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Archive for the ‘existential risks’ category: Page 15

Dec 27, 2023

Doomsday Nuclear Clock 2024 Gets Reset as Weapons Fears Rise

Posted by in categories: existential risks, military

The 2024 nuclear doomsday clock has been reset, but there is still time for final revisions.

The clock was created in 1947 by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit that was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project. It began because of escalated fears of a potentially catastrophic nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union. It has been reset 25 times since its creation.

Viewed as a visual representation to warn the global populace about multiple factors that could negatively affect the planet, the clock was last changed on January 24 and moved forward to 90 seconds to midnight—the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been. The reasoning cited the Russia-Ukraine war that, as of this February, will have lasted for two years and has led to nuclear threats from Russia.

Dec 24, 2023

Silicon-Based Lifeforms

Posted by in categories: alien life, existential risks, media & arts

In the grandeur of the universe, the tapestry of life may be woven from stranger threads than we ever dared to dream, and spun from materials far different to our own.\
Watch my exclusive video The Fermi Paradox Hermit Shoplifter Hypothesis: https://nebula.tv/videos/isaacarthur–…\
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Credits:\
Silicon-Based Lifeforms \
Episode 426; December 21, 2023\
Produced, Written \& Narrated by: Isaac Arthur\
Graphics: Ken York / YD Visual\
Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

Dec 20, 2023

New nuclear deflection simulations advance planetary defense against asteroid threats

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

Researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a modeling tool for assessing the potential use of a nuclear device to defend the planet against catastrophic asteroid impacts.

The research, published today in the Planetary Science Journal, introduces a novel approach to simulating the from a nuclear device on an asteroid’s surface. This new tool improves our understanding of the nuclear deflection’s radiation interactions on the asteroid’s surface while opening the door to new research on the shockwave dynamics affecting the inner asteroid.

This model will allow researchers to build upon the insights gained from NASA’s recent Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, where, in Sept. 2022, a kinetic impactor was deliberately crashed into an asteroid to alter its trajectory. However, with limitations in the mass that can be lifted to space, scientists continue to explore nuclear deflection as a viable alternative to kinetic impact missions.

Dec 19, 2023

North Korea Test Launches Missile Designed to Hit US Mainland

Posted by in category: existential risks

Over the weekend, North Korea tested two missiles, one of which is capable of reaching the United States, officials in South Korea and Japan said. Defense officials in both countries claimed that the rocket traveled more than 600 miles before landing in the ocean northwest of Tokyo.

Dec 10, 2023

Fermi Paradox: The Zombie Apocalypse Universe

Posted by in category: existential risks

An exploration of the hard science fiction ways a zombie apocalpyse might become a reality. My Interview with Dr. Travis Langley https://youtu.be/tgEITq1puc0?

Dec 8, 2023

This is the exact spot an asteroid made a crater 750,000 years ago

Posted by in categories: asteroid/comet impacts, existential risks

Scientists have pinpointed the location of the place where an asteroid hit Earth approximately 750,000 years ago.

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the planetary scientists released evidence showing that the location of impact crater they have been seeking for decades is on the Bolaven Plateau in southern Laos.

Dec 8, 2023

How the Media Broke the World

Posted by in categories: existential risks, physics, robotics/AI

💥Join us on our Journey to 1 Million Subscribers💥 Liv Boeree is a British science communicator, television presenter and former professional poker player. She is a World Series of Poker and European Poker Tour champion, and is the only female player in history to have won both a WSOP bracelet and an EPT event. She has a degree in astrophysics and uses her YouTube channel @LivBoeree to discuss science, game theory, probabilities, extinction risk and AI.

Dec 8, 2023

Report: Nuclear war in US would wipe out 90 percent of the population

Posted by in category: existential risks

A nuclear attack on the United States’ missile silos would blow radioactive fallout to every state and parts of Mexico and Canada, killing more than 300 million people in its wake.

Dec 7, 2023

6 US Cities Most Likely at Risk in a Nuclear Attack

Posted by in categories: existential risks, nuclear energy

When it comes to nightmare scenarios for the United States, a nuclear attack from a foreign power has to rank among the worst possible choices. While the likelihood of such a strike is low, that does not stop experts from trying to prepare for any possibility. A story by Business Insider lists the following six cities as the most likely to be at risk in the vent of a future nuclear attack on the United States:

1) Chicago, Illinois.

2) Houston, Texas

Dec 7, 2023

Study reshapes understanding of mass extinction in Late Devonian era

Posted by in categories: climatology, existential risks, sustainability

Diverse and full of sea life, the Earth’s Devonian era—taking place more than 370 million years ago—saw the emergence of the first seed-bearing plants, which spread as large forests across the continents of Gondwana and Laurussia.

However, a near the end of this era has long been the subject of debate. Some scientists argue the Late Devonian mass extinction was caused by large-scale volcanic eruptions, causing global cooling. Others argue a mass deoxygenation event caused by the expansion of was to blame.

A recently published study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment led by researchers at IUPUI now posits that both factors played a role—and draws attention to the environmental tipping points the planet faces today.

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