The End is Nigh - Almost

Scientists have calculated the year when the human race will cease to exist.

It will be October 31, otherwise known as Halloween.

But there is no need to worry yet as the year is 2,252,006 - more than two-and-a-quarter million years from now.

The date was announced by a team of European geologists and palaeontologists after millions of fossils from central Spain were analysed.

It confirms suspicions that mammal species have an average lifespan of 2.5 million years and modern man has already been around for 250,000 years.

The reason for the life cycle is thought to be a blip in the Earth's orbit which means it does not get as close to the sun as usual, triggering rapid cooling.

A report in Nature Journal says the subsequent ice age would destroy all human life.