Cosmic particles can change elections and cause planes to fall through the sky, scientists warn
Tiny invisible particles can cause bits of information held by computers to ‘flip’ with potentially serious ramifications
Travelling at the speed of light, vast hordes of invisible alien particles from outer space are changing the result of elections, sending planes plummeting from the sky and causing smartphones to freeze, scientists have warned.
Originating in cosmic rays from outside our solar system, the tiny particles constantly bombard the Earth, with millions hitting each human on the planet every second – without anyone noticing.
For they can, on rare occasions, cause a single bit of information to “flip”. This can be enough to force a computer to reboot, knock a passenger jet out of its autopilot mode and even change the result of a computerised election count by thousands of votes.
And Professor Bharat Bhuva, who has been investigating the problems caused by particles such as neutrons, muons and pions, warned the situation was “growing and serious”.
