Scientists Say: Wormhole

This is a predicted — but as yet unproven — tunnel linking two points in space and time

This is an artist’s illustration of what a wormhole might look like. As someone entered the wormhole from the right, they might observe a new universe on the left — on the other end of the tunnel.

Alain r/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Bethany Brookshire

June 20, 2016 at 6:00 am

Wormhole (noun, “WURM-hoal”)

This is a predicted tunnel connecting two points in space and time. It is also called an Einstein-Rosen bridge, after the two scientists who came up with the idea. But for now, wormholes are still just an idea. No scientist has ever observed one.

In a sentence

When the astronauts travel through a wormhole in the movie Interstellar, they are traveling through something scientists have never seen.

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Power Words

(for more about Power Words, click here)

wormhole A tunnel or bridge that would allow objects to take a shortcut path between two distant places in space and time. Although none has yet been witnessed, Einstein’s theory of general relativity predicted that they could exist.