It\u2019s not just in your head \u2014 time can actually flip.<\/p>\n
Physicists in New York have pulled off what sounds like a page ripped from a sci-fi script<\/a>: They\u2019ve confirmed that \u201ctime mirrors,\u201d a trippy phenomenon where waves literally reverse in time \u2014 are real. <\/p>\n The mind-bending experiment, led by Dr. Hussein Moussa at the Advanced Science Research Center at CUNY, involved tinkering with a futuristic \u201cmetamaterial\u201d \u2014 a strip of metal embedded with electronic components.\u00a0<\/p>\n The sci-fi-style breakthrough, led by Dr. Hussein Moussa at CUNY\u2019s Advanced Science Research Center, used a futuristic \u201cmetamaterial\u201d to bend the rules of time itself. Tsyb Oleh \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n When juiced with a precise burst of energy, the setup caused an electromagnetic wave to do the impossible: to flip the direction of time, as reported by Earth.com<\/a> \u2014 or, as one TikTokker put it, \u201cLike pressing undo on the universe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is experimental physics catching up to what mystics, mushrooms and mad geniuses have been saying for decades,\u201d said TikTok creator @psychonautics in a recent video<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTime is not a line. It\u2019s a wave. And baby, we\u2019re just learning to surf it.\u201d<\/p>\n The wave reversal doesn\u2019t just bounce a signal back in space like your average mirror \u2014 it scrambles the whole timeline. The wave\u2019s frequency shifts \u2014 and suddenly \u2014 it\u2019s like rewinding reality.<\/p>\n Scientists say this discovery, published in<\/a> \u201cNature Physics,\u201d could one day revolutionize data transmission and computing. But for now, it\u2019s mostly blowing minds online.<\/p>\n More experiments will most likely follow this discovery. <\/p>\n And while physicists are bending time in the lab, neuroscientists say the human brain may already be doing it naturally.<\/a><\/p>\n Experts say the breakthrough could one day flip the script on data transmission and computing. For now? It\u2019s just melting brains across the internet. New Africa \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Back in 2021, scientists from France and the Netherlands discovered that our brains possess \u201can internal or inherent flow of time, that was not driven by something going on in the external world,\u201d according to neuroscientist Leila Reddy, who sat down with Vice for an interview.<\/a><\/p>\n Her team studied epilepsy patients with electrodes implanted in their brains and found \u201ctime cells\u201d firing \u2014 even in the absence of external cues.<\/p>\n \u201cThese patients have severe, drug-resistant epilepsy and are awaiting surgery,\u201d Reddy told Vice. \u201cOnce the electrodes are inserted into the brain, we ask the patients if they are willing to participate in short experiments for us.\u201d<\/p>\n