7 Doomsday Scenarios You Probably Shouldn't Worry About (And 2 You Really Should)

Every six months or so, it seems as though there's a new apocalypse headed our way.

Remember that asteroid that swept past in 2013? What about when Stephen Hawking said that aliens would probably kill us all? Or how about the time everyone thought the Large Hadron Collider was going to suck us all through a wormhole to an alternate universe where everyone walks on their hands (or something)?

Don't even get me started on the Rapture.

Well, just taking a quick look around now appears to confirm that the world has not yet ended which, statistically speaking given the amount of scares we've had, is pretty good going. Are we just ridiculously lucky? Or perhaps just ridiculously paranoid?

The truth is that, despite the vast amounts of newspapers it sells, the apocalypse is much less likely than you'd think. Sure, the universe is big and scary, but it's also not out to get us - at least, not in the ways we imagine.

For all our handwringing about asteroids, aliens, robots and nukes, the real danger comes from some much quieter, sneakier threats that are not only more likely to end the world, but they're probably already doing it without us noticing.