LONDON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The human race is likely to be erased by a doomsday virus before this millennium is out unless it sets up space colonies, British scientist Stephen Hawking warned.
"I don't think the human race will survive the next thousand years, unless we spread into space," Hawking told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.
"There are too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet. But I'm an optimist. We will reach out to the stars."
Hawking, Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge University in England, has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe.
He told the Telegraph that biological advances present even greater challenges in fighting terrorism.
"Although September 11 was horrible, it didn't threaten the survival of the human race, like nuclear weapons do," said Hawking, the author of the best-selling "A Brief History Of Time."
"In the long term, I am more worried about biology. Nuclear weapons need large facilities, but genetic engineering can be done in a small lab. You can't regulate every lab in the world. The danger is that either by accident or design, we create a virus that destroys us."
