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The good news: Earth can support life for 1.75 billion years. The bad news: Climate change could
wipe us out long before that
Scientists calculate planet's leave-by date, and identify other worlds where life may develop
J
The end of the world is coming - but not for a while yet. That's according to a new study indicating
that we have 1.75 billion years left until Mother Earth gives up the ghost.
Researchers from the University of East Anglia's School of Environmental Sciences analysed other
planets outside our galaxy in an attempt to work out how long it will be before our planet becomes
uninhabitable.
The study, published today in the journal Astrobiology, examined seven planets, including Earth
to determine how their "habitable zones" will change as their stars get hotter and brighter over time.
The key factors in determining a planet's habitability are whether it is the correct distance from its
star to have liquid surface water and a temperature less than 50C.
"Within around 1.75 billion years conditions for human life will become impossible as the sun grows in size,
temperatures soar and the world's oceans evaporate," Andrew Rushby, who led the study, told The
Independent.
The research didn't specifically account for man-made climate change or the "possibility that we'll all
be wiped out by an asteroid or a nuclear war", he said. Climate change may well decimate humanity
before the concept of habitable zones become relevant.
"Of course, conditions for humans and other complex life will become impossible much sooner - and
this is being accelerated by anthropogenic climate change," he said.
Full story Independent.