Will humans become extinct?

What is the chance of the human race surviving the 21st century? There are many dangers – climate change for example, or nuclear war, or a pandemic, or planet Earth being hit by a giant asteroid. Sam and Neil discuss our future and whether we need to start panicking but not before they teach you some useful vocabulary. Read the question [listen for the answer] and check out the vocabulary.

QUESTION:
The species was hunted so much that within a century, every single bird had died out. But do you know which island the dodo was from?
Was it: a) The Galapagos b) Mauritius c) Fiji [The answer is at the end of the programme.]

VOCABULARY:
existential risks - dangers that threaten the continuation of human life on Earth
the historical record - the collection of all written and recorded past events concerning the human race
wipes out - completely destroys leaving nothing remaining
plague - infectious, epidemic disease
Doomsday - final day of the world’s existence; apocalypse
false alarm - warning given incorrectly so that people wrongly believe something dangerous is about to happen