Science

This composite image shows the Cartwheel Galaxy, located about 500 million light-years away. In the heat death scenario, the universe would expand so far that the light of one galaxy would be unable to reach its neighbor.

What happens at the end of the universe?

Today, we're bringing you the final installment of our space summer series ... with the end ... of EVERYTHING. Will the universe end in a huge cosmic unraveling? A slow and lonely dissolution? Or a quantum-level transition that breaks the laws of physics? Theoretical astrophysicist Katie Mack breaks down three possible scenarios for how the universe as we know it will finally come to an end.

To celebrate the end of our Space Camp series, we also made a QUIZ! Check it out at npr.org/spacecamp.

Questions? Comments? Existential dread or excitement? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!
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A family of grizzly bears stroll down a main road in Grand Teton National Park.

To save the grizzlies, scientists are thinking like bears

Grizzly bears in the contiguous United States have been taken off — then put back on — the endangered species list twice since they were first labeled as threatened almost 50 years ago. Now, the issue is on the table again. Today, we get into the complicated science behind grizzly recovery, how humans have sliced up their habitat and what it will take to stitch that habitat back together again.

Interested in more charismatic megafauna? Email shortwave@npr.org. We've love to consider covering your favorite on a future episode!
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