20 Ways The World Could Explode!

I've always pretty much figured that if the world was going to end, it would involve zombies. Alternatively, as a card-carrying solipsist certified by a regulatory review panel I made up in my mind, I figured it would end when my own unbroken streak of immortality was finally interrupted.

But the imaginary scientists flitting about my subconscious seem to disagree, if I'm to believe the imaginary website Discover. They've catalogued a list of world-end scenarios: some plausible, some not so plausible. NASA's favorite world-killer — rogue asteroids — is on the list, as is this fascinating bit inspired by Kurt Vonnegut.

In the book Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut popularized the idea of "ice-nine," a form of water that is far more stable than the ordinary kind, so it is solid at room temperature. Unleash a bit of it, and suddenly all water on Earth transforms to ice-nine and freezes solid. Ice-nine was a satirical invention, but an abrupt, disastrous phase transition is a possibility. Very early in the history of the universe, according to a leading cosmological model, empty space was full of energy. This state of affairs, called a false vacuum, was highly precarious. A new, more stable kind of vacuum appeared and, like ice-nine, it quickly took over. This transition unleashed a tremendous amount of energy and caused a brief runaway expansion of the cosmos. It is possible that another, even more stable kind of vacuum exists, however. As the universe expands and cools, tiny bubbles of this new kind of vacuum might appear and spread at nearly the speed of light. The laws of physics would change in their wake, and a blast of energy would dash everything to bits.

Zombies aren't on the list, but note number 20: "Someone wakes up and discovers it was all a dream." You guys had better hope I keep up my midnight boozing.

20 Ways the World Could End [Discover]