Professor Stephen Hawking's final research paper suggests that our universe may be one of many similar to our own.
The theory resolves a cosmic paradox of the late physicist's own making.
It also points a way forward for astronomers to find evidence of the existence of parallel universes.
The study was submitted to the Journal of High-Energy Physics 10 days before Prof Hawking died.
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One tantalising implication of the findings, is that it might help researchers detect the presence of other universes by studying the microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang - though it is thought that it would not be possible to hop from one universe to another.
