Now is this a bummer, or isn't it? According to an article on the BBC Science News, it appears as if the universe will be collapsing in upon itself after all, and only 10 to 20 billion years from now, to boot. Professor Andrei Linde from Stanford University and his wife Renata Kallosh - both physicists - have recently determined that, despite the fact that something called "dark energy" is pushing the galaxies apart at ever-increasing speeds, the phenomenon is going to reverse itself eventually, and gravity will start to pull the cosmos back together until it's one big happy singularity again. Call me sentimental, but I always liked the idea of the universe ending in a Big Collapse, rather than all the stars flying off into a cold, dark infinity. About 14 billion years ago (give or take), everything we see around us, including a lot of stuff we don't see, was all smooshed up into a point. Just like the Beatles' song "I Am The Walrus": I was he as you are he as you are me and we were all together. And we will be again, perhaps another 14 billion years down the line. I'll be an optimist, and call this comforting. And I'll catch you on the flip side...