I'm disappointed in that editor, because it's not a scientifically legitimate analogy. It's blurring two separate things: parallel timelines like the one in the film, which are superposed quantum states of the same universe, and actual other universes, which are the real subject of the piece. Just another case of science journalists compromising the science in the name of grabbing attention with pop-culture allusions. (A better Trek analogy would be something like Species 8472's fluidic space, a separate realm with a very different nature.)
Beyond that, it's fascinating to learn that there are other ways of setting the physical constants that could conceivably produce life and intelligence. I'd love to know what those different "settings" are and what things would be like in those universes. It'd be a great basis for SF stories. I'll have to keep an eye out for this issue at the library or newsstand.