Key Takeaways  Multiverse describes the sum total of all possible universes, and has come to mean any universe we might encounter other than our own. Inflation Theory for the growth of the unvierse suggest that innumerable "bubble" universes may be out there. The multiverse is more complex than science fiction, but it makes for a great storyline.Once upon a time, maps were full of blank space, vast regions that had never been explored — at least not by anyone mapmakers knew about. These unknown regions were an invitation to mapmakers' imagination. As one legendary mapmaker wrote, "Here be dragons."Explorers gradually filled in the map of the world, as our most recent robotic space explorers have filled in our maps of Pluto and the rings of Saturn. But out at the far frontiers of theoretical physics, we have found tantalizing hints of more unexplored regions than we could ever have imagined.Welcome to the multiverse theory.When Things Get Strange — and StrangerThanks to the surprise Netflix hit "Stranger Things" — a TV show about a telepathic girl and her friends battling creatures from a parallel universe called the Upside Down — multiverse theory is gaining major traction in pop culture. But the ideas behind multiverse theory have been unfolding for decades, and along multiple threads.Some threads have developed from the sciences of astrophysics and cosmology, while other, even older, threads have emerged from science fiction and philosophical speculation.The term "multiverse" describes the multitude of possible universes. As often happens along the frontiers, there is some inconsistency in language. As Yasmin Tayag notes at Inverse, to cosmologists, multiverse describes the sum total of all possible universes, while in more popular language it has come to mean any universe we might encounter other than our own.By the middle of last century, astronomers determined that the universe is expanding. They soon discovered that this expansion was not a smooth process. Evidence pointed toward an early period of fantastically rapid expansion which astrophysicists dubbed inflation.The concept of inflation is now generally accepted by physicists, but inflation theory also has a host of subtle implications that are still being explored. If the expansion of the universe was almost unimaginably fast, the result might also be unimaginably vast — a scale of size that would make the mere billions of light-years we can observe look insignificant in comparison.Indeed, distance measurements such as light-years might not even be meaningful, since the inflating universe may have split into innumerable "bubbles" — each one a universe in its own right, with its own laws of physics and unfolding reality. (A key word is may: all of this remains under study by cosmologists, with much disagreement among them about the implications.) "Our universe is just one of these bubbles," Scientific American speculates.Beyond the Doors of ImaginationThe possibilities opened up by multiverse theory, of multiple and parallel universes, have long been a topic of speculation by philosophers. What is new is the potential for some sort of experimental confirmation or at least indirect evidence that they exist.And just as philosophers have long speculated about multiverse-like ideas, so have storytellers. One theme, familiar from the classic original Star Trek episode "Mirror Mirror," is a universe that is almost like our own, but with a literally cosmic twist — the crew of the USS Enterprise are bad guys in the mirror universe.Alternate history has become an entire popular genre with elements of multiverse theory. For example, the "Back to the Future" films played with the ways that different outcomes of past events could spin off universes in which the future of those events played out in different ways. (Fun fact — one of the films was only off by a single year in guessing when the Chicago Cubs would win a World Series.)Understandably, the pop culture version of the multiverse is not quite the same as the astrophysicists' version, and stories like "Stranger Things" and its earlier cousins freely intermix ideas that come out of physics with others that still belong to metaphysics.But if we here at Now. were to make a guess — and we will — whatever ultimately comes out of multiverse theory as it develops will probably be stranger and more wonderful than anything that our present-day imaginations can come up with. On the frontiers of science and technology, that is usually how it is.Advanced technology and innovation is pushing forward the frontiers of space exploration to unravel the complexities of the universe. Learn more.

Multiverse Theory Goes Far Beyond "Stranger Things"

Key Takeaways  Parallel universes may exist in other dimensions, seperated from ours by distances smaller than atomic nuclei. These other dimensions may interact with our universe through gravity, but may not have the same laws of nature. Passing quickly through the event horizon of a black hole may offer a path to alternate dimensions.Last year we looked at multiverse theory and the highly speculative — but very real — science behind what has become a pop culture phenomenon. It isn't just "Stranger Things" anymore. Interdimensional travel, and the portals that might allow it, are everywhere these days.So, how to open a portal to another dimension?When the Going Gets Weird, the Weird Get GoingOn one level, it turns out to be easier than you might think. Simply open your browser and search for "interdimensional portals" or "multiverse portals," or whatever similar phrase comes to mind. The search results alone will take you to some seriously strange places.Instructions on how to make a multiverse portal are, sadly, a bit disappointing (they're for a computer game module). But interdimensional portals also turn out to be a subject of interest for many websites dealing with religion and mysticism.And, according to Britain's Guardian newspaper, London has gained a reputation as the Grand Central Station — or at least the Clapham Junction — of interdimensional travel. Portals are popping up all over town, and a mysterious blog is keeping tabs on them.Inevitably, too, as Vulture informs us, interdimensional travel in movies is getting bashed as the lazy screenwriter's way to avoid coming up with a fresh plot.The Science: Abstract So what does the science say, and how does the science of interdimensional travel stack up to the Upside Down in "Stranger Things?"As cosmologist Lisa Randall told Smithsonian, parallel universes may in fact exist in other dimensions, separated from our own familiar surroundings by distances vastly smaller than the size of an atomic nucleus. But as Randall cautions, "It's not just a carbon copy of our universe, which a lot of people think of when they hear that phrase."The particular corners of the multiverse that Randall is exploring may interact with our own universe only through gravity. Such a universe probably does not have bad guy versions of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, but its existence, and "leakage" between universes, could help explain some basic facts about our own universe, such as why gravity is so much weaker than other basic forces of nature, like magnetism.Start With a Handy Black HoleUnderstanding gravity could be helpful in all sorts of ways, but what we really want is adventure portals that we can go through. And, says National Science Foundation physicist Gaurav Khanna at Futurism.com, "That fantasy may be closer to reality than previously imagined."Using black holes as the solution for how to open multiverse portals has been popular in science fiction for decades, but there was a complication. The intense gravity of a black hole, and resulting tidal forces at its event horizon, would squish people and spaceships into something far finer than jelly.But it turns out, says Khanna, that this is not always the case. If a black hole is large enough, and spinning rapidly, passing through the event horizon might hardly be noticeable. He compares it to passing your hand rapidly over a candle flame; you barely feel a moment's heat.This still leaves would-be interdimensional explorers with the challenge of finding a suitable black hole. Alas, they will probably need to go many light-years in order to reach it, far more difficult than, say, a trip to London.No one ever said that interdimensional travel would be easy. What is remarkable, though — in fact, what is astonishing — is that scientists, not just science fiction writers, are starting to think and talk about it, which is enough to start us thinking about travel plans.See how we're improving this universe with with brains, brawn, and beauty. 

