All animals and plants will vanish from the Earth within the next billion years, according to a study carried out by a Scottish university.
But ironically Armageddon is going to arrive as a result of too little, rather than too much, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Experts are trying to find ways to cut levels of the greenhouse gas to prevent global warming running out of control.
But as the Sun ages and grows hotter, greater evaporation and chemical reactions with rainwater will take away more and more carbon dioxide.
In less than a billion years, its levels will be too low for photosynthesising plants to survive, say scientists.
When that happens, life as we know it on Earth will cease to exist.
With the loss of plants, herbivorous animals will also die out, as well as the carnivores that prey on them.
Eventually microbes will be all that remains - and for the majority of them even their days will be numbered
After another billion years, the oceans will have dried out completely leaving only the hardiest bugs.
Astrobiologist Jack O'Malley-James, from St Andrews University, said: "The far-future Earth will be very hostile to life by this point.
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