Armageddon

By Herbert C. Fyfe

From Pearson's Magazine, July 1900. Illustrated by Warwick Goble

Many of us are apt, not without some reason, to regard the world we live in as the centre of the universe, and to look upon the sun, the moon, and the stars as objects placed in the heavens for the special benefit of the human race. That the earth is but a minute object in the Cosmos; that it forms one of a number of bodies, many of them larger than itself, revolving around their central luminary, the sun; that there exist in the realms of space myriads of similar suns, centres themselves of other solar systems; that millions of planets, which we cannot see, are inhabited with races of intelligent beings -- these are facts of which almost everybody must cognizant, but on which few bestow much time or thought.

Astronomy teaches that, just as our solar system had a beginning, so it must have an end, and that, as at one time life was impossible upon the earth, so there will come a time when man will no longer be able to exist. Science, cold and calculating, has foretold the physical end of the world -- has prophesied the destruction of the globe and all its contents. Birth, life, death -- it has been well been said --appear to be the rule of the universe at large, as well as in our own little corner of it. Suns and planets are evolved, they flourish, and at length decay; and new suns and systems will arise to take their places. The "End of the World" may be taken in two different senses, as meaning either the annihilation of our planet by sudden catastrophe, or by gradual decay, or else the disappearance of human life from the face of the globe, owing to some state of circumstances, possible, at any rate, if not probable. It is our purpose in this article briefly to consider some of the opinions held by men of learning and repute regarding the end of the world, and to emphasize the lesson taught by Nature that the individual counts for nothing in the history of the race, the race for nothing in the life of the planet, and the planet for nothing in the duration of the Universe...

With the release of Roland Emmerich"s "2012" the topic of doomsday or the end of the world is on many people"s minds. How likely is it that the worldwill end in some apocalyptic disaster and if not in 2012 then when ?"NASA said last week that the world was not ending — at least anytime soon.

Last year, CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, said the samething..."

View: Full Article | Source: New YorkTimes

Its a scenario of apocalyptic proportions but in a theory that is rising in popularity among physicists our universe may not only have the potential to collide with another but may have already done so in the distant past."Relaxingon an idyllic beach on Grand Cayman Island in the Caribbean, Anthony Aguirre vividly describes the worst natural disaster he can imagine.

It is, in fact, probably the worst natural disaster that anyone could imagine. An asteroid impact would be small potatoes compared with this kind of event: acatastrophic encounter with an entire other universe."

View: Full Article | Source: DiscoverMagazine

A new study suggests that algae could be responsible for the extinction of many of the world"s prehistoric species, with large quantities of the green stuff found to have been presentduring five mass extinction events."US scientists say although supervolcanoes and meteors are usually blamed for mass extinctions, algae may be behind the world"s great species annihilations."

View: Full Article | Source: UPI News story suggestionby: questionmark.