Humanity’s favorite hobby — right after self-destruction and arguing online — is trying to outsmart time itself. Before Einstein told us clocks were more of a suggestion than a rule, we were already daydreaming about jumping through centuries like skipping tracks on a playlist. But now, two physicists claim that time travel is mathematically possible. Which is sort of like saying you can theoretically win the lottery every day if your algebra’s good enough.

Ben Tippett and David Tsang have written an equation that proves — on paper — that time can, in principle, loop back on itself. They even named their hypothetical contraption after Doctor Who’s blue police box: the TARDIS. Because if you’re going to rewrite the laws of physics, you might as well give it a brand name. Their model imagines a “bubble” of space-time that curves so intensely around itself that travelers could, in theory, walk in circles through time — forward, backward, rinse, repeat. You could revisit your worst decisions like a cosmic rerun.

Time Travel Is Mathematically Possible

The catch, of course, is that it can’t actually be built. Tippett admits that the math demands a substance called exotic matter — a material that bends reality harder than your last relationship. We don’t have it, don’t know where to find it, and probably couldn’t afford it if we did. It’s the same old story in theoretical physics: the numbers work fine, the universe refuses to cooperate.

Still, scientists persist. We’ve tried photons, particles, wormholes, and wishful thinking. Some argue that time travel’s impossible because there’s no future yet to travel to. Others say it’s because energy and time are too tightly entwined — like two drunk friends holding each other up. Either way, the paradoxes pile up faster than the grant proposals.

Time Travel Is Mathematically Possible

But there’s something endearing about it all — this refusal to accept the tyranny of chronology. We’ve been stuck inside the same linear timeline for so long that even math wants out. The human brain can’t stop poking at the cosmic fabric, asking if maybe, just maybe, there’s a loophole big enough to crawl through. Tippett calls it “fascinating and problematic.” Which, coincidentally, is also how most people describe humanity itself.

References: ScienceAlert, IOP Science, Phys.Org