Just one of the ways the human population could be all but wiped out:
What could cover the globe in ash, plunge Earth into an ice age and end life as we know it?
The answer is found in what lies beneath: supervolcanoes. Supervolcanoes are very rare. There is no need to run out and buy duct tape and plastic sheeting for this one. The last known supervolcano was about 74,000 years ago. But they are real, and one potential supervolcano lies right here in the United States, in one of America's most profound areas of natural beauty.
The ABC special on "Last Days on Earth" explored lots of other neat ways life could be extinguished, including an asteroid hit and nuclear war. One fascinating segment asked people what they would do if they knew the world was going to end. There were some hedonistic self-indulgences, but the common thread among most of the people interviewed was that they would gather all their family members together and spend the remaining time with the ones they loved.
Which brings up the question of why we don't do that now, if that's what we would do at world's end. Because we really don't believe it, do we, that the end will sneak up on us and leave us with that "He spent more time at the office" gravestone? We always think we'll have time to make up for our lapses.
