More than a quarter think alien societies would resemble human ones — but they’re wrong about UFO visitations — Even scientists who are actively involved in the search for alien life in the cosmos don’t like to speculate about exactly what they might found out there, as Medium editor-at-large Steve LeVine discovered when he wrote an in-depth feature on the subject for OneZero. …

We need to change how our economy is powered — and that will require politics — On December 11, two things happened that caught the attention of those invested in the fight against climate change, which at this point should include all of us. TIME magazine named 16-year-old Greta Thunberg its 2019 person of the year, lauding her for “creating a global attitudinal shift, transforming millions…

Climate change plays a role, but the power outages are chiefly the result of mismanagement — the kind we can no longer afford — The millions of people currently affected by power outages in Central and Northern California are struggling with inconvenience and worse, but at least they can take comfort in the fact that they’re not alone. In 2017, the last year with concrete data, 36.7 …

As the clock ticks toward the end times, it’s easy to lose faith in humanity’s ability to endure. But we can’t give up. — Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. This is the last in a series of essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s new book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World, which…

In an effort to speed up the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, some researchers are sending messages into the cosmos. We may not like the answer. — Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. For the next two weeks, OneZero will be featuring essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s forthcoming book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World…

The development of artificial general intelligence offers tremendous benefits and terrible risks — Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. For the next two weeks, OneZero will be featuring essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s forthcoming book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World…

New technologies like gene editing could vastly improve human life. They also just might end it. — Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. For the next two weeks, OneZero will be featuring essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s forthcoming book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World…

Species are going extinct and the climate is warming rapidly — yet at least materially, humans are doing better than ever. Welcome to the environmentalist’s paradox. — Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. For the next two weeks, OneZero will be featuring essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s forthcoming book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World…

Seventy-four years after the end of World War II, we’re still living with the existential risk of nuclear holocaust — and it all began on a patch of desert called the Trinity Site — Asteroids, supervolcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, engineered viruses, artificial intelligence, and even aliens — the end may be closer than you think. For the next two weeks, OneZero will be featuring essays drawn from editor Bryan Walsh’s forthcoming book End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World…