Do Doors to Interdimensional Travel Exist?

Key Takeaways  Big Bang and Inflation Theory mean that bubble or alternate universes may be on a collision course with us. Alternate universes could be outer or inner parallel universes, accessed through space travel or through our minds. Travel to an inner universe could be easier than to an outer."Star Trek." "Inception." "The Matrix." Even "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" leveraged the idea of an alternative universe to create compelling stories. Are these alternate universes nothing more than sci-fi worlds, or are they grounded in scientific reality? If so, could inter-universal travel agencies ever emerge to offer round-trip tours of parallel points of interest?Alternate Universe Basics and Multiverse TheoryNot surprisingly, scientists can't agree on an alternate universe theory, often called multiverse theory. Physicists like Alexander Vilenkin of Tufts University suggest that the Big Bang led to rapid inflation that's not constant across the universe. While inflation has largely ceased within our cosmological view, some remote areas of the universe are still expanding, in turn driving the creation of "bubble" universes that quickly expand and begin to move away. Theoretically, it should be possible to observe evidence of a collision between our universe and another.Other PermutationsAccording to Live Science, other experts argue that the potential number of universes is much smaller than the 10500 predicted by string theory because many of them won't have the requisite amount of dark energy to drive universal inflation, while others will collapse under their own weight. Some theorists posit "daughter universes," where new universes created every time a choice is made and see us constantly traveling to alternate versions of reality without realizing it, said Online Star Register. For the purpose of potential travel, however, two broad categories exist: outer and inner universes.Outer UniversesOuter universes exist outside the human mind. "Star Trek's" mirror universe is a good example of a daughter universe gone awry; differing choices in the past led to a universe in which humanity didn't form a benevolent space-faring federation but a capricious and malicious empire. Characters periodically travel to this universe using either transporter technology or, in the show's most recent iteration, the so-called "Spore Drive." An 1884 story by Edwin A. Abbot called "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions" took another approach by suggesting a living, breathing universe with only two dimensions.Inner UniversesIn addition to sci-fi worlds that exist beyond the stars, movies such as "The Matrix" and "Inception" suggest universes that are a product of human consciousness. In "Inception," the lead character specializes in infiltrating people's dreams to retrieve important information by using the phenomenon of "lucid dreaming," which makes it possible to recognize you're in a dream and control your actions. The film ends with the protagonist being reunited with his children — but fades to black before confirming if he's in the real world or still dreaming."The Matrix," meanwhile, features an apocalyptic universe where humans have been conquered by intelligent machines. The machines use mankind as batteries, simulating a familiar Earth reality where humans are actually trapped in gel-filled cylinders and connected to a global power network. This ties into the notion of Simulation Theory; as Fast Company noted, it's possible that our universe is nothing more than a simulation run by advanced aliens or future humans — we may be the inner universe of some other civilization.Making the Big TripPotential for parallel universes? Check. Multiple interpretations of what constitutes a parallel universe? Check. But is it possible to make the trip?When it comes to inner universes, maybe. Penn State University noted there is some science tied to lucid dreaming, but permanently inhabiting that state is problematic since human bodies need food and water to survive. As for a simulation-type universe, we may already be trapped inside.Traveling to outer universes may be more problematic, despite new research from the University of Durham, which suggests a wider variety of life-supporting universes than previously thought — their theoretical models show that "adding dark energy, up to a few hundred times the amount observed in our Universe, would actually have a modest impact upon star and planet formation." So what does travel look like? It's not transporters or spore drives: According to Futurism, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku suggests our universe will eventually wind up in a "big freeze" as expansion slows and stops; combined with technology, this may allow inter-universe transport. Neil deGrasse Tyson, meanwhile, says it may be possible to easily move from universes with more dimensions to those with less — we may already be doing so without realizing it.Sci-Fi Worlds RoundupDo other universes exist? Probably. Can you book a trip? If they're inside your head — or if we're already in a simulation — yes. Outside is more difficult. While we may be constantly traveling through daughter universes, "Star Trek"-like inter-universe trips won't show up on travel websites anytime soon.Find out how the James Webb space telescope is giving us a great view of the universe.

