人們估測，在遙遠的將來太陽會使地球熱得不能再居住，發表在《美國國家科學院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences）雜志上的一項研究把這個時間向后推了至少十億年。Earth's Fried Far-Future Postponed

    About a billion years from now, some scientists say, the sun will be too bright for comfort, and our formerly hospitable planet will no longer be able to support life. If visions of this impending heat death disturb you, researchers from the California Institute of Technology have some good news. Their calculations add at least another billion years to Earth's expiration date, results published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    As our sun matures it grows brighter and hotter. And over the past three or four billion years, the Earth's been coping with the extra rays by getting rid of some of the CO2 in the atmosphere. Thinning out the CO2 that blankets the earth helps to keep things cool. But that can't go on forever because we'd be left with no blanket at all.

    Now the Caltech scientists say that the planet may be able to compensate by removing nitrogen from the atmosphere. That'll decrease atmospheric pressure, which will then loosen the weave of the CO2 blanket and allow more heat to escape. So stop and smell the roses. We may have an additional billion years to figure out this extreme case of global warming.

    地球被烤焦的時間推后了

    一部分科學家們說，從現在起的10億年后，太陽將會變得太耀眼以致于讓人不舒服，而我們以前適合居住地球將不再能支持生命。如果這個未來將要到來的熱死讓你憂慮，那么來自加州理工學院的研究者們給你帶了一些好消息。

    隨著我們的太陽逐漸變得成熟，它也越來越明亮，也越來越熱。在過去的30或40億年里面，地球為了應付來自太陽更多的射線，把大氣中的一部分CO2去除 掉。CO2層像一床毯子一樣覆蓋著地球，讓CO2層變薄可以使地球上的物質不至于太熱。但是這種過程不可能永遠持續下去，因為這樣的話，我們最后就會沒有 CO2保護層了。

    現在加州理工的科學家們說，地球可能通過移走空氣中的氮氣來達到讓地球保持涼爽的效果。這樣會降低大氣壓，使得CO2層變得稀薄，從而讓更多的熱散發出去。因此，好好享受生活吧！我們可能還有額外多的10億年來想辦法解決這個極端的全球變暖的問題。