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A mysterious dark energy could be swallowing up the universe to leave a 'big, empty, boring' place.

Researchers from the UK and Italy clam to have found indications that dark matter, the cosmic scaffolding on which the universe is built, is being slowly erased by dark energy.

They claim the latest astronomical data favours a dark energy that grows as it interacts with dark matter, and this appears to be stunting the growth of structure in the cosmos.

A mysterious dark energy could be swallowing up the universe to leave a 'big, empty, boring' place. Researchers from the UK and Italy clam to have found indications that dark matter, the cosmic scaffolding on which the universe is built, is being slowly erased by dark energy (artist's impression pictured)

'This study is about the fundamental properties of space-time,' said Professor David Wands, director of Portsmouth's Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation.

'On a cosmic scale, this is about our universe and its fate.'

'If the dark energy is growing and dark matter is evaporating we will end up with a big, empty, boring universe with almost nothing in it.

Dark matter provides a framework for structures to grow in the universe. Meanwhile, dark energy is a mysterious substance that is thought to be pushing the universe apart. 

'The galaxies we see are built on that scaffolding and what we are seeing here, in these findings, suggests that dark matter is evaporating, slowing that growth of structure.'

Scientists claim the latest astronomical data favours a dark energy that grows as it interacts with dark matter, and appears to be stunting the growth of structure in the cosmos. Pictured is a Hubble Space Telescope composite image of evidence for a dark matter ring in galaxy cluster CI0024+17

Professor Wands said cosmology underwent a paradigm shift in 1998 when researchers announced that the rate at which the universe was expanding was accelerating.

The idea of a constant dark energy throughout space-time - or the 'cosmological constant' - became the standard model of cosmology.

But researchers at the universities of Portsmouth and Rome believe they have found a better description, including energy transfer between dark energy and dark matter.

He said: 'Since the late 1990s astronomers have been convinced that something is causing the expansion of our universe to accelerate. 

The simplest explanation was that empty space - the vacuum - had an energy density that was a cosmological constant.

'However there is growing evidence that this simple model cannot explain the full range of astronomical data researchers now have access to.

'In particular the growth of cosmic structure, galaxies and clusters of galaxies seems to be slower than expected.'

Professor Dragan Huterer, of the University of Michigan, said: 'The paper does look very interesting. 

'Any time there is a new development in the dark energy sector we need to take notice since so little is understood about it.

'I would not say, however, that I am surprised at the results, that they come out different than in the simplest model with no interactions. 

'We've known for some months now that there is some problem in all data fitting perfectly to the standard simplest model.'

'This study is about the fundamental properties of space-time,' said Professor David Wands at Portsmouth University. 'On a cosmic scale, this is about our universe and its fate. If the dark energy is growing and dark matter is evaporating we will end up with a big, empty, boring universe with almost nothing in it'