The Fate of Life on Earth: A Cosmic Perspective

Mario Livio

Astrophysicist, Space Telescope Science Institute

Human life on Earth will undoubtedly need to face many future challenges: bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, violent volcanic "supereruptions," asteroid impacts and food shortages, among other possibilities. However, assuming that human ingenuity will be able to overcome many or even most of these expected perils (which may be a dangerous assumption to make), there are still a few events on a more cosmic scale that may be inevitable. The good news is that I'm referring to hazardous phenomena that are billions of years into the future. [Read more] ...