Modern Mysteries

When will the world really end ?

By T.K. Randall
December 22, 2012 ·  53 comments

Image Credit: NASA/ESA Unless we are unlucky enough to be hit by an asteroid or neighboring supernova, the end of life as we know it is likely to be so far in the future that it isn't something anyone will have to worry about for eons. The Sun still has several billion years of life left in it and when it dies it will become a red giant, scorching the Earth and anything left living on it.

This might seem like a disturbing thought, but given that it took us far less time to evolve from single-celled organisms to sentient, space-faring homo-sapiens, the chances that we will still be living here as we do now by that time are infinitesimally small. If indeed the human race does still exist by that time, regardless of what our species might have evolved in to, whatever happens to the Earth will be of no consequence to our survival.[!gad]Unless we are unlucky enough to be hit by an asteroid or neighboring supernova, the end of life as we know it is likely to be so far in the future that it isn't something anyone will have to worry about for eons. The Sun still has several billion years of life left in it and when it dies it will become a red giant, scorching the Earth and anything left living on it.

This might seem like a disturbing thought, but given that it took us far less time to evolve from single-celled organisms to sentient, space-faring homo-sapiens, the chances that we will still be living here as we do now by that time are infinitesimally small. If indeed the human race does still exist by that time, regardless of what our species might have evolved in to, whatever happens to the Earth will be of no consequence to our survival.

Source: Discovery News | Comments (53)

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