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Experts have employed cutting-edge supercomputer models to predict when the end of humanity is likely to happen, along with what we can do to put it off.

If Life On Our Planet (the groundbreaking nature docuseries on Netflix, which tracks the extraordinary journey of varying species to conquer, adapt and survive on Earth across billions of years) has taught us one thing; it’s that life on Earth is fragile and will eventually end (again). Also, humanity is a mere blip.

The current climate crisis makes the reality of this realisation a lot starker.

Researchers from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom compiled a computer-generated report that reveals precisely when humans will face extinction on our planet, per The Jerusalem Post. According to the report, we have another 250 million years before Armageddon hits us square in the face.

The study’s lead author, Dr Alexander Farnsworth, also a senior research associate at the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences, contends that humanity’s demise will be caused by surging temperatures and extreme heat, which will pave the way for the emergence of a supercontinent known as Pangea Ultima, accompanied by “frequent volcanic eruptions”.

The heat will rise, and the future is bleak:

Carbon dioxide levels could reach twice the current levels, as the sun is also anticipated to emit approximately 2.5% more radiation, and the supercontinent will predominantly occupy hot and humid tropical regions. Consequently, a substantial portion of the Earth may experience temperatures ranging from 40 to 70 degrees Celsius.

The new supercontinent that forms will pose a triple threat, featuring the continent effect, an intensified solar output, and an elevated concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Simultaneously, most of the planet will be plagued by scorching heat, resulting in a largely inhospitable environment bereft of sustenance and hydration for mammals, he explained.

There’s only so much that animals (including us humans) can do to dissipate this heat through perspiration and regulate body temperature, which means we are sure to vanish from the planet when it becomes unbearable.

However, there is a way to avert total Armageddon.

Another expert involved in the report, Professor Benjamin Mills of the University of Leeds, argued that an upsurge in fossil fuel consumption would expedite the end of humanity on Earth, possibly arriving “much sooner than anticipated.”

AKA, humanity simply must discontinue the use of fossil fuels.

If we don’t, we could be on track for the first mass extinction since the dinosaurs died out, around 66 million years ago, when the Earth was catastrophically hit by a massive space rock.

The study has been published in Nature Geoscience.

[source:jpost]