Sci-Fi or Reality? Travel Tips for an Alternate Universe

Key Takeaways  There are four familiar dimensions: Height, width, length and time, with time being (so far) a one-way trip. Some proponents of string theory say there could be 10 dimensions. Recent neutron star observations, however, show no evidence of extra-dimensional activity.It seems like a pretty fundamental question, the modern-day physicists' equivalent of knowing whether the world is round or flat. But the question, "How many dimensions are there in the universe?" turns out to be a tricky one — enough so that physicists strongly disagree about the answer.Proponents of string theory — a highly speculative but popular explanation of the universe's detailed structure — argue for 10 dimensions. Some theorists have even argued for more, up to an indefinite number of possible dimensions.Other physicists suggest that experimental results have thrown cold water on the case for higher dimensions, leaving us only with the familiar three dimensions of length, width and height, plus the dimension of time.Yet, others have suggested that additional dimensions exist but are crumpled up like a piece of paper — so crumpled, in fact, that we can't detect them.Dimensions in PerspectiveAs if these complexities weren't enough, there's another level of complication to asking how many dimensions there are in the universe: When physicists talk about dimensions, the word doesn't quite mean what most of us think it means.To a physicist, dimension simply means direction — or more precisely, a pair of directions opposite to each other and at right angles to other dimensions, as Phys.org reports. The everyday three dimensions can be described in three different ways: Length, width and height X, Y and Z Forward/backward, right/left and up/downThe fourth dimension, time, is likewise future/past — with the important constraint that in the time dimension you only get to go one way and can't double back for another try.In popular culture, we mostly leave mere directions to road signs and use dimensions in a somewhat grander way. As Smithsonian magazine notes, we picture interdimensional portals as leading to not merely some extra directions, but to weird and colorful worlds — worlds where the dinosaurs still rule, or Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo, or where Captain Kirk and the crew of the original Enterprise are the bad guys.These different meanings of dimension matter a lot when you start asking how many dimensions are there in the universe. But there is a connection, even if — appropriately enough for the whole dimension thing — it's somewhat roundabout.A Quick Dimensional TourIn string theory, all 10 dimensions posited have a specific role, as Phys.org points out. The first four we already know about. But with the fifth dimension, things do get interesting. As Phys.org explains, if we could see it, "we would see a world slightly different from our own that would give us a means of measuring the similarity and differences between our world and other possible ones." For all we know, the differences might be living dinosaurs, or Evil Captain Kirk.In the string model, the sixth dimension would let us see all the variant worlds that began with the same initial conditions and only came to evolve differently later on. A peek into the seventh dimension would let us see worlds that differed from ours from the very beginning, and the eighth would let us see all of them, spread out for us to examine.The ninth dimension would let us "compare all the possible universe histories," while in the final 10th dimension, "we arrive at the point in which everything possible and imaginable is covered." At that point, the technical and popular-culture meanings of dimension become pretty much interchangeable.A Cold Shower for Higher Dimensions?A universe with 10 dimensions worth of "possible and imaginable" worlds sounds pretty cool, but as Livescience reports, a collision of neutron stars observed in 2017 may have splashed some cold water on all those dimensions.String theory argues that gravity waves should weaken over very large (intergalactic!) distances, causing the expansion of the universe to gradually accelerate. In string theory, this weakening is due to gravitational energy "leaking" into all those other dimensions. But the neutron star collision observations show no hint of such leakage on scales ranging from about one mile up to 80 million light years.These findings suggest that the higher dimensions are either pretty small or so vast that a mere 80 million light years isn't enough to be noticed.A Multitude of SurprisesThe higher dimensions may exist, but they're likely so crumpled up that they're too small to easily detect. Phys.org reports a topological form, called a Calabi-Yau manifold, that could confine the higher dimensions to a subatomic scale. Yet, in spite of being so confined, the extra dimensions may still be indirectly detectable by measuring the subtle effects they've had over the history of the universe.CERN, a European nuclear-energy organization, reports that other tools may be available for investigating these dimensions. Gravitons, or hypothesized (but not yet detected) particles produced by gravitation, are one possibility. Examination of atomic-sized black holes — also hypothesized but not yet detected — could provide yet another tool.How many dimensions are there in the universe? The short answer is that we don't know yet. And finding the answer is likely to generate a multitude of new questions waiting for us to explore.If we're going to discover (or debunk) other dimensions, we need to take a closer look at the universe. That's where the James Webb Space Telescope comes in. Learn more.

How Many Dimensions Are There in the Universe?

