Space-time is a very weird thing. The idea that time – something so seemingly constant – can be bent and manipulated is a lot to get our mere mortal minds around. That’s especially true when it’s muddled with all sorts of physics jargon.

This video from Business Insider simply demonstrates one of the most famous and mind-bending thought experiments that has come out of Einstein’s theory of relativity: The twin experiment.

But don’t let a reference to the word “theory” put you off. Numerous experiments have verified that time dilation, the effect described in the video, is a very real thing.

^{Main image credit: Nick Webb/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)}