Scientists may be closing in on a bold explanation for dark matter… one that involves a portal to a fifth dimension. A new study published in The European Physical Journal C revisits the “Warped Extra Dimension” (WED) model introduced in 1999, suggesting that particles may travel into a curved, hidden dimension beyond the familiar four. This revived idea could provide the missing link physicists have been searching for.

In a scientific development that sounds like it's been copied from the pages of a science fiction novel, researchers are entertaining the notion that our universe might have a shadowy counterpart — a parallel dimension where dark matter follows a bizarro version of our physical laws.