If you’ve been scrolling through social media recently, you might have stumbled upon sensational claims resurging about NASA discovering a parallel universe in Antarctica.
According to the claims, this parallel universe was formed alongside ours during the Big Bang and would be running in reverse from our perspective.
But is there any truth to these claims? Did NASA really find a twin universe where time flows backward?
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Has NASA Found a Parallel Universe
Let’s set the record straight: NASA has not found a parallel universe. The claims making the rounds on social media are not based on new scientific findings but are instead a distorted interpretation of older research.
The origins of this controversy date back to 2020, when researchers working with the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment detected unusual behavior in neutrinos—tiny, nearly massless particles that rarely interact with matter.
The ANITA findings were indeed perplexing and prompted scientists to theorize potential explanations. One such hypothesis, published in a paper in response to the findings, suggested the possibility of a “CPT symmetric universe,” where time might flow in the opposite direction to ours.
“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,” the authors of the paper wrote.
The findings were originally covered by the New Scientist in a piece titled “We may have spotted a parallel universe going backwards in time.”
From there, the internet ran wild. Stories appearing in the Daily Star, New York Post and other outlets began claiming, with alarming certainty, that this was evidence of a parallel universe.
However, these articles glossed over the crucial fact: the ANITA results required further investigation and provided no conclusive evidence for any such universe.
At the time, Alex Pizzuto, a researcher involved in analyzing ANITA detections, took to social media to debunk the claims.
“ANITA, a detector that flies in Antarctica, detected some strange signals. These signals are hard (but not impossible) to remedy with our current models of physics,” Pizzuto wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Scientists try to come up with ways of modifying our understanding of physics to make these detections more plausible. SOME of these require bizarre beyond the standard model ideas, like the one in the news. However, there are some COMPLETELY non-exotic explanations as well.”
It’s unclear why these claims have resurfaced now, aside from a peculiar quirk of internet hype reminiscent of what got this ball rolling in the first place.
How Many Universes Are There
So, how many universes exist? For now, the only one we can confirm is this one.
While no evidence of a parallel universe has been found, that doesn’t mean the idea is off the table. Several scientific theories, such as cosmic inflation, suggest the possibility of a multiverse—a collection of universes, including ours.
These universes could have different physical laws, histories or even entirely unique realities.
However, science relies on evidence. Currently, there is no empirical data to support these theories, but that hasn’t stopped physicists from exploring them as fascinating possibilities.
What Is a Parallel Universe?
A parallel universe, often referred to as an alternate universe or multiverse, is a theoretical concept suggesting the existence of multiple universes alongside our own.
These universes could differ in fundamental ways—such as having alternate laws of physics.
While the idea captivates our imaginations and inspires everything from scientific inquiry to popular science fiction, it remains a theoretical construct until evidence says otherwise.
Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about parallel universes? Let us know via science@newsweek.com.
References
Gorham, P. W., Nam, J., Romero-Wolf, A., Hoover, S., Allison, P., Banerjee, O., Beatty, J. J., Belov, K., Besson, D. Z., Binns, W. R., Bugaev, V., Cao, P., Chen, C., Chen, P., Clem, J. M., Connolly, A., Dailey, B., Deaconu, C., Cremonesi, L., . . . Wu, F. (2016). Characteristics of Four Upward-Pointing Cosmic-Ray-like Events Observed with ANITA. Physical Review Letters, 117(7). https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.117.071101
Anchordoqui, L. A., Barger, V., Learned, J. G., Marfatia, D., & Weiler, T. J. (2018). Upgoing ANITA events as evidence of the CPT symmetric universe. Letters in High Energy Physics, 1(1), 13–16.
