A combination of failing food supply, rising sea levels and areas of the planet becoming too hot to live will ultimately lead to almost all mammals, including humans, to die out.
However, the cause may not be what you imagine.
While climate change is a very real threat to today’s population, this apocalyptic scenario, predicted by a supercomputer, will be caused by all the continents crashing into each other to form one giant landmass.
A hot, dry and largely uninhabitable supercontinent – luckily 250 million years from now.
By this point in the future, the Sun will be brighter and warm the Earth more, while the supercontinent formation will lead to more frequent volcanic eruptions that will produce high releases of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Together this will lead to the Earth being between 40 to 50C.
Lead author Dr Alexander Farnsworth, from the University of Bristol, said: ‘The newly-emerged supercontinent would effectively create a triple whammy, comprising the continentality effect, hotter Sun and more CO2 in the atmosphere, of increasing heat for much of the planet.’
Continentality is one factor effecting the climate depending on how far areas are from the sea.
‘The result is a mostly hostile environment devoid of food and water sources for mammals,’ said Dr Farnsworth. ‘Humans – along with many other species – would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies.’
