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There is a possibility that the Higgs field isn’t at it’s lowest energy state, and that a random quantum tunneling event could drag the Higgs field to that lower state. In this unsettling scenario, a bubble pops into existence somewhere in the universe. Inside the bubble, the laws of physics are wildly different than they are outside the bubble. The bubble expands at the speed of light, eventually taking over the entire universe. Galaxies drift apart, atoms can’t hold themselves together, and the ways that particles interact are fundamentally changed. Whatever form the universe takes after this event certainly wouldn’t be hospitable for humans.
Gamma ray bursts from celestial events such as a supernova. One of these - GRB 221009 released 1,000 times more energy in 5 minutes than our Sun has emitted throughout its 4.5 billion year life. GRBs from different galaxies have set off detectors on earth designed to detect nuclear explosions. One of these in our galaxy, pointed directly at earth could end all life on it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst
Every study performed on insect counts has concluded that overall insect populations are declining, though there is not complete global coverage of data. One study in Germany found that the flying insect population had decreased by 75% from 1990 to 2015.
A 2019 survey of 24 entomologists working on six continents found that on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being the worst, all the scientists rated the severity of the insect decline crisis as being between 8–10.
Nothing scares me quite as much as the thought that I might live to see global ecological collapse.
If you think about it, when was the last time you saw a lighting bug. I’ve never seen a firefly in my entire life despite living in a country that had native species.
Microbiology can be so much fun!
Streptococcus pyogenes causes a flesh-eating disease (necrotizing fasciitis). This species of bacteria releases toxins that kill living tissue, so you better make sure that paper cut doesn’t get infected.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is famous for a bunch of different pandemics over the centuries. If you thought covid was fun, imagine coughing up blood.
Clostridium botulinum is special, because it produces a very spicy toxin, so you don’t even have to ingest any living cells or spores of C. botulinum to get killed by it. If you do, you can even have your very own toxin factory inside you.
Vibrio cholerae is another classic responsible for numerous pandemics. This one is a bit different, because it involves lethal amounts of diarrhea.
Oh, and the scary bit? There are people who don’t believe bacteria or viruses exist. They actively oppose taking measures against these things. Humans can be truly horrifying at times.
“Lethal amounts of diarrhea” has now entered second place on my Worst Nightmares list. Thanks for that…
Viruses are sneaky! Their whole goal is to trick you into helping them survive and reproduce.
That’s not creepy or weird, that’s horrifying.
Read the Wikipedia article on Radon. That should do the trick.
There’s worse. Ever heared of FOOF? https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-dioxygen-difluoride
Eh, FOOF is so unstable that it’s very hard to make enough of it to do any real damage. It’s also just very hard to make. It’s only remotely stable at cryogenic temperatures, and is so reactive that without an inert atmosphere it will rapidly decay into something more stable. Granted, it will do so by oxidizing the molecular oxygen in the air (which is as insane as it sounds) and release a ton of energy in the process but assuming you don’t already have a bunch of it, you won’t be able to create enough of it fast enough to do any meaningful damage without a specialized laboratory and associated equipment.
Chlorine Triflouride however, can be made in your kitchen, and is just stable enough that, assuming you’ve taken some precautions, it’s possible to accumulate enough of it to immolate yourself in one of the worst possible ways.
OMG explosions and fire just did an episode on this. He went to a lab in Germany and they made some…
Release 9 days ago.
I’m only just barely smart enough to occasionally realize that when the smart people start quietly losing their shit over something I can’t possibly understand, I should have long since been gone by the time they start losing their shit over whatever magic has now prematurely doomed the universe to its inevitable heat death.
Or I could just drink my face off. That works, too.
What about the PLOOF?!?
Ok here we go. Will be back with an update, but just in case, I don’t consider myself particularly tough
I think they’re dead.
When I was a kid my parents wanted to open up an existing cavity under our house to build a basement, and that never happened because it (E: was discovered during the building inspection that it) was full of Radon. I guess I’m desensitised (but possibly slowly decaying a little faster than I should be…).
Spirals
