North Korea Unveils Missiles Able to Strike Any Location in the United States

October 18, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

In an unprecedented show of force, North Korea held a parade to unveil its latest massive missiles able to strike the United States:

North Korea’s new ‘monster’ intercontinental ballistic missiles on show at military parade

North Korea unveils ‘monster’ new intercontinental ballistic missile at parade

Analysts said the missile, which was shown on a transporter vehicle with 11 axles, would be one of the largest road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in the world if it becomes operational. “This missile is a monster,” said Melissa Hanham, deputy director of the Open Nuclear Network. Also displayed were the Hwasong-15, which is the longest-range missile ever tested by North Korea, and what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)… The new ICBM is likely intended to dispel doubts about North Korea’s ability to strike the continental United States, and an implicit threat that they are preparing to test the larger missile, said Markus Garlauskas, a former U.S. intelligence officer for North Korea. “If the Hwasong-15 could carry a ‘super-large’ nuclear warhead to anywhere in the U.S., then the natural question is what can this larger missile carry?,” he said.

North Korea is currently thought to hold a stockpile of 30-40 nuclear weapons:

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction

North Korea has a military nuclear weapons program and, as of early 2020, is estimated to have an arsenal of approximately 30-40 nuclear weapons and sufficient production of fissile material for 6-7 nuclear weapons per year. North Korea has also stockpiled a significant quantity of chemical and biological weapons.

“The Doomsday Book” by Marshall Brain lays out this scenario in amazing detail and offers solutions to prevent this doomsday scenario from unfolding. You can order the book today on Amazon and other retailers.

Terrorism

China adds anti-satellite weapons to its arsenal

October 12, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

Imagine that a country, or multiple countries, decided to start destroying orbiting satellites with missiles. Blowing up a satellite would create thousands of pieces of space debris, meaning that all satellites are threatened. In the worst case scenario, the new debris starts running into other satellites to create a chain reaction. This video helps to understand the problem:

Space Junk Around Earth

Now China has announced that it is deploying satellite-destroying missiles:

China’s Type 055 destroyer has anti-stealth, anti-satellite capabilities: report

The Type 055 is equipped with a dual-band radar system that has anti-stealth and anti-satellite capabilities in low-Earth orbit, China Central Television (CCTV) reported over the weekend. The anti-satellite capability in particular has prompted discussions among military observers. Some of the advanced radar systems produced by modern technologies can detect low-Earth orbit aircraft, which often circulate the Earth at an altitude of 300 to 500 kilometers, Wang Ya’nan, a Chinese aviation and space expert and the chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times on Sunday. If the radar system has a high enough performance, it can not only detect, but also track the satellites, Wang said, noting that this means the radar can then guide weapons to attack the satellites.

As these capabilities proliferate, it could then become a “who has more to lose” situation. If a small country with no satellites in orbit wants to create havoc, it can start blowing up satellites with impunity.

Tsunamis

What Does a Big Tsunami Really Look like?

October 11, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

The Doomsday Book has a chapter on tsunamis (as well as super-tsunamis caused by nuclear bombs). But what does a tsunami really look like to the people experiencing it? This documentary, made mostly from the videos that tourists and residents captured in the 2004 “Boxing Day Tsunami”, shows the horror as it unfolds for the people on the ground:

Tsunami – Caught On Camera [full program] 12/26/2004

200,000+ people perished in this single tsunami.

Nuclear Bombs

Simulation of a Nuclear Blast in a Major City

October 10, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

An asteroid strike is one kind of doomsday scenario. Depending on the size of the asteroid, it could mean anything from “shooting star” to a mass extinction event. But, fortunately, large asteroid strikes are rare.

A nuclear bomb strike, on the other hand, is far easier to imagine. Humankind has thousands of nuclear bombs in its national nuclear bomb warehouses. There is also the threat that terrorists get hold of a nuke somehow and target a city. Either way, this video shows what a nuclear bomb doomsday scenario would look like for a major city:

Simulation of a Nuclear Blast in a Major City

Not good. One way of another, humanity must understand and gain control of the nuclear bomb problem.

Plastics, Warnings

There’s 14 million metric tons of microplastics sitting on the seafloor, study finds

October 9, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

We know that there are big pieces of plastic floating in the ocean: plastic bags, plastic cups, plastic straws, plastic bottles, “ghost gear” (abandoned fishing nets and other equipment), etc. We know that these big pieces break down into smaller pieces floating in the ocean. But it gets even worse:

There’s 14 million metric tons of microplastics sitting on the seafloor, study finds

Justine Barrett from CSIRO’s Oceans and Atmosphere who led the study, said in a statement that, “Even the deep ocean is susceptible to the plastic pollution problem.”
“Plastic pollution that ends up in the ocean deteriorates and breaks down, ending up as microplastics,” she said. “The results show microplastics are indeed sinking to the ocean floor.”
Scientists have called plastic litter “one of this generation’s key environmental challenges” and the problem is an internationally recognized environmental issue. Plastic is a persistent pollution that hurts wildlife, the ocean itself and there’s growing concern about the potential health risks it poses to humans.
It is difficult (but possible) to imagine somehow filtering floating plastic bits out of the water. Maybe we can invent enormous robot whale sharks that do it. The problem is so immense though that we would need a million of these robots.