What is reality? Author Philip K. Dick offers a succinct definition: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." It's a solid starting point — even if you don't believe in gravity, you'll still fall down if you trip. But this definition doesn't account for a universe of hidden interactions and seemingly irreconcilable operations, one that gets stranger and stranger the more we poke and prod. And poke and prod we do, eternally. The quest to understand reality dates back millennia, starting with heavenly explanations for natural phenomena that steadily drifted toward more observation-driven assessments and eventually moved into the realm of intellectual theory-crafting. But are we any closer to a complete explanation? Physicist and Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek thinks so, offering an account of "fundamental lessons we can learn from the study of the physical world" in his book, Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality. For Wilczek, our universe is composed of just a few ingredients governed by similarly few laws, but with minor differences in distribution or condition driving vastly different outcomes. "The world is simple and complex, logical and weird, lawful and chaotic," he writes. His work also does what great books do — create more questions than answers. Let's see what we can do about that as we dive into the fundamental and frustrating concept of reality with a look at where we've been, what we've discovered and what comes next. Get Me a Philosopher, STAT! Lacking scientific specifics and given the pervasive oddity of the universe, discussions of reality have often been confined to the realm of philosophy, which afforded the ability to swing for the metaphysical fences and — perhaps more importantly — explore human nature itself. Consider the 1892 paper "What Is Reality?" by philosopher David G. Richie. In it, he suggests that the ultimate reality isn't physical law or observable phenomena but rather the "potentiality" of thought itself. "Unfortunately," he notes, "the uncritical metaphysics of the ordinary and of the scientific understanding do not generally take the notion of potentiality quite seriously. Hence it is necessary to take the longer route of philosophical criticism." It's an intriguing supposition, and one that reflects a substantive portion of the human experience. The problem? It also reinforces the human-centric nature of philosophy itself: the efforts we take to ensure we don't feel too small given the scale of the universe and our place in it. But to understand reality, we need to think bigger. Fours Majeure The first frameworks of human understanding of the universe relied on divine action. Thunderstorms? The gods are getting angry. Poor harvest? Probably the work of an offended or mischievous deity. Eclipse? Something has gone very, very wrong in the vaults of heaven. And then came the Greeks, who proposed a new way of looking at the world. They defined four fundamental elements — earth, fire, air and water — and suggested that all matter was made of these elements in differing proportions. This quadratic quantity didn't last long, however. Aristotle soon added the element of "aether" that supposedly held the stars and planets. Early scientific experiments, such as those conducted by Empedocles, helped to differentiate between air and aether. By inverting a bowl filled with air in water, he showed that the air didn't simply vanish, suggesting that it a) wasn't aether and b) was actually something. Worth noting? While the Greeks often get credit, they weren't alone in their elemental assertion — the ancient Chinese culture came to similar conclusions, as did those of Persia and Japan, according to The Five Elements in the Literary Heritage of Iran and Japan: A Comparative Study. While the four-element framework was simplistic and eventually gave way to a much more precise understanding of chemical components and object interactions, it represented one of the first forays into a physical rather than philosophical understanding of reality. He Ain't Heavy, He's Fundamental No discussion of our physical universe is complete without a nod to Isaac Newton. While the apple story is almost certainly apocryphal, the fact remains that Newton suggested something no one had ever thought of: gravity. It seems strange now, but in the late 17th century there was no concept of gravity, no universal law that explained why we don't simply float away into the aether at random. In his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Newton laid out his case for gravity, suggesting that all objects exerted this attractive force on one another — and that the more mass they had, the bigger the force. This notion was incredibly handy, because it let scientists calculate the trajectory of thrown objects, account for the moon's orbit around the Earth and quantify the interplanetary relationships in our solar system. However, Newton did run into trouble when it came to explaining the mechanism of gravity, arguing that while it "must be caused by an agent acting constantly according to certain laws," he was uncertain exactly how this agent operated. Lack of complete understanding aside, Newton's work paved the way for one of the biggest shifts in our comprehension of reality: the four fundamental forces, which help to explain almost everything that happens in our universe. As Space.com outlines, they are:   Gravity: The classic. Newton described this force as an attraction between two objects, and while later work found this isn't quite accurate, gravity is the most easily observed and conceptually understood force.  The electromagnetic force: Also called the Lorentz force, electromagnetism describes the interaction between charged particles. While electric and magnetic interactions were originally seen as separate, ongoing scientific work found that charged particle interactions also generated magnetic fields, fundamentally connecting these two forces.  The weak force: The weak nuclear force is responsible for particle decay, which causes subatomic particles to change type over time. This decay is critical to the process of nuclear fusion that powers our sun, and it occurs at specific, measurable rates governed by the subatomic composition of elements.  The strong force: The strong nuclear force holds subatomic particles together and is six thousand trillion trillion trillion times stronger than gravity, according to HyperPhysics. While it only operates at very small distances (10^ -15 meters or less), it offers massive destructive and productive potential when particle bonds are broken or new bonds are forcibly created.  Throwing Curveballs And then there's Albert Einstein. It seems he's always there, lurking in the science shadows — and he plays a critical role in our understanding of reality thanks to his theory of relativity. Einstein's work was predicated in part by Niels Bohr's concept of complementarity, which he used to help explain the results of Thomas Young's Double Slit Experiment. This experiment showed that light had the properties of both particle and wave. Complementarity suggests that this wave/particle duality are both accurate descriptions of the same reality that "complement" rather than oppose one another — instead, human limitations in observation and interpretation make these results appear irreconcilable. The theory of relativity expanded this concept to the universe at scale, suggesting that any measurements involving time and space are relative to both the location and motion of the observer. This is especially relevant to gravity, which Einstein suggested was not an instantaneous, attractive force between two objects but rather a curvature of spacetime determined by an object's mass. The bigger the object, the bigger the curve and the more substantive the gravitational force. So substantive, in fact, that observers close to a massive object would find time itself slowing down relative to the passage of time experienced by more distant observers. Einstein's curvature theory, while significantly more complex, has also been consistently accurate in describing the movement of light around massive objects, including planets, stars and even black holes. And it has fundamentally changed the way we view the nature of reality and the universe. Discovering the Real Deal: A History of Trial and Error So, what does this continual conversation around the nature of reality suggest? That trial and error are essential to the process of understanding. It makes sense, then, that discussions of reality have historically been relegated to philosophers. While scientists recognize the value of revising theories based on new evidence, the seeming lack of evidence for many fundamental forces has provided an ever-frustrating framework. Even Einstein — absolute out-of-the-box thinker that he was — didn't believe that gravitational waves caused by accelerating mass would ever be detected. But on September 14, 2015, all the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) captured evidence of gravitational waves produced when two black holes collided, according to Science Alert. Since they were 1.3 billion light-years away, the signal took some time to arrive and was perilously tiny when it finally crossed our paths. And this is hardly the end of our efforts to understand reality. Consider the ongoing discussions about dark matter, dark energy, string theory, quantum mechanics and worm holes — just when we think we've unlocked the secrets of how the universe works, it turns out we've only peeled back another layer, and what's inside makes absolutely no sense. Strangely enough, it's the very unpredictability and unwillingness of the universe to give up its secrets that keeps us so obsessed. It's our nature; we're easily adaptable, even more easily bored and constantly looking for new challenges, new opportunities and new questions to explore. Asking "what is reality?" — over and over and over and over again — not only gives us something to do with these big brains of ours, but it also helps us understand both our universe and ourselves just a little bit better. Being on the forefront of change, especially regarding space, physics and engineering, has been part of the Northrop Grumman culture for generations. Click here to search jobs in these areas of scientific innovation.

