4 Ways The World Could End In Your Lifetime (And 3 Ways We Can Stop It)

5. Global Pandemics And Superbugs

As we inch ever closer to the antibiotic apocalypse, with antibiotic-resistant superbugs on the rise, we might have to relearn the dread of infection that our ancestors experienced, and get used to the idea that we could again be at risk of death from something as small as an infected papercut.

Antibiotic resistances is one thing, but a suitably contagious virus could well spell the end for vast swathes of the population is a very short period of time. Computer models designed to simulate the spread of disease have predicted that, given the right conditions, a deadly strain of influenza could make its way across the planet in less than a year.

Whilst something like Ebola, although terrifying once contracted, can only be transmitted via the exchange of bodily fluids, an airborne pathogen such as Spanish Influenza can spread itself through the air conditioning of any aeroplane, office building and shopping centre it can work its way in to - and it only takes one carrier to infect multiple people at once.