There are so many apocalyptic threats out there that it's almost exciting to think of all the possible ways Earth could be doomed. Will it be meteors? Global warming? Penguins ? Fortunately, whatever calamity is looming nearest, rest assured that our top brains are on the case thinking of solutions. And sure, some of those plans might look like the kind of blue-sky thinking a particularly lazy fifth-grader would present as their science fair project, but that doesn't mean they won't save us from the end of days. For example ...

5 NASA Wants To Fill The Yellowstone Supervolcano With Water

Turns out that those ravenous bears Yogi and Boo Boo aren't the biggest threat to the picnickers of Yellowstone National Park. That honor goes to a supervolcano (not the most reassuring scientific name) under the area that's due to explode ... any time now -- or in the past, if you're reading this after the volcano has already erupted and wiped out everything but the WiFi. Fortunately, NASA has come to the rescue, and they've dusted off some old Armageddon scripts and decided to go Michael Bay on this motherlover.

NASA

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That's right, the plan these geniuses have come up with is quite straightforward: Cool the volcano down. Obviously, supervolcanoes generate a lot of heat -- the heat of six industrial power plants, to be precise. So NASA wants to drill down into it, pump it full of water, and turn it into a giant kettle, letting the water absorb some of the heat in the chamber and then float away as hot steam. Rinse and repeat forever, and the volcano should be able to let off enough steam (literally) to remain stable.

Unfortunately, this is going to require some sacrificing. We're never going to live long enough see if it works; the process is estimated to take hundreds, if not thousands of years. It's also going to cost $3.46 billion, and therefore require politicians to sign off on a plan that costs a lot of money and isn't totally insane. To counter this, NASA has pointed out that the heat generated by the project could be siphoned off by a geothermal plant and used to produce dirt-cheap energy (roughly $0.10 per kWh). And all American politicians have to do is spend a lot of money on an alternative energy source that won't have any benefits until long after they're out of office.

National Park Service

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So yeah, we're all doomed.