What Is Reality? Your Quick-Start Guide to the Nature of the Universe

Key Takeaways  Time as the fourth dimension leads neatly into Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity to explain how time relates to space. A fifth dimension helps tie together gravity and electromagnetism. Scientists posit that ten dimensions exist, plus string theory, to explain the physics of the universe.We have known about the ordinary three dimensions of space — length, width and height (or to the mathematically minded, x, y, z) for ages. At least, suggests the University of Cambridge, since the days of the pyramids — the ancient Egyptians could not have designed them without an understanding of three-dimensional shapes.A few thousand years after the pyramids, Albert Einstein demonstrated that time is the fourth dimension, which only goes in one direction. No doubling back for a redo. But what is the fifth dimension that we keep hearing about?Dimensions GaloreBefore we get lost in a multidimensional freeway interchange, Sciencing gives us a little road map into this whole dimension business. The first three were taken for granted. Hardly anyone but pure mathematicians thought much about additional dimensions until Einstein came along. He showed that treating time as a fourth dimension was the key to understanding why the speed of light is the same for every observer, no matter how fast you are going.The result was Einstein's theory of special relativity. And Einstein's success at explaining the relationship between time and space, electricity and magnetism, also triggered a dimension chase in the theoretical physics community. Gravity still had to be brought into the fold, along with the strong and weak nuclear forces.Two theorists, Theodor Kaluza from Germany and Oskar Klein from Sweden, independently proposed mathematical theories in which a fifth dimension would elegantly tie together electromagnetism and gravity. And today, string theory, a prominent school of thought in physics, argues that 10 dimensions are needed to pull everything together.Pill Bugs But if all these dimensions really exist, where are they? Oskar Klein had an explanation. As Sciencing colorfully puts it, he "came up with the idea that the fifth dimension is invisible to the human eye, as it is minuscule and curls up on itself like a pill bug rolls up under threat."Out on the frontiers of science, however, where scientists actually do their work, science does not speak with one voice. Scientists disagree with each other all the time. When Gizmodo asked physicists about their opinions on the fifth dimension, their answers varied widely. And that is before we even get to mathematical theories about the sixth, seventh, or eighth dimensions, on up to (depending on who you ask) 10 dimensions, or perhaps even an infinite number of them.Doors to Imagination — and BeyondAt least the physicists more or less agree on what they disagree about. But in pop culture, the subject of "what is the fifth dimension?" has gained additional dimensions beyond just theoretical physics. When we speak of doors to interdimensional travel, in London or elsewhere, the worlds these doors are envisioned as opening onto seem only loosely related to the formal, mathematical dimensions that the physicists and mathematicians play with.On the frontier, not only do scientists often disagree; the lines between science, imagination and metaphor can all get slightly blurred. A little bit of ambiguity that helps keep all of us on our toes.Discover more beyond our own planet.

What Is the Fifth Dimension?

