Scientists have worked on theories to explain the workings of the universe, and so far two exist: general relativity and quantum mechanics. The two theories are about as different as air and rock, but recent research may have found a connection to them and, with that connection, new insight into the universe.

“There are certain things that get a scientist’s heart beating faster, and I think this is one of them,” Jensen told LiveScience. “One really exciting thing is that maybe, inspired by these results, we can better understand the relation between entanglement and space-time.”

Here are two space terms: wormholes and quantum entanglement. The first refers to a theoretical “shortcut” in spacetime making space travel possible, and the latter explains how particles can be connected to each other regardless of distance.

Albert Einstein first came up with the idea of wormholes as part of his theory of general relativity, which explains that the laws of physics remain constant (we obey the same laws of gravity that an alien on the other side of the universe obeys). This constant means everyone perceives time and space differently. Time and space to curve around massive objects through the force of gravity. These bends can create a fourth dimension, the wormhole, which connect black holes together.

Quantum mechanics also connects objects together through the theory of quantum entanglement. Experiments have shown that quantum entanglement exists, and that if it were connected to wormholes, it would settle general relativity and quantum mechanics together to more wholly explain the universe.

In one of the recent research projects, theoretical physicists Leonard Susskind at Stanford University and Juan Martín Maldacena at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton argued that wormholes are actually pairs of black holes entangled with one another. They even conjectured that infinitesimal wormholes connected particles such as electrons and photons.

In the other research, theoretical physicists Kristan Jensen at Stony Brook University in New York and Andreas Karch at the University of Washington in Seattle investigated how entangled particle pairs behave in a supersymmetric theory, where all known subatomic particles have “superpartner” particles (which are yet unknown). This theory also states that objects acting in four dimensions can explain the behavior of certain quantum mechanical systems existing in only three dimensions.

Jensen and Karch found that entangled pairs in the 4D universe behaved like wormholes do in a 5D universe. In this way, entanglement and wormholes could be the same.