Armageddon

For centuries, it's been the one of the most discussed topics. A lot of scientists continue to seek answers to that question - the origin of the universe. But there's one question that's a bit more difficult to answer - when and how will the universe 'end'?

Personally, it feels impossible to imagine an end to the universe. However, scientists are not very daunted, and have put forward three main theories - the Big Crunch, the Big Freeze and the Big Rip.

The Big Crunch theory is the oldest one, and postulates that the universe will stop expanding , and slowly start to shrink. Eventually, the universe will collapse into - well, nothing, really. There will be no space and no time. A new Big Bang may even occur after that. But many scientists today aren't convinced about this theory. Hooray, so the end of the universe won't be that bad, right?

Yeah, right.

The Big Freeze, or the Big Chill theory is a non-violent one. It is most probably the correct theory - even though it's just a theory. The expanding universe won't have enough energy in it. So, new stars will cease to form, while the old ones start collapsing. The universe will become a cold, dark place, where nothing ever happens. And you thought your life was boring.

Hold on now, because the Big Rip theory is scary. Eventually, the pull exerted by the expanding universe will be greater than the gravitational force in the universe. So the entire universe will literally be 'ripped apart'. Each atom will disintegrate. Even the scientists are too scared to think about what would happen after that.

In case the scientific theories sound too tame to you, there are a lot of myths about the end of the world. Almost all religions give a brief description of the apocalypse, but perhaps the most graphic account is given in Norse mythology. As you probably know, it's called Ragnarok. A giant wolf named Fenrir, imprisoned on an island, will break free, and swallow the sun. He must have a gigantic appetite, because not satisfied with the sun, he proceeds to wolf down (pun definitely not intended) Odin, the king of the gods. And no, Thor won't be able to prevent it; he will die.

This being such an interesting topic, conspiracy theorists are naturally very interested in it, and have predicted a wide variety of colourful apocalypses. A particularly juicy one is even endorsed by Elon Musk. The theory states that humans are living in the simulation of a computer algorithm, and that this simulation could end any time. Not everyone pretends to understand that, but it sounds nice, doesn't it?