THE DEPARTURE OF Zayn Malik from One Direction has broken the hearts of young fans around the world – generating acres of column inches in the process, as media outlets wonder (pointlessly, it could be argued) ‘what next for the boys?’.

Up until now, the science community has been suspiciously silent on the subject.

But that all changed at the weekend, as Stephen Hawking weighed in…

“Finally, a question about something important,” the physicist told a crowd at Sydney Opera House on Saturday, as he appeared in holographic form from Cambridge.

“My advice to any heartbroken young girl is to pay close attention to the study of theoretical physics because one day there may well be proof of multiple universes.

It would not then be beyond the realms of possibility that somewhere outside of our own universe lies another different universe. And in that universe, Zayn in still in One Direction.

Hawking went on to observe that in some alternate universe, Zayn and the ‘heartbroken girl’ who asked the question could well be happily married.

He was answering questions as part of ‘An Evening with Stephen Hawking’ at the landmark Sydney venue.

According to The Guardian, Hawking ended the event by paraphrasing Captain Kirk – saying “Beam me up, Scotty” – before his image exploded in a beam of light.

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