Parallel universes, also known as meta-universes or multiverses, are a group of theoretical twin universes that coexist at the same time as our own. Parallel universes are said to be simple variations of our reality, all running at the same time in different realities. Parallel universes are not uniquely confined to the science fiction realm anymore; philosophy, physics, and even theology have theories about why multiverses exist and how they work. Parallel universes have often been used in fiction and TV programs (eg – fringe) as an explanation for strange phenomena.

While the idea of parallel universes may seem incredible, more and more scientists are buying into the idea of a multitude of universes coexisting barely millimeters away. A disturbing new theory currently being researched in several high-profile universities holds that the Big Bang may not have been the actual beginning of the universe. In fact, some scientists are now claiming that the big explosion we see as the origin of our life could actually be the result of two universes colliding, thus generating a new one. This revolutionary theory has been taken seriously by quantum mechanic scientists and is now the source of heated debate across the world.

When NASA launches “AMS-02” on Feb 27, 2011 at 4:04 PM Eastern. Sam Ting Principal Investigator for the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2 experiment hopes that it will provide data that proves the existence of parallel universes that are composed of anti-matter -discoveries could prove verify theories and answer basic questions regarding how the universe formed.

In 1954, a young Princeton University doctoral candidate named Hugh Everett III came up with a radical idea: That there exist parallel universes, exactly like our ­universe. These universes are all related to ours; indeed, they branch off from ours, and our universe is branched off of others. Within these parallel universes, our wars have had different outcomes than the ones we know. Species that are extinct in our universe have evolved and adapted in others. In other universes, we humans may have become extinct.

This thought boggles the mind and yet, it is still comprehensible. Notions of parallel universes or dimensions that resemble our own have appeared in works of science fiction and have been used as explanations for metaphysics. But why would a young up-and-coming physicist possibly risk his future career by posing a theory about parallel universes?

With his Many-Worlds theory, Everett was attempting to answer a rather sticky question related to quantum physics: Why does quantum matter behave erratically? The quantum level is the smallest one science has detected so far. The study of quantum physics began in 1900, when the physicist Max Planck first introduced the concept to the scientific world. Planck’s study of radiation yielded some unusual findings that contradicted classical physical laws. These findings suggested that there are other laws at work in the universe, operating on a deeper level than the one we know.

“Your idea is crazy,” the physicist Niels Bohr once said. “But is it crazy enough to be true?”