ANU Astrophysicist and Cosmologist Brad Tucker explains how a dead star has supported a 90-year-old quantum theory that space isn’t truly empty. “There’s a long-standing theory that says as soon as some things are created, they’re actually immediately destroyed,” Mr Tucker told News24. “They caught a magnetar, very dense, rapidly spinning, sending a lot of magnetism out into the universe. “They noticed as the magnetism traveled through space it was kind of hitting stuff. “So, there had to be something in the emptiness that also didn't last for that long.”