• Question: are there such things as wormholes if so do they lead to other dimensions or are they just to fast-travel through space

    Asked by Oliver Johns to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 14 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by TheyCallMeBen, sapphire blue.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      Wormholes we think are possibly real, they appear from some equations looked at by theorists who study the mathematics of space.
      We think they would connect areas of space if they do exist. We’ve never seen evidence for them yet, but the conditions they arise under are quite extreme. They are also thought to be quite unstable if they do exist, so likely to collapse at any time. So – they are probably not a practical way to travel even if they really exist.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      Yep, white holes and worm holes are totally theoretical things – we’ve never observed these things even though they are very often shown in science fiction! I went to watch Interstellar last night, which had some really interesting wormhole based storylines 😀 Black holes however are totally real, and we’ve studied many of these. We just don’t quite know what’s at their centre, and may never know. Probably not Mathew McConaughey though…

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