9/08/2011 PERMALINK
Thousands of ticking 'time bombs' in out galaxy threaten to cause human extinction. New research by astrophysicist Rosanne Di Stefano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics shows that some old stars might be held up by their rapid spins, and when they slow down, they explode as supernovae. Thousands of these "time bombs" could be scattered throughout our Galaxy ready to explode when their spin slows sufficiently.
In our Galaxy, scientists estimate that there are three Type Ia supernovae every thousand years. If a typical super-Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf takes millions of years to spin down and explode, then calculations suggest that there should be dozens of pre-explosion systems within a few thousand light-years of Earth.  Close enough to destroy our species, unless we have spread outward to other star systems before a close one's slowing spin cause it to go off.
Gama ray burst from supernovas, asteroid and comet impacts, gas clouds that can strip off a planets atmosphere, stellar bursts powerful enough to scorch planetary surfaces -- our Cosmos is a very dangerous neighborhood. Something that causes it to function as an intelligence generation engine. Either a species like our own learns to take control of its own evolution and progress rapidly enough outward to explore and colonize our Cosmos. Find out what all the hazards are and find ways to avoid them. Or our Cosmos will punish us with a premature extinction.