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Survival in a post-apocalypse blackout

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posted on Aug, 25 2009 @ 08:48 AM
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NATURAL catastrophes such as asteroid impacts, massive volcanic eruptions or large-scale wildfires would have periodically plunged our planet into abnormal darkness. How did life survive without the sun's life-giving rays during such episodes? With a little help from organisms that can switch to another source of energy while they wait for sunlight to pierce the darkness once more.

To figure out how organisms might have endured periods of so-called "catastrophic darkness", Charles Cockell of the Open University's Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research in Milton Keynes, UK, and his team placed samples of both freshwater and marine microorganisms in darkness for six months - a period similar to what might be expected following a catastrophic event. The samples included phototrophs, which convert sunlight into usable energy, and mixotrophs, which can use sunlight or consume dead organic matter.

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Pretty interesting study, i read a few times before that an asteroid impact would kill most species through throwing up so much dust into the atmosphere and wiping out plant life, rather than the impact doing the damage.



posted on Aug, 25 2009 @ 09:44 AM
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We as a species would adapt, ( providing we survive the initial event), we have other means of surviving, yes we'd need sunlight , but should the sun go out ( like 100% cloud cover for 100 years or so) we'd change to suit the environment, we'd become pallid, very light skinned, like a teenager stuck in his bedroom for a couple of months.

The plant life would struggle further out away from the cities but we'd have greenhouses and spotlights to provide illumination to the growing of crops, we'd even probably settle into using some sort of electric or magnetic generators as solar would be out the window, wind power may be helpful but I doubt it.
We as a species would adapt but other lifeforms on this planet would suffer more, which is a shame.



 
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