Stephen Hawking predicts humans will turn the world into a 'ball of fire' within 600 years

Stephen Hawking.
(Image credit: NIKLAS HALLE'N/AFP/Getty Images)

It's getting hot in here — and if you won't take Nelly's word for it, take Stephen Hawking's.

The world population is soaring, and humans' demand for energy is skyrocketing along with it. That's why, the physicist guesses, we have less than 600 years until humans turn Earth into a "ball of fire."

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.