Collapse of the universe is closer than ever before

[DavidDvorkin]

Maybe it happens tomorrow. Maybe in a billion years. Physicists have long predicted that the universe may one day collapse, and that everything in it will be compressed to a small hard ball. New calculations from physicists at the University of Southern Denmark now confirm this prediction – and they also conclude that the risk of a collapse is even greater than previously thought.

Sooner or later a radical shift in the forces of the universe will cause every little particle in it to become extremely heavy. Everything - every grain of sand on Earth, every planet in the solar system and every galaxy – will become millions of billions times heavier than it is now, and this will have disastrous consequences: The new weight will squeeze all material into a small, super hot and super heavy ball, and the universe as we know it will cease to exist.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-12/uosd-cot121213.php


It's always something.

[WilliamPitt]

1. Thanks, Obama.

[Cali_Democrat]

8. LOL

Perfect.

[RC]

2. Then why is the universe expanding at ever faster rate?

Speedy stuff getting heaver will only increase its outward momentum.

Whatever, I plan on taking leave long before anything disastrous happens to the universe anyway.

[Dash87]

18. By the time this happens, it's thought most of the universe will be dead.

Not just living things - stars, and even black holes.

[derby378]

3. I knew I shouldn't have eaten that extra cheeseburger

Sorry, folks - enjoy your recycling!

[Bandit]

4. I will have to move to an alternate universe if that happens I guess

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. And now the collapse of the universe is even closer yet. Shit.

I hope it waits until after the Superbowl.

[Dash87]

9. It should be here in the next 20 trillion years.

Better start getting ready now

[JaneyVee]

6. Calling dibs on the small super hot super heavy ball left over.

[Dash87]

7. That would be the most painless way to die.

It takes us 88 ms to experience things. The squishing region would expand at the speed of light. You would just be having a normal day and then, suddenly, nothing.

Or actually, come to think of it, you would probably just get heavier and heavier until you squished. Not so painless (assuming you have a life span of trillions of years)

[packman]

13. Now that's the way to go-

not like my grandmaw did screaming at grandpaw that he was going up the wrong ramp onto the superhighway or my Uncle Virgil who wondered if you could milk a bull or Auntie Em who vacuumed out the gasoline in her car because she felt it was too old.

[randome]

15. Interesting family you have...I mean, 'had'.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[DavidDvorkin]

25. But the increase in mass will slow time

So would we be aware of the change at all? Or very much aware?

[ladjf]

28. Humans would have been extinct and totally incinerated long before the Universe collapses. nt

[brooklynite]

10. It's taken 13 Billion years for the Universe to expand...

...won't it take a more or less equivalent amount of time to turn around?

[JVS]

11. That's like saying today is the first day of the rest of your life.

[leftyohiolib]

12. well the uverse is expanding faster and scientist say that it's more likely to pull itself apart

although i think all will collapse and cause another big bang. it's probably been doing this for an eternity

[PeoViejo]

35. There have been at least 5 Big Bangs and likely, a lot more

Isotope decay studies of the Silver, Palladium, Rhodium Isotopes have concluded this. It appears that it is impossible to calculate beyond that,but if one extrapolates.......it could be an infinite number.

[xchrom]

14. what the fuck...it's all a hologram anyway. nt

[pipi_k]

16. Well I've been hearing

for a while that the universe could be just one big Sim game anyway, so I guess it would make sense if the kid playing with us all flips the "off" switch on the game and that's it.

Oops...so sorry, tiny unimportant dot beings on your tiny unimportant dot planet...

[djean111]

17. Maybe we can bail it out............

[6000eliot]

19. In what sort of "space" will that hard ball reside?

[longship]

20. As long as I can book a reservation at Milliways, I'm good.

Great food, the best booze, a great floor show, lots of famous people and the possibility of seeing the profit Zarquon (or maybe Jesus) seconds before the end.

It would be all worth it.

[packman]

24. Doug Adams reference

Good job, gonna reread it.

[Vashta Nerada]

21. From the link:

"The latest research shows that the universe's expansion is accelerating, so there is no reason to expect a collapse from cosmological observations. Thus it will probably not be Big Crunch that causes the universe to collapse", says Jens Frederik Colding Krog.

Although the new calculations predict that a collapse is now more likely than ever before, it is actually also possible, that it will not happen at all. It is a prerequisite for the phase change that the universe consists of the elementary particles that we know today, including the Higgs particle. If the universe contains undiscovered particles, the whole basis for the prediction of phase change disappears.

[Cyrano]

22. The Matrix has us

A collapsing universe is just a passing thought in our dream world.

[Blue_Tires]

23. The end is near! Someone please have sex with right now me so I'll go out doing what I enjoy!!!!

[Kelvin Mace]

26. I plan to step into a blue box

and side-slip to an alternate universe. Hopefully, one devoid of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk.

[randome]

27. The expansion of the Universe will stop...

...when it reaches the obstructionist GOP House.

No expanded coverage. No expanding Universe.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]There is nothing you can't do if you put your mind to it.
Nothing.[/center][/font][hr]

[jberryhill]

29. I'm so glad I didn't buy the extended warranty on my TV

[edbermac]

30. It's not collapsing, it's expanding.

[cthulu2016]

31. Either that has been a true statement every moment of our lives

our it isn't true at all.

I don't know whether the universe will collapse, but if it will it is closer than when I started typing this.

Also, the Cubs winning the world series.

[1000words]

32. Each passing day, bring us closer

The sun is the same
in a relative way
but you're older
Shorter of breath
One day closer to death

--Waters

[HappyMe]

33. It's already started in GD.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

34. I'll call my dentist and cancel the appointment.

[packman]

36. Ain't no way to treat Death

Tough old bastard takes Death on


http://vimeo.com/81341794