It might sound like something from The Matrix, but scientists now say that our universe has seven dimensions.

In addition to the four dimensions we normally experience – height, length, depth, and time – physicists argue that there are three extra ‘folded’ layers of reality.

Far from being science fiction, researchers believe it could solve one of the most stubborn problems in the history of physics.

According to the researchers, this wild theory finally explains what happens to black holes when they die.

Scientists used to think that black holes were cosmic voids from which nothing could ever escape.

But in the 1970s, Stephen Hawking realised that black holes emit radiation, slowly evaporating away as time goes by.

The problem is that this appears to violate one of quantum physics’ most important rules, creating something called the information paradox.

A group of researchers now say they have found a solution to this 50–year–old conundrum – but it only works if the universe really has seven dimensions.

The information paradox stems from a rule in quantum physics which states that information cannot be destroyed.

Co–author Richard Pinčák, a senior researcher at the Slovak Academy of Sciences, told the Daily Mail: ‘Imagine you throw a book into a fire.

‘The book is destroyed, but in principle you could reconstruct every word from the smoke, ash, and heat — the information is scrambled, not lost.’

However, according to Hawking, black holes should eventually evaporate away into nothingness, taking all the information they once contained with them.

This appears to be a fundamental clash between the ‘classical’ laws of physics ruling big objects like black holes, and the quantum laws that govern things on the smallest scales.

Dr Pinčák’s unique solution to this paradox stems from a novel way of understanding the structure of spacetime itself.

According to Einstein’s theories, spacetime is like a four–dimensional sheet that can twist, bend, and stretch in the presence of strong gravitational fields.

But according to some modern theories, spacetime actually has seven dimensions, including three that we can’t normally see.

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