Now that scientists are fairly settled on the theory of the Big Bang, they've turned their attention to how they believe the universe is most likely to come to an end - and the options don't sound too appetizing.
One model, termed the Big Crunch, speculates that when gravitational forces within the universe reach their outermost limit, they'll simply collapse back on themselves and shrink with incredible speed and force, condensing everything the universe contains into one microscopically tiny point, before ceasing to exist completely. The other option, the Big Rip, doesn't really hold all that much appeal either. This theory posits that the universe will eventually reach a heat death - a point where thermodynamic activity ceases and gravitational bonds fail. Eventually even the particles in atoms would lose their bond and simply float away from each other, as everything dissipates to nothing. On the plus side, this isn't scheduled to occur for billions upon billions of years, so neither we nor you will be around to see it.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.