Originally Posted by Jesper

On the episode about Earth, Pamela mentioned that we are already in the twilight of life on Earth, and that in merely 50 million years or so Earth will become inhospitable for large animals to live on - the Sun will change, it will get hotter, the oceans will boil away, the atmosphere will be blown off etc.

Is it really only 50 million years until that happens? I've read very different numbers on this in other places. Wikipedia says on the page End of planet Earth for example that in 1.1 billion years the Sun will get 10% hotter, and that the oceans will evaporate away in 3.5 billion years, when the Sun is 40% hotter.

50 million or 3,500 million years, that's a big difference!

Where did Pamela get the 50 million years figure from?