On Jan. 5, 2020, at 11:24 a.m., a 1-billion-year-old wave of energy crashed through the Earth, its oceans and every person on the planet. This wave was so intense that it stretched and distorted our bodies — and even time itself. For an instant, each of us was a bit taller than usual, and then a bit shorter —and 11:24 a.m. went by just a bit slower for each of us and then sped up again as we became unwitting time travelers. Don’t recall this cosmic event? That’s OK. No one else felt it either. In fact, the only reason we know this happened was that it was recorded by highly precise instruments in the United States and in Italy.