As a species, Homo sapiens is at a crossroads. Study of our planet’s turbulent past suggests  that we are overdue for a catastrophic disaster, whether caused by nature or by human  interference. It’s a frightening prospect, as each of the Earth’s past major disasters resulted  in a mass extinction, where more than 75 percent of the planet’s species died out. But in  Scatter, Adapt, and Remember , Annalee Newitz explains that although global disaster is  all but inevitab