Movie post-apocalyptic civilizations could they survive? Snowpiercer and Mad Max   It’s always fun to see things that could happen in the near future portrayed in a movie, especially when it’s based on how we would survive as a species. Today the two films in question are Snowpiercer and MadMax, both of which show our world in the not-too-distant future in a way that the human race is barely being kept alive. But how accurate are these movies’ visions of human survival and it would be even possible to stay alive in the conditions they portray?   Snowpiercer (The main engine car of ..read more

Will humans ever go extinct? The human race as we know it has been around for almost 300,000 years, but it has only been within the last 50,000 years that our brains developed enough for us to understand how to make tools and build homes. In the last 500 years, humans have gone from swords and horse-drawn carriages to video phones and global-class airplanes. This rapid rate of advancement within our species would seem like we are on the right track to advance to a point where humans can’t be made extinct, but this is far from the truth.     How long will the earth last? If we coul ..read more

What NOT to do when going into the wilderness After reading and writing so many survival stories, certain things pop up again and again that cause people to get into trouble or even lose their lives. The wilderness may be beautiful and compelling, but it can also be deadly and filled with things that can turn a pleasant hike into a nightmare situation. To avoid showing up in a local news story as the latest victim of the wilderness, remember the worst mistakes people made to get there and make sure you don’t repeat them.   Don’t tell anyone where you’re going If you do get into trouble ..read more

The 10 strangest animal survival tactics Certain creatures on this earth were born without anything that could be used as a weapon to defend themselves. Bears and lions are known as dangerous because they are big, strong, and have huge claws and sharp teeth, making them an obvious threat, but for most creatures something as simple as developing claws is a distant dream and so they have to get creative. Here are some of the strangest and most disgusting survival tactics of some of the creatures we share this planet with.   The Carrier crab (A carrier crab with a kidnapped sea urchin. If ..read more

How did Vikings survive in Scandinavia? Scandinavia is a sub-region in northern Europe that includes the countries of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, though some classifications also include Finland and even Iceland, but the most commonly accepted definition is the first three countries. This was the home of the Vikings and the hardest place in Europe to maintain a civilization due to its extremely cold weather and lack of decent farmland.     The Vikings became famous for raiding other countries and sometimes settling there, but they did this mostly out of necessity instead of simpl ..read more

Building materials of the ancient world Our ancestors were much smarter than people realize, living in elaborate castles with polished plaster interior walls, and wearing fine linen and leather clothing. They knew how to smelt metals and make everything from weapons to supports for bridges, but how exactly did they do all this and how can people who are often seen as being primitive manage to make these things?   (A wattle and daub wall, one of the most common forms of wall building from the bronze age to gunpowder era)   How were medieval castles built? There were two types of ca ..read more

The longest survival times of trapped people In a survival situation, people will often have the ability to move around or travel short distances, but sometimes people get stuck in a confined space they can’t leave. Normally when this happens it’s only for a short period, such as a car crash until they get cut out by the firemen, but every once in a while people are stuck for a very long time, and the current record holders for the unpleasant places people have been trapped are right here:   (Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for the story of robinson crusoe)   Longest time trapp ..read more

Life in Iron Age Ireland The Iron Age first began in Britain around the year 800 BC when someone in England worked out how to get a smelter hot enough to melt iron. Before this, bronze was the strongest metal that people had, but this was far from being strong enough to pull a plow through the earth without breaking. The technology of how to smelt iron didn’t reach Ireland until around the year 500 BC, probably because of the poor quality of boats they had available, but this new metal changed everything and brought in a new age of living for the Irish.   (Newgrange burial monument loc ..read more

Could humans survive on the moon? The nearest celestial body to Earth is the moon at an average distance of 384,400 km away, which makes it by far the nearest place for us to try and establish a base, or even a second home for the human race, but just how possible would it be and could people survive on the moon?   (A picture of the moons surface from one of the NASA cameras)   The problem with the moon’s atmosphere The atmosphere on the moon is very thin and is mostly made up of gases that are poisonous to humans. There is oxygen on the moon but it’s mostly attached to something ..read more

The deadliest plants on earth by deaths caused There are thousands of different poisonous plants on earth and many of them have poisons so strong they are often impossible to survive. The reason that poisonous plants don’t cause that many deaths is because people aren’t exposed to them very often, like in the United States which has a population of over 330 million people, but only sees around 3 deaths from poisonous mushrooms every year. To determine the most dangerous plants by death count, we have to consider indirect deaths, which brings us to the first on the list which causes more deat ..read more