Listen again · In Conversation
Reducing Risks to Human Survival October 11, 2026 · 5:40 · With Maya and Alex
In this program, Alex and I look at a new Lancet Commission assessment of serious threats to human health, and the actions its authors say could reduce them. The assessment names 17 major threats over the next 75 years.
Transcript Tap a sentence to hear it from there.
Maya Welcome to Slow English FM. I’m Maya. In this program, Alex and I look at a new Lancet Commission assessment of serious threats to human health, and the actions its authors say could reduce them. Maya The assessment names 17 major threats over the next 75 years. A report by The Guardian says two stand out for their possible scale: nuclear conflict and the harmful use of artificial intelligence. The assessment describes both as unlikely, but says they could cause human extinction by 2100. Alex That difference matters. The assessment is not saying that extinction is likely. It is drawing attention to events that may be unlikely but could have an extreme result. Maya, what does it say could make these threats so damaging? Maya The Guardian reports that the assessment points to several possible paths to catastrophe. In a nuclear conflict, particles thrown into the upper atmosphere could block sunlight and cause famine. And the harmful use of artificial intelligence could include creating biological weapons. Alex So the concern is not only the immediate damage from a conflict. The assessment also describes a possible effect on food supplies. And it identifies AI-created biological weapons as another possible route to very large-scale harm. Those are risks the commission highlights, not events it says are happening. Maya The assessment also looks beyond those two extreme risks. Alex, how does it compare threats that can affect health in different ways? Alex According to The Guardian’s account, it uses a measure called disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs. This measure counts healthy years of life lost through illness, disability, or early death. The commission used it to compare the health burden from different threats. Maya In simple terms, it tries to count how much healthy life is lost. What other threats does the assessment say could lead to more than one billion lost healthy years in total? Alex The Guardian reports that the list includes air pollution, resistance to medicines that treat infections, childhood malnutrition, climate breakdown, conventional conflict, and naturally occurring pandemics. These threats differ from nuclear conflict or harmful uses of AI. But the assessment treats them as major risks to human health too. Maya That gives a wider picture. The report is not focused only on dramatic, sudden disasters. It also considers health harms that can build up over time. What does it say about climate change in particular? Alex The Guardian says the assessment compared a limit of about 1.8 degrees Celsius of global heating with a rise to 4.4 degrees. It estimated that limiting heating to about 1.8 degrees could prevent 1.89 billion healthy years of life from being lost. Maya That is an estimate of health impact, not a count of people. And the comparison shows how the assessment connects a change in global temperature with years of healthy life. Did it also consider how health support can affect future harm? Alex Yes. According to The Guardian, the commission estimated that a collapse or steep reduction in international health aid could cause up to 1.5 billion DALYs to be lost before 2100. It estimated that nearly 70 percent of those losses would be in sub-Saharan Africa. Those figures are the commission’s estimates, not a report of losses that have already happened. Maya So the assessment covers both threats that may cause sudden catastrophe and pressures that could add to health losses over many years. It also says the threats can interact. What does it recommend doing about them? Alex The Guardian reports that the assessment says these threats should be addressed together, and that there are ways to act on each one. Its authors call on leaders to invest in technological innovation and strengthen health systems. They also call for more resources to anticipate threats, prevent them where possible, and prepare for a wider range of risks. Maya That is a broad call to prepare, rather than to focus on only one kind of danger. The assessment brings together nuclear conflict, AI, climate, disease, and basic health needs. It presents them as connected challenges, while recognizing that they do not all carry the same risks or require the same response. Alex And its central point is that severe outcomes are not presented as certain. The commission’s authors argue that action is possible across the risks they identify. Their recommendations include stronger health systems, innovation, and more preparation for different kinds of threats. Maya That’s our report. Thanks for listening, and stay with us on Slow English FM.
