HOW THE UNIVERSE WILL END

A colossal supercollider now in the early stages of development may one day help us predict the ultimate fate of the Universe. With it, scientists will be trying to find a hidden instability built into the fabric of existence... an instability that could destroy everything

- DR ALASTAIR GUNN

Most cultures have stories and myths detailing the end of days, from the eventual fate of humans to what will happen to our world and any other realms inhabited by their respective deities. These legends often promise the arrival of a reorganised existence after the cataclysm, a paradise.

But what does modern science have to say about the end of days or to put it in more scientific terms, the end of the Universe?

We know that Earth, if it's not destroyed by us or an errant asteroid first, will likely be incinerated when the Sun expands into a red giant. Luckily, that's not likely to happen for at least another five billion years.

As for the Universe as a whole, do we have any understanding of when and how it will come to an end?

We can look to modern cosmology for some intriguing possible answers. And with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, aka CERN, currently developing the Future Circular Collider (FCC) a gargantuan 'atom smasher' almost three times bigger than the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) we're one step closer to knowing which one is likely to be right.

FREEZE, CRUNCH OR RIP

In exploring the various theories, it all comes down to the balance between the expansion of the Universe and the pull of gravity. In one scenario, gravity may not be strong enough to stop the Universe from expanding, meaning it'll continue to do so forever.

As all the energy eventually becomes uniformly distributed, the Universe will become darker and colder. Even black holes will evaporate as the Universe becomes a near-vacuum of subatomic particles and photons, an endless and timeless void where nothing ever happens. This is called the 'Big Freeze' (or, conversely, 'Heat Death').