Space travel is amazing, maybe the most exciting thing humans have ever tried. But here’s the weird part – the more we go to space, the more we might be setting a trap that could stop us from going altogether.

Energy – the stuff that makes the universe go ‘round. It’s how we light our houses, grow food, and power our tech. We grab it in a few ways: burning coal and gas (fossil fuels), splitting atoms (nuclear), or catching sunlight with those big solar panels.

So, how long do you reckon it’ll take before machines can do your job better than you?

Imagine you could gather up all the energy from every single star within a hundred million light years. That’s energy from thousands of galaxies, and each one has billions of stars! Now, imagine taking that immense power and using it to fire off the biggest super-weapon the universe has ever seen. Think about the damage that could cause.

So, imagine Earth is 4.5 billion years old. That’s a number way too big for your brain to really get a handle on. So, here’s an experiment to help: we’re going to take a musical train ride, looking out the window, and pass through all of Earth’s history in just one hour.

We’re calling this the Midas Apocalypse. It’s based on the old tale of King Midas, who was cursed so everything he touched turned to gold.

So, the story of everything begins with what we call the Big Bang. It’s this idea that the universe didn’t just always exist forever, but that it was suddenly born.

Alright, let’s talk about the Sun. You see it up there, looks smooth and calm, right? Like a big, peaceful ball. Most of the time, it is. But every now and then, it decides to just… vomit radiation and plasma. These burps are what we call solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. When they hit Earth, they can cause some serious problems for us down here.