A wormhole is a hypothetical shortcut that could connect one side of a galaxy to another. Despite populating many science-fiction plots, wormholes have been hard to justify theoretically. Now, two separate groups present models that make wormholes seem less exotic and slightly more credible for human use [1, 2].
The idea of a wormhole is nearly as old as that of a black hole. However, the existence of wormholes remains an open question. Even if a wormhole could form, the gravitational attraction of the matter inside it would presumably cause its throat (the narrowest point in the tunnel) to close, preventing travel from one side to the other. Theorists have proposed ways to keep a wormhole open, usually by adding exotic matter whose properties resist the gravitational collapse. Now Jose Blázquez-Salcedo from the Complutense University of Madrid and his colleagues have found a traversable wormhole solution that requires no exotic matter [1].
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