The bestselling author of In Search of Schrödinger's Cat examines the science of dark matter and ultimate fate of the universe.   Is the universe infinitely expanding? Or at some point in the future will it finally reach its limit--and contract upon itself in one catastrophic reversal of the Big Bang? The ultimate answer to this perplexing question rests on one factor: the omega point. In one of the most astonishing developments of astronomy, scientists have recently discovered that more than 90 percent of the universe is "missing." In The Omega Point, acclaimed science writer and cosmologist John Gribbin investigates the perplexing mystery of this missing or "dark" matter. How much of it exists? What is it made of? And is its gravitational force enough to reach the omega point--the amount needed to cause the big crunch, as this last fatal cosmological squeeze has been nicknamed? From its first moments of creation, deep in the outermost regions of space, down to the microworld of quarks, bayrons, mesons, and other exotic forms of matter, Gribbin takes us on a fascinating journey along the arrow of time to discover the true nature of the universe we live in. "One of the best science writers around."--Nature