Stephen Hawking predicts end-of-Earth scenario

Stephen Hawking, one of the world's greatest physicists and cosmologists, is once again warning his fellow humans that our extinction is on the horizon unless we figure out a way to live in space.

Not known for conspiracy theories, Hawking's rationale is that the Earth is far too delicate a planet to continue to withstand the barrage of human battering.

"We must continue to go into space for humanity," Hawking said today, according to the Los Angeles Times. "We won't survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet."

Hawking, 71, made his statement during a lecture at Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute, according to the Los Angeles Times. He was touring the facility to getting a closer look at stem cell treatments for Lou Gehrig's disease -- the crippling degenerative condition that has kept him bound to a wheelchair for the last 50 years.

The renowned scholar is most known for his work studying black holes and how particles behave around these massive gravitational entities that swallow light. But, he has also long been a buff of space travel and exploration.

For years, Hawking has advised people to begin the search for new planets to inhabit. In 2006, he iterated some of today's sentiment saying the survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe. In 2011, he said, "Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space."