Susan Vodnick

Every time tabloids and social media dramatically mishandle a science news story, the urge to unplug the internet and plug it back in again is excruciatingly strong.

If you’ve heard the recent claim that NASA detected a parallel universe (!) in Antarctica (!) where time runs backwards (!!), we’re glad you’ve now clicked on this article. Strap yourselves in for the truth.

“It seems that for this tabloid science story, some speculative theoretical physics which might have had distant roots in plausibility was amplified for sensational reasons,” University of Hawai'i at Mānoa experimental particle physicist Peter Gorham told ScienceAlert.

Artist couple Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre made this viral animation illustrating the importance of social distancing in stopping the spread of coronavirus.