Program has predicted that the outbreak of the disease will happen either in Asia or Africa.
Several scientists believe that a pandemic outbreak could be one of the most likely threats that could claim millions of lives on earth.
Alien attack
A minority section of people believes that an alien invasion could also trigger apocalypse on the planet. As per these conspiracy theorists, the recent UFOs which are being spotted in various nooks of the world are actually alien scout ships. These people argue that aliens used to send scout ships before they gear up for an invasion.
Even though conspiracy theorists are very much adamant regarding the alien invasion theory, space experts have never ever talked much about such an event taking place in the near future.
Artificial Intelligence killer robots
Several top experts including Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking had earlier warned that artificial intelligence should be regulated by official authorities. It should be also noted that the United Nations have recently called for a ban on killer robots, as many nations are apparently developing these machines.
Several experts believe that artificial intelligence robots could overtake human intelligence one day or the other, and when it happens, these robots may change their character from benevolent servants, and they may start acting against us.
