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Japanese Scientist Predicts Timeline for Sixth Mass Extinction on Earth

Japanese Scientist Predicts Timeline for Sixth Mass Extinction on Earth

A Japanese researcher has studied known mass extinction events from the past and predicted when a similar event might occur in the future for our planet. According to "Interesting Engineering," climate scientist Kunio Kayou from Tohoku University suggests that the next "end of the world" could happen in the year 2500.

The report indicates that our planet goes through cycles of temperature change repeatedly, and as these cycles progress from extreme cold to extreme heat, there have been periods in which a large number of species disappeared in a relatively short time. This phenomenon is known as mass extinction.

So far, it is known that Earth has experienced five mass extinction events over the last 540 million years, the largest of which occurred 250 million years ago and led to the extinction of 95% of living organisms on the planet. This Japanese scientist attempted to predict when the next extinction might take place. To do this, he compared the stability of average surface temperature with the stability of biodiversity.

It turned out that when the planet is in a "cooling" phase, the largest extinction events happen when the average temperature decreases by about 7 degrees Celsius. However, when the Earth is warming, the significant extinctions occur when temperatures rise by 9 degrees Celsius.

Given that our planet is currently undergoing a phase of global warming, termed "heating," scientists predict that the next mass extinction will occur when temperatures increase by 9 degrees Celsius. The worst-case scenario assumes that such a catastrophe could happen by the year 2500.

Moreover, previous predictions have shown that an increase in average temperature of even 5.2 degrees Celsius could significantly reduce the biodiversity of plants and animals on Earth. Climate scientists warn that under the current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, the Earth's temperature could rise by up to 4.4 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Global warming will lead to flooding in cities, and earlier, the nonprofit team "Climate Central" envisioned how famous cities will change due to rising sea levels resulting from global warming and melting ice.

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