https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/enjoy-it-while-you-can-dropping-oxygen-will-one-day-suffocate-most-life-on-earth/ar-AA152hgw?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=35a236f6a35447ba86f161e28e5f96b7

ScienceAlertFollow

View Profile

Story by David Nield•Yesterday 10:25 PM

React26 Comments

For now, life is flourishing on our oxygen-rich planet, but Earth wasn’t always that way – and scientists have predicted that, in the future, the atmosphere will revert back to one that’s rich in methane and low in oxygen.

Earth with a glowing horizon©Provided by ScienceAlert

This probably won’t happen for another billion years or so. But when the change comes, it’s going to happen fairly rapidly, according to research published in 2021.

WP Fundraising Plugin – Accept Recurring Donations

Adgivewp.com

This shift will take the planet back to something like the state it was in before what’s known as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) around 2.4 billion years ago.

What’s more, the researchers behind the study say that atmospheric oxygen is unlikely to be a permanent feature of habitable worlds in general, which has…