Physicists have come up with a number of theories to explain the way the universe could end, including the Big Rip, a Heat Death and the Big Crunch, but now, there is another to add to the list – vacuum decay. The Higgs field of energy that permeates our universe varies in strength based on its potential, which is either in one of two states – a true vacuum, or a false vacuum. A true vacuum is the stable, lowest-energy state, while a false vacuum suggests the universe is somewhat, but not entirely, stable – known to scientists as “metastable”.