We don't want to fill your days with doom and gloom, but in 2025, it feels like it's more a case of when the human race will be wiped out...not if.
It doesn't require the soothsaying abilities of Baba Vanga or Nostradamus to predict what could bring around our end of days, with the rise of artificial intelligence, the looming threat of World War III, and climate change all being worrying factors. That's before we get to erupting volcanoes and megatsunamis threatening to swat us Homo sapiens off the face of the planet.
For some, the danger comes from a little further away, with continued conspiracy theories that space is hiding the cause of our demise. Away from supposed harbinger asteroids, there are fears about the mysterious 3I/ATLAS comet that's due to pass closest to the Sun today (October 29).
There's been plenty of chatter about what exactly 3I/ATLAS is since it was first discovered in July 2025, with conspiracy theorists convinced it's an 'alien spaceship’, and NASA being forced to speak out about this 'hostile alien threat'.
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As only the third interstellar object ever detected (the others being Oumuamua and Borisov), 3I/ATLAS had already broken a frightening record as being the fastest, but according to physicist Dr. John Brandeburg, he thinks it could be about to change course.
3I/ATLAS was supposed to skirt near the Sun but remain some 1.8 astronomical units (167 million miles) from Earth. Brandenburg suggests this is no longer the case, taking to X to hypothesize that the comet could intercept our little third rock from the Sun.
Sharing a graphic, Brandenburg claimed the object's trajectory estimate shows there's a propulsive force behind 3I/ATLAS. This means it could change direction, although it's not normal for comets to do this.
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Branderburg isn't the only one fuelling this kind of debate, with Harvard scientist Avi Loeb previously claiming that 3I/ATLAS is an 'alien mothership' that's masquerading as a comet and can change direction.
Loeb posited that it's a "mothership that releases mini-probes" to perform a manoeuvre that would "slow down at perihelion and intercept Earth, taking advantage of the Sun’s gravitational assist."
He recently said: "As of now, I assign a 30 to 40 per cent likelihood that 3I/ATLAS does not have a fully natural origin. This low-probability scenario includes the possibility of a black swan event akin to a Trojan Horse, where a technological object masquerades as a natural comet."
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Of course, both Brandenburg and Loeb have been accused of fearmongering.
Replying to the former's post, one skeptic said: "Document these 'observed changes' or go f**k yourself."
Another chuckled: "That assertion is what is known technically among astronomers as 'utter bollocks'."
Even Elon Musk's Grok waded into the debate as it concluded: "The image depicts a speculative trajectory for 3I/ATLAS with thrusts altering its path toward Earth. However, NASA and ESA data show its hyperbolic orbit remains unchanged, with perihelion at 1.4 AU on Oct 30, 2025, and closest Earth approach at 1.8 AU (170 million miles). Observed jets cause minor activity but no major orbit shift or collision risk."