From what the internet said it was, to what it's really about, and what all this means
about our lives, and more!
Join us as we dive into the truth behind the "Parallel Universe" NASA "Discovered".
There is a certain "law" out there in the world today that everyone should know.
It is one backed up by science, by history, by common sense, and more.
Quite simply, that law is the law of "You Don't Trust Everything You See On The Internet!"
Granted, sometimes you see things on the internet that are so shocking that it CAN'T be true,
and yet it is.
But other times, you get lured in by something that seems shockingly true, and yet, it's
not.
Such was the case recently with the "discovery" of something that truly would've broken the
universe as we know it.
Because according to some, NASA had discovered a parallel universe.
One where time didn't flow normally.
Instead, it flowed backward.
So let's be like that parallel universe and rewind things for a bit, shall we?
A little while back articles from the New York Post, Daily Star and Express stated "sources"
that NASA had indeed discovered a parallel universe, and in this universe, time was flowing
backwards ever since the point of the Big Bang.
The internet went crazy with this potential discovery, especially as many wondered what
it could mean in the large scale.
The idea of parallel universes is nothing new (as we discuss in another video of ours!),
and there has been rampant speculation as to what they would be like, how they formed,
and more.
But it would be safe to say that in all of those theories, none of them had time running
backwards, as that would be highly irregular, and how do you go backwards from the beginning
of time itself?
Regardless of that answer, many people across the board started to go nuts on the internet
trying to figure out the hows and whys as to how all of this happened.
When the immediate answer was right in front of them.
Not in regards to how it all worked, but rather, whether we could believe this to be true.
Because The New York Post, the Daily Star and the Express aren't exactly the most reliable
of sources when it comes to major news breaks.
Not to mention, if you look at the articles from the papers, they're all just quoting
one another, and just as important, they're citing a lot of information...in an incorrect
fashion.
That's right, NASA has NOT found a parallel universe where time flows backwards, not even
close.
Though that does raise the question...how did we get from there to here?
Simple, NASA did find something, it's just nothing on the level of a parallel universe...yet.
Before we dive into what REALLY is going on in the world of NASA, be sure to like or dislike
the video, that way we can continue to improve our content for you the viewer!
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So where did this whole parallel universe mess really start?
Believe it or not, it was in Antarctica.
But not in the way you're thinking.
There's an experiment going on down there that had some interesting findings as of late.
Scientists actually found evidence (signals) of fundamental particles that may defy our
current understanding of physics.
It might even just be an issue with how particles interact with ice.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the experiment in the words of its lead research paper writer,
Ibrahim Safa of UW–Madison.
"During the first three flights of the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment,
the collaboration detected several neutrino candidates.
Two of these candidate events were consistent with an ultra-high-energy up-going air shower
and compatible with a tau neutrino interpretation.
A third neutrino candidate event was detected in a search for Askaryan radiation in the
Antarctic ice, although it is also consistent with the background expectation.
The inferred emergence angle of the first two events is in tension with IceCube and
ANITA limits on isotropic cosmogenic neutrino fluxes.
Here, we test the hypothesis that these events are astrophysical in origin, possibly caused
by a point source in the reconstructed direction."
Notice that nowhere in there is any words like "parallel" or "universe" or "reversing
time".
Which brings us to a tweet that Safa did after hearing about all the people saying that the
team had found a parallel universe: " NASA has discovered that y'all should not
be getting your news from the new york post."
Wise words indeed.
But that still doesn't fully explain how these particle findings via the Antarctica experiment
led us to an idea that there is a parallel universe.
Well, as in all things, it was a snowball effect that got more and more convoluted as
time went on.
First, there was the research paper (that we noted above) talking about the experiment.
Then, there was another research paper, one that was made as a "response" to the ANITA
project, and it was them that posited that the answer to the question of the strange
cosmic particles was that it could be proof of a parallel universe.
" 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."
They even go so far as to cite the original research to further "prove" the existence
of this CPT Symmetric Universe: "Another relevant prediction of the CPT symmetric
universe is that the three active neutrinos are Majorana particles as they obtain their
masses by the usual seesaw mechanism."
So clearly they were very much set on the idea of a parallel universe being the explanation
to what was being found, no matter what anyone else said.
Then, to cap it all off, another research paper, this time published in The Astrophysical
Journal from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory stated that we needed to find "alternative
explanations" to explain the ANITA data.
When you pile that all together, and you get a writer willing to stretch the truth a bit,
and suddenly you have NASA scientists "saying" that there is indeed a parallel universe out
there, and it's one that has time going backwards.
It's curious how things are able to get out of hand so quickly, yes?
It almost makes you think that people WANT a parallel universe to exist out there in
some context, even if time isn't exactly working "like it should".
However, the only real conclusion from the experiment in Antarctica is that the Standard
Model concerning neutrinos—fundamental particles—doesn’t explain the detection of a rare kind of event
by ANITA.
“ANITA’s events are definitely interesting, but we’re a long ways away from even claiming
there’s any new physics, let alone an entire universe,” said Safa.
If you're still a little confused as to what ANITA is, here is an explanation of the device
itself: "It’s a stratospheric balloon-based experiment
in Antarctica that has a radio antennae pointed back at Earth to detect radio waves emitted
by very (and very rare) high-energy neutrinos if they strike an atom in the ice.