Key Takeaways  In a parallel universe, time could flow backwards. Parallel universes, alternate universes and the infinite multiverse theories all arise from inflation that happened after the Big Bang. Clickbait and paywalls can create sensational headlines; read with care!If alternate universes actually exist, perhaps the writers and editors in those parallel worlds take great pains to avoid confusion in their articles about scientific discoveries.Confusion is what happened in our world when several news outlets reported a startling finding from NASA-funded cosmic experiments in Antarctica. A parallel universe had been found, those stories reported, and it looked as if time was running backward there.It's unclear if in this other reality backward meant that we (presuming it was, in fact, another version of us) started life in old age and got younger, just as Brad Pitt did in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." But any further discussion about time moving in the other direction, or about the alternate universe itself, proved to be anti-climactic because the stories about this discovery were a bit sensationalized. There is no other universe. For now, at least, we're relegated to living in our known reality here on good ol' Earth.Stymied by a PaywallAccusing the news outlets of negligence would be too harsh of a judgement. Their collective error appears to be nothing more than a rush to post stories with clickbait headlines."NASA scientists detect parallel universe 'next to ours' where time runs backward," declared a headline in a British tabloid. These stories went on to recount how the scientists in Antarctica had detected another universe where the laws of physics ran counter to ours. They got this idea from an April 2020 New Scientist article.That article reported a scientific finding in Antarctica and indeed mentioned an alternate universe, but it wasn't technically claiming that the scientists had found one. The article instead teased — much as a child stretches the truth just a bit but doesn't lie — the possibility of a separate universe."We may have spotted a parallel universe going backwards in time," the New Scientist headline read. And the subhead advanced the possibility: "Strange particles observed by an experiment in Antarctica could be evidence of an alternative reality where everything is upside down."The New Scientist article is behind a paywall, so journalists from other outlets seemingly read just enough to believe NASA was onto something real. It didn't help that the last sentence of the story, before the paywall starts, offered one more tease: "It is perhaps the most mind-melting idea ever to have emerged from the Antarctic ice ­­– but it might just be true…"If only those behind the follow-up stories had full access to New Scientist stories. As University of Hawai'i at Mānoa experimental particle physicist Peter Gorham, who is the lead investigator on the Antarctica project, told ScienceAlert, "It seems that for this tabloid science story, some speculative theoretical physics which might have had distant roots in plausibility was amplified for sensational reasons."Tracking Mysterious NeutrinosWhat really happened in Antarctica? Well, a team of researchers whose work is partially funded by NASA are "listening" to the cosmos and finding high-energy particles known as neutrinos.As CNET aptly describes, neutrinos pass through most solid objects without detection, as many as 100 trillion of them passing through the human body every second. They don't interact with matter, but if they happen to collide with an atom, neutrinos create a shower of detectable particles, enabling scientists to trace their origin in the universe.To listen to the cosmos and track neutrinos in Antarctica, the scientists are using an array of radio antennas attached to a helium balloon that flies 37,000 meters above the ice. Throughout its years-long project, the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) has detected neutrinos from a strange angle — strange as in they arrive through the Earth's interior, rather than coming from space."The unusual ANITA events have been known and discussed since 2016," Ron Ekers, an honorary fellow at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, told CNET. "After four years there has been no satisfactory explanation of the anomalous events seen by ANITA so this is very frustrating."With no clear explanation for the origin of the neutrinos, confusion and conflation led to the recent round of stories pointing to a parallel universe. CNN recently reported that the guilty media outlets were conflating the theories of Gorham and his team with the ideas of physicists outside of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna project. Those on the outside have speculated about alternate universes. Of course, New Scientist is also on the hook for its misleading presentation outside of the paywall.What's Going On There?It would seem that more than a paywall separates us from alternate universes, that is, if they even exist. As Forbes noted, the idea of parallel universes was first conceived through the study of quantum physics, but they are hard to prove. Still, it's fun to think about the possibilities. The "many-worlds" theory of quantum mechanics holds that all the outcomes that can possibly occur actually happen, but only one outcome unfolds in each universe. That means if more than one universe exists, William Shakespeare left us a treasure of written words, but in another universe he was a baker of bread.Another way of examining the possibilities of alternate universes is through the infinite multiverse theory, which arises from inflation that happened after the Big Bang. For cosmologists, the multiverse theory describes the sum total of all possible universes, while for us common folk it has come to mean any universe that we might encounter other than our own.A Tufts University physics professor stretched out the multiverse theory by offering that a replica of a person is on a replica of Earth somewhere else. A Stanford Magazine article from 2007 had even more fun by positing that we are the same in another universe but speaking different languages, while in another universe we have different careers because we followed different passions. If that's true, maybe journalists in another realm were a bit more careful in reporting about neutrinos in Antarctica.Discover how advanced technology and innovation uses impossible as a starting point to accurately explore our world and the universe.

