How and when will the human race go extinct? Here’s the answer

Human beings, who have evolved over the years, have come to dominate Earth unlike any species that came before. But how long is it before we go extinct?

Call it morbid, but it’s a question that has been asked several times by the common man as well as scientists with no proper answer. Until now.

A new study, which is quite bleak in its findings, has the answers for us, and it’s not good news for humankind.

Humans will go extinct in…

The study carried out by the University of Bristol pegs mass extinction of humans and all other mammals in the next 250 million years.

The researchers, led by Alexander Farnsworth – a paleoclimate scientist at the University of Bristol, built a virtual simulation of our future world, and using data on the movement of continents, as well as fluctuations as well as effects of climate change has come to the conclusion that the planet will become too hot for any mammal – including humans – to survive on land.

In the paper, now published in the journal Nature Geoscience, Dr Farnsworth wrote that for any life form to survive, it would have to cope with temperatures between 40 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees Celsius.

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“The outlook in the distant future appears very bleak,” Dr Farnsworth said. “Carbon dioxide levels could be double current levels. Humans – along with many other species – would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies.”

What’s even worse about the news is that the study doesn’t take into factor the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. This means that the extinction date for humans could be even sooner than mention by the study.

Formation of supercontinent Pangea Ultima

The study has also revealed that the earth will slowly morph into a supercontinent, called Pangea Ultima, in the next 250 years. Furthermore, only eight to 16 per cent of this future continent will be habitable.

The study reveals that Earth’s landmass would then form a doughnut shape with an inland sea in the middle. The Pacific Ocean would make up the majority of the planet’s surface.

Scientists have said that in the era of Pangea Ultima, temperatures would reach dramatic levels. There would be more humidity than now along the coasts and extremely arid conditions in the vast inland deserts. Global temperatures would rise at least 15 degrees Celsius and the world would return to extreme heat it last experience in the Permian–Triassic era. Incidentally, it was in this period that 90 per cent of species were eradicated.

As Dr Farnsworth said, “It wouldn’t be a fun place to live.”

What this study implies is that only highly specialised migratory mammals would be able to compete in such environments. But even for these rare few, the continental conditions – such as extensive desserts – may make such migratory strategies ineffective.

Even burrowing species that can avoid surface heat above ground only show a small increase in survivability.

Climate change and human extinction

The extinction of humankind owing to the climate crisis has become a hot topic in recent times. Climate scientists, have in fact, warned that governments need to look at the “worst case scenario” outcomes of climate change.

They say global warming could become “catastrophic” for humanity if temperatures rise by even more than they are predicted to, or if the rising temperatures set off an unpredictable chain of events in nature – with the potential of the end of all human life on Earth.

Also read: Why this man is advocating for the extinction of humanity

Dr Luke Kemp, from the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, said: “There are plenty of reasons to believe climate change could become catastrophic, even at modest levels of warming.

“Climate change has played a role in every mass extinction event. It has helped fell empires and shaped history.”

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in their March report urged governments across the globe to embark on an urgent course correction to tackle the climate emergency, warning current plans were insufficient to prevent the worst of what the crisis has in store.

It further added that deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emission reductions across all sectors is necessary if warming is to be limited by 1.5 degrees Celsius, noting that global emissions should already be decreasing and will need to be slashed almost in half by 2030.

With inputs from agencies