Unknown Fate

All is not well with the universe – or at least our understanding of it. There’s growing evidence, for example, that “dark energy” might not behave the way scientists had thought. And that behavior might control the universe’s fate. Dark energy was discovered three decades ago. It may account for two-thirds of all the matter and energy in the universe. And it appears to cause the universe to expand faster as it ages. So far, no one knows for sure what dark energy really is. One idea is that it’s “constant” – perhaps a property of space itself. As the universe expands, it creates more space, so there’s more dark energy. But no more matter is created. The existing matter spreads out, so the effect of its gravity gets weaker. Dark energy then becomes even more dominant, making the universe expand faster and faster. But some recent studies suggest that dark energy might not be constant – it might change over time. If so, then the universe might not expand forever. One study says the universe could end in 20 billion years. Over the final few billion, gravity would take control, pulling everything into a Big Crunch. All the stars and galaxies would smash together. Finally, everything would merge to form a single black hole. After that, perhaps the universe could rebound in another sort of Big Bang. But that universe would be quite different – a universe that we can’t even begin to understand. Script by Damond Benningfield