Stephen Hawking: two weeks before his death he predicted 'the end of the universe'

A theory explaining how we might detect parallel universes and a prediction for the end of the world was completed by Stephen Hawking shortly before he died, it has emerged.

The renowned theoretical physicist was working right up until his death last week on his final work – A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation – which is currently being reviewed by a leading scientific journal. In it he predicted that the universe would eventually end when stars run out of energy.

But Hawking also theorised in his final work that scientists could find alternate universes using probes on space ships, allowing humans to form an even better understanding of our own universe, what else is out there and our place in the cosmos.