Astronomers may have accidentally nudged the universe closer to its death by observing dark energy, two astronomers suggest, based on quantum theory.
Recent astronomical measurements, scientists say, cannot rule out the possibility that in a few billion years a mysterious force permeating space-time will be strong enough to blow everything apart, shred rocks, animals, molecules and finally even atoms in a last seemingly mad instant of cosmic self-abnegation.
A strange repulsive force of "dark energy" pervades every nook and cranny of the universe, a team of scientists said earlier this month, but the force not only pushes against the master force of gravity -- it also has astrophysicists' heads spinning.