A’self-destruct button’ that might wipe out all of humanity in a short time could endanger the entire universe, and there is no way to know when it might be pressed.

From ‘killer’ supermassive black holes that can rip through stars to asteroids that destroy cities, there are many phenomena that seem to pose a threat to both our home planet and the entire universe.

The background threats in space, however, are arguably the most alarming because scientists are usually unable to control or witness them in action.

One of these cases involves what some space specialists have called the universe’s “self-destruct button,” which has the power to destroy everything and leave no trace behind.

What is the universe’s ‘self-destruct button’?

According to the Daily Mail, physicists and scientists have discovered a kind of self-destruct button in what is known as “false vacuum decay,” which would be a catastrophic event that would destroy every planet, star, and galaxy in the universe.

The universe is currently thought to be in a relatively unstable state called a “false vacuum,” where objects have a low energy form and are theoretically stable but might become extremely dangerous if disturbed.

“A false hoover is like a marble in a bowl on top of a stool,” stated Dr Louis Hamaide of the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Napes to MailOnline.

“The marble cannot leave the bowl unless it is given some energy in the form of a push, and if it does it will fall all the way to the ground,” Dr Hamaide demonstrates.

While the bowl theoretically simulates the feeling of being on the ground, it is only a fake vacuum. In contrast, the ground is the equivalent of a vacuum state, in this instance the “true vacuum.”

Returning to the cosmos, a bubble might spread throughout it and obliterate everything in its path if any region is forced and moved from a fake vacuum to a true vacuum condition.

The frightening thing is that if one single component is forced out of its false condition, it may happen at any time. This would replicate a universe-ending domino cascade that would be impossible to both forecast and stop.

One particularly risky theory is that the Higgs field, which is the environment in which the Higgs Boson, sometimes known as the “God particle,” is created, is a false vacuum and, if it were overturned, could devastate the entire universe.