Soon after, a group of microbes called extremophiles would be the only life forms left.
These tiny organisms are found on Earth today, and can cope with hostile environments.
These, the scientists said, would be the only creatures that could withstand the heat, aridity and poisonous atmosphere of this future Earth. They believe that they would probably be clustered around the last drops of water deep underground.
Eventually as conditions worsen they too will vanish, and in about 2.8 billion years, Earth will be devoid of all life.
'Microbial worlds'
The researchers said that studying the rise and fall of life on our planet could give us an insight into how life might survive elsewhere in the Universe.
Mr O'Malley James told the BBC: "If you were to find an Earth-like planet and to take a snapshot in time of the life living on the surface, it's more likely that you would find microbial life than you would the more complex life like we see on Earth today."
The researchers said that microbes cause subtle changes to the ratios of gasses in the atmosphere, and this could enable astronomers to one day detect their presence on other Earth-like planets.
"One of the best candidates is methane. This could be used to indicate the presence of life, although it depends on how much is produced and whether it builds up to a detectable level in the atmosphere... If we can pick up all these subtle levels of gasses on remote planets - maybe we could detect it," Mr O'Malley James said.
【细菌将是地球最后生存的生物】相关文章:
★ 生命中的小瞬间
最新
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15