The students who developed a plan to stop Armageddon

In 2021, a global survey of 10,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 25 found that 75 percent were fearful of the future. More than half believed that humanity is doomed to extinction.

There’s good reason for such pessimism. Today’s college students are growing up in an era of rising and multiplying risks to humanity. But not all of these existential risks are growing more dangerous. In fact, the ultimate risk – that of a world-destroying comet or asteroid impact – is now much lower than it once was.

There are many reasons for this remarkable reduction in risk. Among the most important is that one group of college students, and one young professor, decided to take action. In the 1960s, when the possibility of an asteroid impact alarmed the American public for the first time,