You dont really notice it while its happening, but 65 million years goes by pretty fast.
At least it does in the grand scheme of things.
The universe has been around some 14 billion-or-so years according to the Big Bang Theory.
In that context, 65 million years is just a few flakes of sand in a giant hourglass.
Once that expansion ends: its lights out.
At this point, according to scientists, the Big Bang will happen.
40% off TNW Conference!
Its not that we dont have the technology.
We dont have theperspective.
Some of those stars dont even exist anymore.
Yet, by observing these distant lights were able to determine that the universe is expanding.
To that end, a team of scientists from Princeton and NYU recently publisheda pre-print research paperdescribing the problem.
Basically: the universe gets big, then it gets small.
However, as mentioned above, were in no position to know when this will happen.
All we can do is guess.
And that means, for all we can tell, the universe could continue expanding for billions of years.
Or, perhaps, the time is already nigh.
Thats 3 or 4 billion years.
Thats just 65 million yearsthe blink of an eye in cosmological terms.
The end of days
Right now, that 65 million years time-frame is just a guess.
It would essentially mean were unlikely to ever findalienlife.
If we havent found each other by now, the odds are mathematically against it ever happening.
We could use ourspaceresources to advance the goal of spreading Earths life throughout the galaxy, for example.
That is, of course, unlessthe world really did end in 2012.
The scientists also postulated that the universes expansion and contraction werecyclical,meaning another Big Bang is likely imminent.
On the bright side, this would mean theres almost certainly going to be life again once were gone.
But, on the not-so-bright-side, it also makes it less likely that life is prolific.