A radio telescope, ANITA is the first NASA observatory for neutrinos of any kind.
Hence the NASA connection."
In 2016, ANITA detected some signals best described as “anomalous”; evidence of
a high-energy particle—extremely high-energy neutrinos—coming up from the Earth’s surface,
but no source.
That “seemed impossible,” according to the New Scientist article, which went on to
state that: “Explaining this signal requires the existence
of a topsy-turvy universe created in the same big bang as our own and existing in parallel
with it.
In this mirror world, positive is negative, left is right and time runs backwards.”
See where we're going here?
It was here that the true "birth" of the parallel universe with the wonky timeline was born.
But while others were just thinking about the "alternate universe", places like the
IceCube Neutrino Observatory were going and looking for various other scientific answers
to the questions at hand.
Including ones that go into the realm of "exotic physics".
Which to be clear, is not the same as saying "parallel universe".
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is situated near the South Pole, it’s made-up of 5,160
optical detectors buried in the ice that are there to detect neutrinos passing through,
and reacting with, hydrogen or oxygen atoms in the ice.
“This process makes IceCube a remarkable tool to follow up the ANITA observations,
because for each anomalous event that ANITA detects, IceCube should have detected many,
many more—which, in these cases, we didn’t,” said Anastasia Barbano of the University of
Geneva in Switzerland.
“That means that we can rule out the idea that these events came from some intense point
source, because the odds of ANITA seeing an event and IceCube not seeing anything are
so slim.”
In short, the ANITA and the IceCube work together in many ways to try and determine what is
going on and make sure that something isn't just a blip on the radar so to speak.
Which brings us back to the initial paper that started this entire mess unintentionally.
The results from the check on ANITA detections using IceCube published in the paper concludes
with phrases like “inconsistent with a cosmogenic interpretation” and “new physics,” and
is summarized thus: “An astrophysical explanation of these anomalous
events under standard model assumptions is severely constrained regardless of source
spectrum.”
If you wish to hear a more "low key" translation to this, it's simple.
They're saying that they don't know where these very special and unique particles are
coming from.
And that more study is needed to figure out what was detected because it doesn't line
up with what we consider the "standard" model of physics and cosmic knowledge.
However, some people took that notion of "we don't know what it is" and ran with it until
they found themselves in a "parallel universe".
Alex Pizzuto of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was also one of the leads on this paper,
said the following on Twitter in the wake of the “parallel universe” story going
viral: " OK, so, I've seen a lot of the "NASA detects
parallel universe" stuff going around.
I've spent the last ~2 years of grad school investigating these detections, and wanted
to provide a bit of background and clarification.
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.
Why?
Because the detections made it look like a very high energy particle (the elusive neutrino)
traveled through the entire Earth.
BUT, neutrinos with this much energy aren't expected to do this, they should crash into
things along the way."
He went on to note that while scientists sometimes try and answer things by going in "exotic"
or even "bizarre" directions with their thinking, the same can be true for "systematic" or "astrophysical"
notions as well.
To that end, he cited sources showing potential systematic explanations to what might be going
on.
So he, one of the leads on the paper, completely shuts down the notion of the parallel universe.
Safa also went onto Twitter to put a succinct kabosh on these ideas of the Parallel Universe:
"Me: We looked at these ANITA events and they can't be standard neutrinos.
They were probably a result of our imperfect understanding of the Antarctic ice, but there's
a chance some new physics phenomenon is responsible.
Tabloids: PARALLEL UNIVERSE!!!"
He is also quoted as saying that while it has been an exciting time for physicists trying
to explain these events, “it looks like we’ll have to wait for the next generation
of experiments, which will increase exposure and sensitivity, to get a clear understanding
of this anomaly.”
So even in his estimation, he doesn't think that we'll be able to solve what's happening
here for a while, which is somewhat par for the course in the scientific realm.
And with that, we ask our final question, "Was this all really a waste of time?"
The answer to that is no, because while it's true that we haven't found a parallel universe,
that doesn't mean that there isn't one out there.
Plus, if anything, this got people excited for something that was just a short time ago
the realm of "sci-fi".
Yes, that excitement was put a stop to rather quickly, but the feeling was still there.
Because IF that universe was true, then the questions of what ELSE we think of as "sci-fi"
could also be true.
Not to mention, this did help highlight some REAL science that is going on in the world
right now that honestly doesn't have a true explanation.
And it's these kinds of events that go and inspire the next generation of scientists
to go and try and find the answers that their predecessors couldn't.
Should we be mad that someone tugged us along for a while and said that there WAS a parallel
universe with such an odd quality like time going backwards?
Maybe a little, but in truth, it would've been worse if this "belief" went on for weeks
and not days.
Because then it would've been a much more brutal letdown versus a bandaid being ripped
off.
Is there hope for a parallel universe being found?
Absolutely.
There are many credible scientists who believe that one exists, or several exist even.
It's just that...we haven't found that proof yet.
Keyword here...is "yet".
Thanks for watching!
What did you think of this in-depth breakdown of the "news story" about the "parallel universe"
and what actually was found?
Do you feel better knowing that there isn't a parallel universe out there right now?
How about all the science that was misinterpreted and exploited, how does that make you feel?
Let me know in the comments below, be sure to subscribe, and I'll see you next time on
the channel!