Computer models predict how the first clumps of matter formed - and what our universe's future holds

Our universe came to life nearly 14 billion years ago in the Big Bang--a tremendously energetic fireball from which the cosmos has been expanding ever since. Today, space is filled with hundreds of billions of galaxies, including our solar system's own galactic home, the Milky Way. But how exactly did the infant universe develop into its current state, and what does it tell us about our future?