Despite the Hype, There's No Proof of a Parallel Universe

"The Twilight Zone" reboot, helmed by Jordan Peele, present-day master of satirical, socially critical horror, has everyone abuzz. Even if you've never seen an episode of "The Twilight Zone" — the seminal science-fiction series created by Rod Serling that ran from 1959 to 1964 — you can probably hear its iconic, unsettling theme song in your head. You can probably picture Serling in his trademark suit, cigarette in hand. And you probably know that "the twilight zone" is shorthand for a situation where the line between fantasy and reality blurs and things start to seem ... not wrong, exactly, but not quite right either.  "The Twilight Zone" is widely hailed as one of the best sci-fi shows while also being years, if not decades, ahead of its time. Incorporating sci-fi elements and touching on themes of racism, nuclear destruction, space exploration and general societal anxiety, it seems just as relevant today as ever. Let's take a look back at some of the original episodes and consider how likely humanity is to make these particular stops in the Twilight Zone.  (This article contains *spoilers* for the original series.)  Stop the Earth, I Want to Get Off  Between environmental issues, political tensions and social problems, the impulse to leave Earth, find a new planet and start over is understandable. It was equally understandable in 1960, when "The Twilight Zone" episode "Third from the Sun" aired for the first time. The episode follows a man named William who knows nuclear annihilation is imminent. Desperate to save his family, he hatches a plan to steal an experimental spacecraft his company has been building and get off the planet. He enlists a friend to help, and both men eventually make it past security and onto the craft, families in tow. When William's daughter asks where they're going, he explains their destination is a world not unlike the one they're leaving, located third from the sun in its solar system â€¦ a place called Earth.  Today, when we think about setting up shop on other planets, we tend to look close to home — specifically, at Mars. NASA cautions, however, that colonizing Mars would be complicated. Even if humans managed to get there safely, Mars doesn't have an ozone layer, and we don't know how much ultraviolet radiation makes it to the planet's surface. Then there's the matter of building infrastructure. Rather than transporting the necessary materials to Mars from Earth, it's likely that 3D printing would play a major role in colonization. And, even if we resolved these issues, there's currently no legally binding way to buy land on Mars.  Still, it's compelling to consider. According to Megan Ray Nichols of Astronomy.com, figuring out how to thrive on Mars could make it "easier to expand out into the asteroid belt and beyond."  Is It Hot In Here, or Are We Getting Closer to the Sun?  When we consider ways the world could end, a top contender is the sun turning into a red giant. According to Scientific American, if this happened, it wouldn't be for billions of years. But what if a sun-related catastrophe caused the end of life as we know it much, much sooner? Say, in a matter of days?  That's the premise behind Twilight Zone episode "The Midnight Sun," which aired in November 1961. The Earth's orbit has been altered and, as a result, the planet is drawing ever closer to the sun. As the temperature rises, Norma and her landlady, Mrs. Bronson, watch their building's inhabitants leave for cooler climates. Eventually, just the two of them are left. Mrs. Bronson begins to show signs of emotional strain, begging Norma, an artist, to "paint something cool." She does, but when she shows it to Mrs. Bronson, the paint begins to melt, and Norma collapses. The scene shifts to show Norma sleeping on a couch as snow falls outside the window. Mrs. Bronson is talking to a doctor about how Norma's fever has finally broken. They then begin to discuss the news of the day: Earth's orbit has shifted and the planet is moving farther away from the sun, which will eventually lead to its destruction by freezing.  How likely is either of these scenarios to occur? According to Christopher Springob, a research assistant professor at the University of Western Australia, Earth is, in fact, moving very slowly away from the sun. However, the distance by which it's moving is tiny — roughly a micrometer, or one ten-thousandth of a centimeter, per year.  A Parallel Universe, Right in Your Own Bedroom  Perhaps one of the most influential episodes of the original "The Twilight Zone" series was "Little Girl Lost," in which six-year-old Tina somehow becomes trapped in another dimension. Her parents and dog can hear her calling for help, but they can't see her. Tina's father, Chris, calls his friend Bill, a physicist, for help. They look around the house and eventually find an opening to what Bill explains is a fourth dimension. (By now, the family dog has fallen into it as well.) Chris goes in after Tina and the dog, and Bill pulls them out through the opening and back into reality as we know it.  The concept of interdimensional travel has turned out to be a pop culture favorite. The Simpsons paid homage to "Little Girl Lost" in "Homer3," a segment of its 1995 Halloween episode. More recently, Netflix smash hit "Stranger Things" has revitalized interest in multiverse theory.  But is there really such a thing as a fourth dimension? (It's worth noting that, rightly or wrongly, time is often considered the fourth dimension of space.) According to CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, string theory implies that there might actually be six additional spatial dimensions; however, they may be "curled up so tiny that we have never realized their existence." Smithsonian.com concurs, citing recent research showing that if other dimensions exist, they must be smaller than 16 nanometers. For reference, a nanometer is one billionth — that's billion with a "b" — of a meter, meaning you won't be falling into one of those dimensions anytime soon.  Although early reviews of "The Twilight Zone" reboot are mixed, there's no question that the legacy of the original, one of the best sci-fi shows of all time, has endured. To borrow Serling's words, as long as we can imagine the unimaginable, we'll continue to explore "the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition" â€¦ also known as the Twilight Zone. 

Next Stop: "The Twilight Zone" Reboot

Key Takeaways  The simulation argument suggests that our reality is a simulation run by a supercomputer. Neil deGrasse Tyson suggests that the odds we live in a simulated reality are 50/50. If we are living in a simulation, glitches or errors should increase over time, possibly manifesting as strange or unexplained events.Are we living in a computer simulation? Is everything in our universe — from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy — nothing more than a computer science project on some omnipotent being's hard drive? At first glance, the notion of simulated reality seems ludicrous, but consider advances humankind has already made in computer gaming, virtual reality and robotics. Are we inadvertently strengthening the case for simulation theory?The Simulation ArgumentAlso called the simulation hypothesis, the argument here is simple: All reality is actually an artificial simulation, most likely one run by an advanced supercomputer.In just a few short decades, innovators have developed devices with the capacity to learn and mimic many basic characteristics of human intelligence. If computing power continues to increase along its existing trajectory, it's possible future humans (or other intelligent life) could easily create a universe simulation.Support for Simulation TheorySeveral well-known scientists and pioneers have expressed their support for simulation theory. As noted by Scientific American, during the 2016 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson said the odds of our universe as simulated reality were 50-50. He pointed to the large intelligence gap between chimpanzees and humans despite our 98 percent DNA overlap, arguing that a creature many times our intelligence could both exist and potentially run simulations.Other arguments for simulation theory come from philosopher Nick Bostrum and theoretical physicist James Gates. In 2003, Bostrum suggested that advanced civilizations with massive computing power might decide to run simulations of their ancestors — us — and, given the sophistication of the technology, we wouldn't know that we're nothing more than computer programs. Gates, meanwhile, found "error-correcting codes" — similar in principle to those used in Web browsers — while studying equations about electrons and quarks, said Scientific American. Even more concerning if you're worried about a universe simulation? It's almost impossible to prove we're in a real universe because any "evidence" could be part of the program.Evidence of a "Real" Existence?Despite solid philosophical and theoretical arguments, a team from Oxford University has found reasonably solid evidence that our universe is more than a mobile application. The proof? Attempting to model specific quantum phenomena such as the Hall effect quickly gets out of hand — according to Cosmos, modeling just a few hundred electrons using the quantum Monte Carlo technique requires more atoms than exist in the universe. As noted by Fast Company, storing just 20 spins of one particle using this model would require one terabyte of RAM.The Nature of RealitySo what happens if we're living in a simulation? Some experts theorize that as the program continues to run, problems will emerge — glitches in the matrix, so to speak. Consider the 2017 Oscars gaffe, when old-Hollywood musical "La La Land" was mistakenly given the award for best picture. Cast and crew arrived on stage to deliver their speeches while chaos ensued behind the scenes, culminating in a mea culpa that announced the real winner: "Moonlight."What does this say about simulation theory? According to The New Yorker, some philosophers — such as David Chalmers of NYU — suggest that increasingly bizarre events in the "real" world may be evidence that our universe is someone else's simulation. Beyond universe simulation, these events may represent divergent "points" in reality; in another universe the mix-up didn't happen. In another reality, "La La Land" actually won.Every choice, no matter how minuscule, could create its own universe. Another option is multiverse theory, where our universe is just one of many with its own set of physical laws and properties. And what's more simulation-like than running multiple instances of something to see which one works best?Mind Over MatterFrom the standpoint of human existence and the quest for a greater understanding of the universe, this simulation debate is largely academic. We're still seemingly gifted with free will, have the power to investigate our own reality and discover what (if any) fundamental scientific truths emerge. If we're nothing but a simulation, the outcome of our efforts may change but this doesn't lessen their impact.Is This Real Life? Is This Just Fantasy?Maybe Queen asked the right question in "Bohemian Rhapsody" — is life just fantasy? While strange happenings and the oddly ordered nature of fundamental mathematics points to the possibility of a computer-generated existence, recent quantum research suggests a universe too complex for simulation.Could we create our own simulated reality? Read more about our work on AR and VR.

