INTRODUCTION38 Eternal Fascinations with the End By Michael Moyer Why we want to believe that this is humanity’s final hour.MEDICINE42 Why Can’t We Live Forever? By Thomas Kirkwood By unraveling the mysteries of aging, scientists may be able to extend our lives.BIOETHICS50 When Does Life Belong to the Living? By Robin Marantz Henig Some doctors think we shouldn’t wait for donors to die before removing their organs.FORENSICS56 Dust to Dust By Arpad A. Vass The brief, eventful afterlife of a human corpse.ANTHROPOLOGY60 Last of Their Kind By Wade Davis As cultures die, knowledge dies with them.TECHNOLOGY68 Good Riddance Some human inventions deserve to go.ENVIRONMENT74 How Much Is Left? By Michael Moyer The lowdown on the planet’s dwindling resources.RISK ANALYSIS82 Laying Odds on the Apocalypse By John Matson How experts see the likelihood of eight doomsday scenarios. cosmology84 Could Time End? By George Musser Recent work in physics suggests a resolution to the paradox of time.RESTART92 What Comes Next Scientists give their visions of what the future holds.