The Y2K computer glitch was the most prominent doomsday prophecy with the turning of the millennium. The scare originated from a universal computer problem. When computers were first made years were computed with the last two digits. For example, 1980 would just be 80. But when 2000 came around the computers would calculate with 00, which many believed would cause apocalyptic consequences. Many believed that at midnight on January 1st, 2000 airplanes would fall randomly from the sky, elevators would fall from the tops of skyscrapers, and the world economy would completely stop. One hundred eight point eight BILLION dollars were spent by the U.S. government and American corporations to fix Y2K computers. Obviously nothing drastic occurred. The worse damage caused by Y2K computers was a credit card disruption in Britain, which sent out bills dated in 1900. All in all, no big deal.
One of the few apocalyptic predictions based on valid science is the fact that the sun is going to transform into a Red Giant, or a step in a star's life. When the sun enters its red giant phase, which most scholars agree will occur roughly 7.6 billion years from now, all of its hydrogen will convert into helium causing the sun to expand to twenty times the size of Earth's orbit and will shine three thousand times brighter. After this process the sun will collapse into a white dwarf, another step in a star's life. Why is this so bad you ask? That is a topic of heated debate, some people think that the Earth could survive such a transformation while others believe there is no way the Earth could survive. However, if the Earth remains in its current orbit, there is no doubt the Earth will be engulfed by the expanding sun and vaporized. But the Earth with drift further and further away from the sun when the sun transforms due to its loss of mass. This movement might just save the Earth from absolute destruction. But there is a catch. Either way the sun will get close enough to destroy life on Earth as we know it.
The Y2K computer glitch was the most prominent doomsday prophecy with the turning of the millennium. The scare originated from a universal computer problem. When computers were first made years were computed with the last two digits. For example, 1980 would just be 80. But when 2000 came around the computers would calculate with 00, which many believed would cause apocalyptic consequences. Many believed that at midnight on January 1st, 2000 airplanes would fall randomly from the sky, elevators would fall from the tops of skyscrapers, and the world economy would completely stop. One hundred eight point eight BILLION dollars were spent by the U.S. government and American corporations to fix Y2K computers. Obviously nothing drastic occurred. The worse damage caused by Y2K computers was a credit card disruption in Britain, which sent out bills dated in 1900. All in all, no big deal. 
One of the few apocalyptic predictions based on valid science is the fact that the sun is going to transform into a Red Giant, or a step in a star's life. When the sun enters its red giant phase, which most scholars agree will occur roughly 7.6 billion years from now, all of its hydrogen will convert into helium causing the sun to expand to twenty times the size of Earth's orbit and will shine three thousand times brighter. After this process the sun will collapse into a white dwarf, another step in a star's life. Why is this so bad you ask? That is a topic of heated debate, some people think that the Earth could survive such a transformation while others believe there is no way the Earth could survive. However, if the Earth remains in its current orbit, there is no doubt the Earth will be engulfed by the expanding sun and vaporized. But the Earth with drift further and further away from the sun when the sun transforms due to its loss of mass. This movement might just save the Earth from absolute destruction. But there is a catch. Either way the sun will get close enough to destroy life on Earth as we know it.
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