Ever have one of those days where absolutely nothing goes your way? You spill your coffee, you blow a tire, you experience a random disaster that feels just a little too perfectly timed to be coincidence?

Well, maybe it isn’t a coincidence. That’s the idea behind Pop Mech’s new story, “Bad Luck Isn’t Random—The Universe’s Hidden Rules May Be Controlling Your Reality, Oxford Physicist Claims.” According to physicist Tim Palmer, the randomness you experience in everyday life may actually be hiding a deeper structure you simply can’t perceive yet.

Watch Pop Mech editors Andrew Daniels and Jamie Sorcher talk about this mind-bending story, (attempt to) dive into quantum mechanics, and spend time untangling the unsettling possibility that maybe events only appear random because we can’t see the hidden rules shaping them.

Watch the full episode above now, and find more installments of “The Astounding Pop Mech Show” on PopularMechanics.com.