Elaine Knox The good news is that we might be about to solve the Fermi paradox. Many have long suspected that the reason why there don’t seem to be millions of talkative aliens out there in space is that, when an intelligent civilisation develops the technology to enable interstellar communication, it also develops weapons that enable it to quickly destroy itself. So far, we are matching this trajectory. We have sent probes beyond the solar system – and vast quantities of electronic data fizzing in all directions at the speed of light – but we have also got thousands of thermonuclear weapons… #this #how #avoid #annihilating #ourselves

May 16, 20253 min readThe Universe May End Sooner Than Scientists Had ExpectedA new study suggests the universe's end could occur much sooner than previously thought. But don't worry, that ultimate cosmic conclusion would still be in the unimaginably distant futureBy Sharmila Kuthunur & SPACE.com An illustration of the remnants of an ancient, dead planetary system orbiting a white dwarf star. New calculations suggest that white dwarfs and other long-lived celestial objects are decaying faster than previously realized. NASA/ZUMA Press Wire Service/ZUMAPRESS.com/Alamy Live NewsAs the story of our cosmos moves forward, stars will slowly burn out, planets will freeze over, and black holes will devour light itself. Eventually, on timescales so long humanity will never witness them, the universe will fade into darkness.But if you've ever wondered exactly when it all might end, you may find it oddly comforting, or perhaps a bit unsettling, to know that someone has actually done the math. As it turns out, this cosmic finale might arrive sooner than scientists previously thought.Don't worry, though — "sooner" still means a mind-bending 10 to the power of 78 years from now. That is a 1 followed by 78 zeros, which is unimaginably far into the future. However, in cosmic terms, this estimate is a dramatic advancement from the previous prediction of 10 to the power of 1,100 years, made by Falcke and his team in 2023.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today."The ultimate end of the universe comes much sooner than expected, but fortunately it still takes a very long time," Heino Falcke, a theoretical astrophysicist at the Radboud University in the Netherlands, who led the new study, said in a statement.The team's new calculations focus on predicting when the universe's most enduring celestial objects — the glowing remnants of dead stars such as white dwarfs and neutron stars — will ultimately fade away.This gradual decay is driven by Hawking radiation, a concept proposed by physicist Stephen Hawking in the 1970s. The theory suggests a peculiar process occurs near the event horizon — the point of no return — around black holes. Normally, virtual pairs of particles are constantly created by what are known as quantum fluctuations. These particle pairs pop in and out of existence, rapidly annihilating each other. Near a black hole's event horizon, however, the intense gravitational field prevents such annihilation. Instead, the pair is separated: one particle, one carrying negative energy, falls into the black hole, reducing its mass, while the other escapes into space.Over incredibly long timescales, Hawking's theory suggests this process causes the black hole to slowly evaporate, eventually vanishing.Falcke and his team extended this idea beyond black holes to other compact objects with strong gravitational fields. They found that the "evaporation time" of other objects emitting Hawking radiation depends solely on their densities. This is because unlike black hole evaporation, which is driven by the presence of an event horizon, this more general form of decay is driven by the curvature of spacetime itself.The team's new findings, described in a paper published Mondayin the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics on Monday, offer a new estimate for how long it takes white dwarf stars to dissolve into nothingness. Surprisingly, the team found that neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes decay over the same timescale: about 10 to the power of 67 years. This was unexpected, as black holes have stronger gravitational fields and were thought to evaporate faster."But black holes have no surface," Michael Wondrak, a postdoctoral researcher of astrophysics at Radboud University and a co-author of the study, said in the statement. "They reabsorb some of their own radiation, which inhibits the process."If even white dwarf stars and black holes eventually dissolve into nothing, what does that say about us? Perhaps it suggests meaning isn't found in permanence, but in the fleeting brilliance of asking questions like these — while the stars are still shining.Copyright 2025 Space.com, a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. #end #universe #arrive #surprisingly #soon

They achieved the "dream of medieval alchemists."GoldfingerThe mad geniuses over at CERN have accomplished what alchemists of yore never could: they turned lead into gold.As detailed in a paper published last week in the journal Physical Review C, researchers working with the European Organization for Nuclear Research'satom-annihilating Large Hadron Collideraccidentally transformed humble lead into temporary gold nuclei.The researchers are part of CERN's A Large Ion Collider Experimentproject, which, put simply, involves scientists smashing atomic particles together at close to the speed of light in an attempt to replicate the conditions that followed the Big Bang.The discovery, they say, is an incidental outcome of their experimentation with collisions between lead nuclei, which contain three more protons than gold.Sometimes, as the paper explains, rather than hit each other directly, the ions graze past each other. And when that happens, the combined power of the ions' electromagnetic fields causes lead nuclei to release three of their protons in a process known as electromagnetic dissociation, effectively transmuting a lead nucleus into one of noble gold.Flashes of GoldBefore anyone gets too excited: CERN scientists aren't about to unleash the hand of Midas.As Nature reported, the researchers estimate that LHC collisions conducted between 2015 and 2018 resulted in 86 billion accidental gold nuclei. While that may sound like a lot of gold, it isn't — it only comes out to around 29 trillionths of a gram, which is worth next to nothing.The nuclei were also short-lived and likely only lasted for a microsecond or so.This would also be a wildly inefficient way to try and create gold from lead at scale, as The Register pointed out, given how much time, energy, and money go into powering the LHC.Regardless, researchers are chalking this up as a fascinating scientific finding that could pave the way for future experimentation."Understanding such processes is crucial for controlling beam quality and stability," Stony Brook University physicist Jiangyong Jia, who has worked at the LHC, told Nature.While the gold flakes may be temporary, it's a stunning result nonetheless."The transmutation of lead into gold is the dream of medieval alchemists," reads the paper, "which comes true at the LHC."More on the Large Hadron Collider: Something Wild Just Happened at the CERN Particle AcceleratorShare This Article #scientists #accidentally #turned #lead #into