We Can't Ignore The Multiverse Theory For Much Longer

Our universe is so vast it's difficult to fully comprehend. Our brains never evolved to contain concepts so large. As Live Science explains, it's 13.8 billion years old and stretches out for over 46 billion light years in every direction. Everything we can see of the cosmos is known as the "observable universe," containing at least two trillion galaxies like ours. But as explained by renowned cosmologist Katie Mack, there's almost certainly more beyond these limits. Here is the multiverse theory explained.

So we all know about the multiverse, right? One day a physicist somewhere thought, "Man, I wish I'd played in the NBA instead of sitting around doing math all day," and bam: instant childhood fantasy fulfillment meets theoretical physics. And then there's that Marvel movie, that other Marvel movie, and the DC one, and the one with like three Spidermen that was actually pretty solid and better than you were expecting, especially Andrew Garfield. And somewhere in there, drowning in the morass of fictional portrayals, evidence-less reality, the religious zeal of multiversal proponents, and grounded reservations of skeptics rests the truth of the multiverse: It's not a thing.

The universe sure is a strange place. From the notion of a supermassive black hole at the center of every galaxy (via BBC Sky at Night) to the idea that looking at stars in the night sky is actually looking back in time (via Lifehack), the universe is an astounding place. Surprisingly, with all the complexity already contained within the universe, some believe there's even more to it in the form of the multiverse. Once thought of as something out of a Marvel comic book movie, some scientists are convinced of the possibility that multiple parallel universes are indeed existing at the same time.

For centuries, alternate history has been the subject of historical analysis as well as entertainment. Imagining alternate scenarios for how the world and beyond could have developed remains popular, with TV shows such as "Man in the High Castle" and "For all Mankind" receiving varying levels of acclaim. In recent years the Mandela Effect, which postulates that common misconceptions are the result of people coming in and out of other universes, became popular among internet users.