The universe is dying much more quickly than we thought, scientists say
Independent1 day
Universe's End Coming Sooner, But Still Billions of Years Away
Above: Image released by NASA on July 12, 2022 showing Stephan's Quintet, a collection of five galaxies, as seen by MIRI from the James Webb Space Telescope. Image copyright: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI/Contributor/Handout/Xinhua via Getty Images News
The Spin
Narrative A
This discovery represents a fundamental shift in understanding cosmic longevity, establishing that nothing in the universe is truly permanent. This breakthrough challenges previous assumptions about matter stability and sets definitive upper limits on how long anything can exist — potentially affecting theories about multiple universes and the ultimate fate of all matter.
Narrative B
While the calculations are theoretically sound, the timescales involved are so vast that they have no practical impact on human existence or even cosmic evolution as we know it. The process remains undetectable with current technology, and other natural processes would cause objects to disappear long before these quantum effects become relevant.