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2020 has been long and full of shocking news, for better or worse. Along with the discovery of a new virus, we’ve been inundated with headlines about new discoveries, trends, hobbies, and products.
So when NASA made a new discovery, clickbait sites pointed out that this is evidence of a parallel universe.
Of course, Twitter users had a doozy with this “discovery.”
And some people even pointed out that 2020 has been full of surprises!
https://twitter.com/jaireville/status/1265888998716698624?s=20
Even so, this is big news, and it’s important to dissect it.
3. The Experts Say This Is Overblown
Ibrahim Safa of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is one of the researchers behind a paper that discusses the scientist’s findings. He’s referring to the fact that his study had interesting findings, but not we’re not quite yet in parallel universe territory.
Naturally, headlines immediately discussed a possible multiverse.
2. It Began With Three Papers
The first is called, “Characteristics of Four Upward-pointing Cosmic-ray-like Events Observed with ANITA.” It’s about a balloon experiment called ANtarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA). It describes finding cosmic rays that point upward.
The second paper mentions a theory that these cosmic rays are evidence of a possible CPT symmetric universe. The paper literally says,
“In this scenario the universe before the Big Bang and the universe after the Big Bang is reinterpreted as a universe/anti-universe pair that is created from nothing.”
This is probably where people began insinuating that a parallel universe exists.
And the third paper says that scientists may have to come up with another theory for why ANITA found what it did.
1. So What Happened?
ANITA found some unusual activity in 2016 that could point to the extremely rare presence of high-energy neutrinos. These particles were rising up to the surface of the Earth with little explanation as to how they got there.
Another researcher with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Alex Pizzuto, chimed in on what this could mean.
And researcher Ibrahim Safa chimed in.
So basically, physicists are still sifting through data so they can figure out what these neutrinos even mean. If you were looking for a true parallel universe, then maybe you should stick to comics for now.
What do you think is causing these extra particles? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments below!
