New York Post

EARTH IN REVERSE

NASA: Proof of parallel universe where time goes backward

- By YARON STEINBUCH ysteinbuch@nypost.com

In a scenario out of “The Twilight Zone,” NASA scientists working on an experiment in Antarctica have detected evidence of a parallel universe — where the rules of physics are the opposite of our own, according to a report.

The concept of a parallel universe has been around since the early 1960s, mostly in the minds of fans of sci-fi TV shows and comics, but the cosmic-ray detection experiment found particles that could be from a parallel realm that was also born in the Big Bang, the UK’s Daily Star reported.

The experts used a giant balloon to carry NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, high above Antarctica, where the frigid, dry air provided the perfect environmen­t, with little to no radio noise to distort findings.

A “wind” of high-energy particles constantly arrives on Earth from outer space. Low-energy, subatomic neutrinos with a mass close to zero can pass completely through the Earth, but higher-energy objects are stopped by the solid matter of our planet, according to the report.

That means the high-energy particles can be detected only coming “down” from space. But ANITA detected heavier particles — so-called tau neutrinos — which come “up” out of the Earth.

The finding implies that these particles are actually traveling backward in time, suggesting evidence of a parallel universe, according to the Daily Star.

Principal ANITA investigat­or Peter Gorham, an experiment­al particle physicist at the University of Hawaii, suggested that the only way the tau neutrinos could behave that way is if they changed into a different type of particle before passing through the Earth and then back again.

Gorham, lead author on a Cornell University paper describing the odd phenomenon, noted that he and his fellow researcher­s had seen several of these “impossible events,” which some were skeptical about.

“Not everyone was comfortabl­e with the hypothesis,” he told New Scientist.

The simplest explanatio­n for the phenomenon is that at the moment of the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, two universes were formed — ours and one that from our perspectiv­e is running in reverse, with time going backward.

Of course, if there are any inhabitant­s of a possible parallel universe, they’d consider us the backward ones.

“We’re left with the most exciting or most boring possibilit­ies,” said Ibrahim Safa, who also worked on the experiment.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States