Is Our Entire Universe Just a Simulated Reality?

Last September, perennial fan favorite "Star Trek" returned to the small screen with its newest iteration, "Star Trek: Discovery." Set 10 years before Captain Kirk's Enterprise, the show offers compelling characters, feisty Klingons and a host of new "Star Trek" technology for knowledgeable experts and avid Trekkies to dissect.  Critical to the plot are two tech conceits: The use of a fungi-fueled "spore drive," which lets the Discovery cross vast distances in mere seconds, and the certain knowledge that multiple universes exist. Is there a parallel universe out there? Can mushrooms help us travel at warp speed? Or is this all just techno-babble and fantasy? Let's dig in.   You're Such a Fungi   Here's the space-travel conceit in "Star Trek: Discovery": A vast "mycelial network" — infinite numbers of miniscule fungi — underpin the entire universe. Tapping this mushroom highway using lab-grown spores and a sentient navigator allows the Discovery to quickly jump anywhere in space. But is this just a sci-fi fantasy, or is it the real deal?  As noted by Inverse, the spore dive's co-creator on the show is Lt. Cmdr. Paul Stamets. His title is "astromycologist," science-speak for someone who studies fungi in space. He's also named after real-world fungi expert Paul Stamets, who has speculated about the possibility of terraforming space using fungi.    Mushroom for Improvement?   Spore drives aren't a bad idea. While Forbes noted that much of "Discovery's" science around the original spore drive navigator — a giant version of a water-dwelling, microscopic creature known as a tardigrade — is "science fantasy" more than fiction, its fungal science may be more accurate. As noted by mycologist Thomas Jenkins in Inverse, "'we only know of, and this is a generous estimate, about five percent of the fungal biodiversity that exists.'" And Earth fungi exposed to harsh, Martian-like conditions over long periods of time have shown remarkable resiliency, suggesting that mycelium could flourish even in outer space. According to Nature World News, recent research suggests that trees communicate using an underground mycelial network and use it to benefit the forest as a whole.   The result? Spore drives aren't entirely out of the question, since the universe offers potential building blocks for fungi fast lanes.   Mirror, Mirror   Parallel universes are a staple of "Star Trek." One of the most popular is the Mirror Universe: Instead of creating the freedom-loving Federation, the aggressive and xenophobic Terran Empire rose to power. In "Discovery," spore drive technology lets the ship cross into this universe. The crew discovers that its not-so-nice Mirror Universe counterparts are mining the mycelial network for power at such a fast rate that they'll eventually destroy it and kill everything in all universes.    Is There a Parallel Universe?   The notion of villainous Earth counterparts is terrifying, but only if multiverse theory actually has a solid foundation. The good (or not-so-good) news? Parallel might be possible. As noted by Futurism, the discovery of a "cold spot" in space — 1.8 billion light-years across and 0.00027 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the space around it — may be evidence of a collision between our universe and another, resulting in odd temperature variations and a comparative lack of matter. And according to BGR, efforts to quantify the conditions under which parallel universes could exist and what type of universes are possible formed the basis of Stephen Hawking's final paper, "A Smooth Exit from Eternal Inflation." While the cold spot and Hawking's attempt to leverage math as boundary conditions for the multiverse aren't proof, they're indications that the idea of parallel universes isn't just sci-fi fan service.   Trek Talk Verdict   Star Trek technology doesn't always translate to real life, but when it comes to spore drives and a parallel universe, "Discovery's" science sticks a solid landing for "maybe." Sure, spore drives aren't around the corner, but a real-life spark for the idea already exists here on Earth. And while it's unlikely we all have surly Terran counterparts contemplating our existence in a mirror dimension, researchers are now working on ways to mathematically map the potential multiverse. 

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