Scientists have different ideas about how and when the world might end, and they focus on several possible scenarios. Many believe global warming and climate change could play a major role.
This refers to the Earth getting hotter and experiencing extreme weather changes, like more hurricanes, droughts, and floods. These shifts could cause severe problems for life on the planet, leading to a chain reaction that might threaten the survival of ecosystems and humanity.
The increase in greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere is making the Earth warmer. This could lead to melting ice at the North and South Poles, which would raise sea levels and flood coastal areas. At the same time, the changing weather patterns could harm plants, animals, and even humans, making it difficult to grow food and live in certain areas.
Another concern is that we are using up important natural resources, like clean water, fossil fuels, and essential minerals, at a faster rate than they can be replenished. If we don’t find more sustainable ways to use these resources, shortages could cause conflict between nations and destabilize societies. Mismanagement of these resources might lead to economic collapses and widespread suffering.
Some scientists also worry about the threat of a global pandemic. Diseases like COVID-19 have shown how a fast-spreading illness can disrupt societies and economies. If another disease emerges that is even deadlier and harder to control, it could have catastrophic consequences for humanity.
Natural disasters are another potential cause of the world’s end. For example, a large asteroid hitting the Earth could cause widespread destruction. The impact could generate massive explosions, earthquakes, and tsunamis, while throwing so much dust into the atmosphere that it blocks sunlight, leading to climate changes that could devastate life on Earth. Similarly, a supervolcano eruption could release enormous amounts of ash and gases into the air, disrupting the climate, blocking sunlight, and making it hard for plants to grow. This could lead to food shortages and mass extinction.
On a cosmic scale, scientists recently observed something extraordinary: a star swallowing a planet. For the first time, astronomers saw a gas giant, similar to Jupiter, being consumed by a star as it grew larger in its old age. This event happened near the Aquila constellation and was observed as a burst of light and a stream of dust that shone brightly in infrared energy. While scientists had seen evidence of stars eating planets before, this was the first time they directly observed it happening.
Researchers believe something similar could happen to Earth in about 5 billion years when the sun becomes a red giant. As it expands, it could swallow the planets closest to it, including Earth. Although this is a long way off, the recent observation provides valuable insight into what might happen in the distant future.
This discovery was published in the journal Nature, and scientists are now better equipped to identify similar events in other parts of the universe. They suspect that many planets around other stars could meet the same fate, making these “cosmic feasts” a common occurrence in the universe. Even though this scenario is far from happening in our solar system, it highlights the fascinating and sometimes unsettling possibilities of the cosmos.
