There may be hidden shortcuts for space journeys that would be otherwise impossible for a human to ever complete in a lifetime.

What's even more amazing is that these tunnels through space - or wormholes, as they are commonly known - could allow time travel.

Nobody has ever seen a wormhole. They're only predicted to exist by Albert Einstein's well-known Theory of Relativity. The theory tells us that massive objects like planets or stars can actually bend space and time. A wormhole could form when two or more massive bodies warp space, creating a tunnel between distant places.

The easiest way to think about this is in two dimensions. Think of space and time as a piece of paper, which is bent over on itself. If a weight is put on top of the paper it will sag towards the centre. If there is another weight on the opposite side, it will also sag towards the centre. If the two bulges eventually meet, a wormhole could form and join two regions of space.

If you were an astronaut in a spaceship that entered a wormhole leading to the edge of our galaxy, you would travel there much faster than the speed of light.