The consensus of scientists right now is that, thanks to dark energy, the universe will just keep expanding and cooling until there is nothing left.
But what if that's wrong?
There's now a theory circulating that dark energy may have quintessence, which means it decays over time. If this is the case, it will eventually stop pushing the universe outwards, and the universe will begin to collapse. Eek!
Well, it won't happen for at least 100 million years, and after a stable period of about 45 million years. And even then, it would probably contract very slowly.
This would end in the Big Crunch.
Which might or might not trigger another Big Bang. In other words, the cyclical universe is back on the table.
The problem?
There's zero way we can ever prove it without millions of years of observations...by which point we will be extinct and/or have evolved into something else.
It's all math.
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