Questions tagged [extinction-event]

A sharp decrease in the diversity and abundance of macroscopic life.

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Are people on average more likely to die in an extinction event than in a car crash?

An article in The Atlantic makes following claim: Human Extinction Isn't That Unlikely “A typical person is more than five times as likely to die in an extinction event as in a car crash,” says a new report This is all based on assuming that there…
vartec
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What risk do pole reversals pose to human civilization?

What are the chances that the magnetic poles of earth will switch during the next decade? If the event were to occur, what would be the effect to our civilization? Would computer hard drives get erased by the magnetic force? Would our navigation…
Christian
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Have leap days confused the calculated date for the "end of the Mayan calendar"?

At the beginning of the 2012, I predicted that we would see a number of false debunkings of the Mayan Calendar Apocalypse, which would depend on their own misunderstandings of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar. I believe my prediction has already…
Oddthinking
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Who first made the connection between the Mayan calendar and something bad happening in 2012?

If you have any engagement with current pop culture you've heard about the impending apocalypse in 2012. The date is usually given as December 21, 2012, supposedly derived from the end of some or another Mayan calendar. My question is, who first…
Scott Hamilton
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Is there an amphibian mass die off and if so, what is causing it?

http://frogmatters.wordpress.com/2009/02/20/scientists-scramble-to-solve-amphibian-death-puzzle/ Are there thousands of species dying off due to a chitrid fungus? I tend to be very skeptical of this (for instance, how does one even track the number…