The document summarizes 9 common myths about how the apocalypse could happen and debunks them with evidence. It explains that: 1) A large asteroid would not engulf the Earth in flames but would lower temperatures for over a decade through nuclear winter and greenhouse effect. 2) Humans are unlikely to go extinct since we are adaptable like sharks and can live in many places and eat many foods. 3) While climate change could cause famines and storms in 100 years, a full mass extinction takes over 100,000 years. 4) Most of the major threats like asteroids, pandemics, and climate change can be predicted, so preparations are possible. 5

1. Annalee Newitz
5/15/13 1:00pm
Filed to: SUPERLIST
We've all spent a little time obsessing about the end of
the world (or maybe a lot of time). But are your
apocalyptic thoughts based in reality, or fed by pop
culture fantasies? Here are nine myths about how the
apocalypse will happen.
Top image: Dino Riders.
1. A large asteroid hit would turn Earth into a ball
of flame
It's not unreasonable to worry that Earth might be hit
by an asteroid. We're hit by large rocks from space
roughly every 20 million years, and the last one struck
65 million years ago — leading to the mass extinction
that took out most of the dinosaurs. So we're due for
another one. But even a large asteroid strike won't
wreathe the planet in fire, cooking everyone.Instead,
it would punch a hole in the atmosphere, spreading
debris into space and setting off a nuclear winter.
Temperatures would plummet, and remain low for at
least a decade. Then things would heat up into a

2. super-greenhouse, making things uncomfortable for
everyone.
2. Humans are doomed to go extinct
Nope. In fact, humans share many traits with survivor
species like sharks, whose ancestors lived through
great adversity and several mass extinctions for a few
simple reasons. One, they have a large population that
can live almost anywhere — just like humans. And
they can eat almost anything, including garbage —
again, just like humans. It's actually more likely that
humans will evolve into a new species than that we
will die out. Image: I Am Legend concept art
3. Climate change could cause a mass extinction
in the next 100 years
Mass extinctions are the worst disaster that can befall
life on Earth, with over 75 percent of species going
extinct. And they are almost always caused by climate
change. But mass extinctions usually take about a
million years — the shortest one is estimated to have
taken on the order of 100-200 thousand years. So
climate change could make things really horrible in
the next century, leading to famines and superstorms.
But a mass extinction will take a lot longer than that.

3. 4. Climate change won't really lead to an
apocalypse
Actually, it will. Most mass extinctions are caused by
climate change. They are often precipitated by
disasters like massive outpourings of lava from
volcanoes, or an asteroid hitting the planet. But the
real damage comes from all the ash, toxins, and
carbon that gets loaded into the atmosphere, plunging
the planet into an era of superheating or supercooling.
5. Most of the really big threats to humanity can't
be predicted
Let's think about a few of the biggest threats to
humanity. If you were naming some of the biggest,
they would probably include famines, disasters
likeearthquakes and floods, pandemics, asteroid
strikes, and storms can be predicted in advance. We
can even predict climate change. So very likely to be
wiped out by something we don't see coming. Which
means that we can start doing our disaster
preparations now, and have a better chance of
survival.

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6. If humans go extinct, the world will be a better
place
If every member of Homo sapiens died tomorrow, the
planet would still suffer from war (between ants,
chimps, and dolphins, among other species). And it
would still undergo periods of climate change where
the world enters greenhouse phases and ice age
phases that kill off many species. We aren't the only
destructive creatures ever to live, and we aren't likely
to be the last. The world might actually be pretty

5. much the same place without us, albeit with fewer
Starbucks and reality TV shows.
7. Famines are natural "culling" events where
people starve because there are too many of us
As Nobel laureate Amartya Sen demonstrated in his
landmark study of famines, these events are not
natural. They are caused by problems with economic
resource allocation, where food prices skyrocket and
the poor are unable to buy sustenance. Famines are
the most unnatural event that could befall humanity,
and humanity can prevent them too.
8. If Earth gets bombarded with radiation from a
supernova, there is no way we could survive
Though it would be a horrific disaster and many lives
would be lost, there is a simple way to protect yourself
from radiation. Go underground. Just a few feet of
rock is enough to protect you from high energy cosmic
radiation. Is a nearby supernova frying off the top
layer of Earth's atmosphere? Get into a subway
tunnel, mine, or cave. It's true you might have to live
there for a while, but after the worst of the radiation
bombardment is over you could go outside in
protective gear for short periods to gather food. It
would be tough, but it's possible to survive. Indeed,
it's even possible that a similar radiation disaster hit

6. the Earth about 450 million years ago, and creatures
in the deep sea survived because the water blocked
radiation. Image via NASA.
9. Zombies
Zombies are not real. So you only have to worry about
them as a menace in bad movie sequels and TV shows
that outlast their awesomeness.
If you want to know more about potential
apocalypses and how we can actually survive
them, you can learn more in my new
book, Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How
Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction.