We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar could become a reality

In terrifying news, traversable wormholes which are usually the product of science fiction movies, may be getting closer to reality.

Interstellar

Scientists are getting closer to making science fiction movies such as the Christopher Nolan movie Interstellar a reality, because a physicist has proposed a mind-blowing experiment that could potentially create the first-ever traversable wormhole, meaning a real bridge across space-time.

Hatim Salih, a quantum physicist at the University of Bristol’s Quantum Engineering Technology Labs, has presented a potential roadmap toward achieving the long-sought goal of finding and observing a wormhole, or even creating one. Wormholes have only ever been theoretical until now. “The hope is that within the next three to four years, we will have built this thing​​,” he told Vice.

New ‘exchange-free quantum computers’ may be able to produce a traversable wormhole. Unlike fictional wormholes, the experimental version would not allow for instantaneously faster-than-light travel to distant locations. However, assuming the wormhole could be created, it could provide an opportunity to send signals, or objects, through a real bridge across space-time. Such a setup would enable scientists to probe our fundamental reality—and might even offer a kind of first-person account of the view from inside a real wormhole.

Wormholes, also known as Einstein-Rosen bridges, are an extremely convenient device for science fiction movies, as they allow for almost instantaneous travel across vast swathes of space and time. Roland Emmerich’s Stargate (1994) and its many spin-off series is the franchise most strongly identified with them.

They have also been used in sci-fi series such as Babylon 5, Farscape, Doctor Who, and Star Trek. In the MCU, Asgard’s Bifrost is an Einstein-Rosen bridge. The Universal Neural Teleportation Network (seen in Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel, and more) uses jump points which are wormholes.

Wormholes have been seen in movies as diverse as Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Event Horizon. They are also a feature of animated series Futurama and Rick & Morty.

Check out our guides to the Star Trek series, ranked and the Doctor Who incarnations, ranked.