2. 2.3 Billion Years From Now: Earth's Core Freezes
We suppose that's something of a mercy killing considering what happens next, though. Have you ever seen The Core? You really should, it's hilarious. It's about the Earth's core suddenly "stopping", which causes - amongst other things - pigeons to be thrown off and start flying into buildings en masse, tidal waves, earthquakes, and every other natural disaster a special effects house could pull off. Don't worry, though, this was a Hollywood blockbuster, so a team of smart people (including Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart and Stanley Tucci) burrow to the centre of the planet and detonate nuclear bombs to get the sucker started up again. It's not the most scientifically accurate of movies. For one thing, the core mucking up would cause far, far more trouble. And by "would" we of course mean "will", since we've been going through the generally agreed upon future the pessimistic/realistic and rational scientists and today think the Earth has in store. 2.3 billion years from now there will be no proper life on the planet, everything will be devastated and eroded and covered in magma and craters and radiation, and generally we're skeptical about whether we wanna go there on holiday any more. To make matters worse - because they can always be worse - this is when the the Earth's outer core freezes, causing the planet's magnetic field to shut down, with charged particles from the Sun consequently decimating what little atmosphere Gaia had left. This is already after the Sun has increased temperatures to the point that most of the water which covers the Earth (there's a lot of it) has evaporated.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
