A fifth force of nature could have been discovered after scientists carried out a "Nobel-prize worthy" experiment which could revolutionise our understanding of the world.

Physics centres on the theory that four forces control our universe - gravity, electromagnetism, the weak nuclear force, and the strong force.

But scientists from Hungary have published groundbreaking findings which show what appears to be a fifth force at work.

Researchers from the Institute for Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences studied how an excited helium atom emitted light as it decayed.

They noticed that the particles split at the unusual angle of 115 degrees - a phenomenon which cannot be explained by our current knowledge of physics.

Presuming it was not the result of an error by scientists in the laboratory, it could be an unknown force which caused the particles to separate in the strange way they did.

Scientists have described it as 'protophobic', because this force and its associated particle - christened X17 - do not interact with protons, like other forces do. In fact, this very behaviour might be why it has been unnoticed until now

Jonathan Feng, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of California, said the finding is incredibly impressive and could pave the way to uncovering even more currently unknown world forces.