Earth to fry…but you’ve got time

While global warming may or may not be making the earth warmer, two Iowa State University professors say it will someday be toast. George Bowen and Lee Anne Wilson of I-S-U have developed computer models that they say expand on the long-time belief of many astronomers that the sun is slowly growing into a red giant, which will engulf the earth. Wilson says the earth will be reduced to vapor once this all happens. Don’t panic and cancel all your plans for the week though — Wilson says the growth of the sun into a giant red ball won’t happen this century. She says it will take six to seven-thousand-million years.Wilson says their models on the fate of the earth are really a sidelight to other research on what happens to other planets.Wilson and Bowen will present their findings at a professional seminar in Washington, D.C. later this month.