But filtering plastic out of ocean sediments? How do we do that? Maybe we invent another robot, but still… The disruption to the ocean environment will be immense, and the robot will need to sort the plastic bits out of the sand and mud bits.

The article points out that the problem will only gets worse. And then you watch videos like this and see immensity of the problem in underdeveloped countries:

Kinshasa residents fed up of ‘rivers’ of plastic waste

Fixing this doomsday problem will take a massive worldwide effort, and this is just one of the doomsday problems humanity faces.

Rainforest Collapse, Warnings

Amazon near tipping point of switching from rainforest to savannah – study

October 8, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

The Doomsday Book has a chapter on Rainforest Collapse and all of the tragedy that the collapse will bring to our planet. This article reinforces the dire situation we face:

Amazon near tipping point of switching from rainforest to savannah – study

Much of the Amazon could be on the verge of losing its distinct nature and switching from a closed canopy rainforest to an open savannah with far fewer trees as a result of the climate crisis, researchers have warned.

One big problem is that the conversion of the forest to savannah means a massive tree die off. Every tree that dies releases its stored carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, meaning ever rising CO2 levels in the atmosphere and warmer temperature across the globe. It is a horrible positive feedback loop that will eventually make earth’s equitorial regions uninhabitable.

Global Warming, Rainforest Collapse, Sea Level Rise, Warnings

Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change

October 6, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change

Had the words of either man been heeded in the intervening three decades, the world today would be a very different place—incalculably better off in innumerable ways. Instead, during that interval, some two hundred billion metric tons of carbon have been spewed into the atmosphere. (This is roughly as much CO₂ as had been emitted from the start of the Industrial Revolution to that point.) Meanwhile, trillions of dollars have been sunk into coal-burning power plants, oil pipelines, gas pipelines, liquid-natural-gas export terminals, and a host of other fossil-fuel projects that, in a saner world, would never have been constructed. And global temperatures, as everyone can by now attest—though some still refuse to acknowledge—have continued to rise, to the point where the sweltering summer of 1988 no longer stands out as particularly hot. The nineteen-nineties were, on average, warmer than the eighties, the aughts hotter than the nineties, and the past decade hotter still. Each of the past five years has ranked among the warmest on record.

And the future does not look good:

What’s technically referred to as “dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” and colloquially known as “catastrophe” is warming so dramatic that it’s apt to obliterate whole nations (such as the Marshall Islands and the Maldives) and destroy entire ecosystems (such as coral reefs). A host of scientific studies suggest that a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) or more would qualify. A great many studies suggest that warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) would be enough to do the trick. At current emissions rates, the 1.5-degree threshold will be crossed in about a decade. As Drew Shindell, an atmospheric scientist at Duke University, told Science, “No longer can we say the window for action will close soon—we’re here now.”

It is crazy that humanity is allowing this to happen. The effects will be so cataclysmic, will destroy so much infrastructure and property, ruin the lives of so many people… how can we as a species stand by and allow it to happen without stopping ourselves?

The Doomsday Book is one attempt to help us come to our senses. There are 6 chapters in the book on the climate change catastrophe that is coming.

Global Warming, Mass Extinction, Rainforest Collapse

David Attenborough: “Our planet is headed for disaster.”

October 2, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

Sir David Attenborough to 60 Minutes on climate change: “A crime has been committed”

Attenborough no longer minces words nor leaves his viewers wondering where he stands on the issue of climate change. In the new film, he laments Earth’s decline and states emphatically, “Our planet is headed for disaster.”

Nuclear Bombs, Tsunamis

Russia’s Super-Tsunami Nuclear Weapon

October 2, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

This video goes into detail on Russia’s super-tsunami nuclear weapon, known as Poseidon:

Can Russia’s Doomsday Weapon Be Stopped? Status-6/Poseidon

If deployed, this weapon would be devastating to coastal cities. It is an unmanned robotic sub that carries a large nuclear warhead. It is nearly undetectable and can spend months to get to its target if need be. If detonated near a coastal city like New York, both the tsunami and the blast itself would be incredibly destructive. It might also be used to destroy an entire carrier battle group at sea.

Global Warming, Pandemics, Warnings

Justin Trudeau: ‘The World Is In Crisis, And Things Are About To Get Much Worse’

October 1, 2020 Marshall Brain Leave a comment

Justin Trudeau: ‘The World Is In Crisis, And Things Are About To Get Much Worse’

“The international approach we relied on since the second half of the 20th century was built on an understanding that countries would work together,” Trudeau said. “But now the same countries are looking inward and are divided. We need to recognize where we are. The system is broken, and the world is in crisis. And things are about to get much worse unless we change.”

Remarks for the United Nations General Assembly plenary meeting

Doomsday Now

North Korea Unveils Missiles Able to Strike Any Location in the United States

China adds anti-satellite weapons to its arsenal

What Does a Big Tsunami Really Look like?

Simulation of a Nuclear Blast in a Major City

There’s 14 million metric tons of microplastics sitting on the seafloor, study finds

Amazon near tipping point of switching from rainforest to savannah – study

Three Scenarios for the Future of Climate Change

David Attenborough: “Our planet is headed for disaster.”

Russia’s Super-Tsunami Nuclear Weapon

Justin Trudeau: ‘The World Is In Crisis, And Things Are About To Get Much Worse’

A companion website for "The Doomsday Book" by Marshall Brain