Would Humanity Survive a Nuclear War?

Many scholars have posited that a global thermonuclear war with Cold War-era stockpiles, or even with the current smaller stockpiles, may lead to human extinction. ... However, models from the past decade consider total extinction very unlikely, and suggest parts of the world would remain habitable.

What would survive a nuclear war?

1. Cockroaches. ... Most cockroaches can survive moderate amounts of radiation, and 20% of cockroaches can survive high atom-bomb level radiation (10,000 rads). In fact, cockroaches were found perfectly fine and healthy just 1000 feet away from where the Hiroshima atom bomb was dropped.

How long would it take to recover from a nuclear war?

Recovery would probably take about 3-10 years, but the Academy's study notes that long term global changes cannot be completely ruled out.