This is the way the world ends: not with a bang, but with a Big Rip

New model suggests that as the universe expands everything from galaxies to space-time itself will be torn apart - but not for about 22 billion years

Everything we know, and everything else besides, burst into existence at the Big Bang. Now scientists have concluded that we could be heading for an equally dramatic cosmic finale: the Big Rip.

A new theoretical model suggests that as the universe expands, everything, from galaxies, planets and atomic particles to space-time itself, will eventually be torn apart before vanishing from view.