Ask Ethan: How long will life persist in our Universe?

One of the most humbling aspects of our Universe is the knowledge that, in enough times, all things will eventually pass away. New stars and stellar systems, while they’re expected to keep forming for many billions or even trillions of years to come, are on the decline, with the current star-formation rate only about 3% of what it was at its peak some 11 billion years ago. Planets like Earth around stars like the Sun, while relatively common today, will be extremely rare in the far future. And the longest-lived stars, even if they have Earth-sized planets around them, might be poor candidates for supporting life due to their incredibly active behavior. At some point in the far future, the last living world in the Universe will encounter its demise, signifying an end to what we know as biological activity within our cosmos. But when will this occur? And when and where will the last chances for intelligent life persist? That’s what Terry Dunn wants to know, writing in as follows: <a href="https://medium.com/starts-with-a-bang/ask-ethan-how-long-will-life-persist-in-our-universe-de626b1f76d1">Read More</a>