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fundamental physics

A man sits at a table in the middle of a wood-paneled library, perusing a large book.
Q&A

Pondering the Bits That Build Space-Time and Brains

By Charlie Wood
April 20, 2022
Read Later

Vijay Balasubramanian investigates whether the fabric of the universe might be built from information, and what it means that physicists can even ask such a question.

A white wave on a black background.
quantum physics

Massive Black Holes Shown to Act Like Quantum Particles

By Charlie Wood
March 29, 2022
Read Later

Physicists are using quantum math to understand what happens when black holes collide. In a surprise, they’ve shown that a single particle can describe a collision’s entire gravitational wave.

particle physics

A Deepening Crisis Forces Physicists to Rethink Structure of Nature’s Laws

By Natalie Wolchover
March 1, 2022
Read Later

For three decades, researchers hunted in vain for new elementary particles that would have explained why nature looks the way it does. As physicists confront that failure, they’re reexamining a longstanding assumption: that big stuff consists of smaller stuff.

fundamental physics

Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Space-Time

By Katie McCormick
December 8, 2021
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The “gravitational memory effect” predicts that a passing gravitational wave should forever alter the structure of space-time. Physicists have linked the phenomenon to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox.

An illustration of Isaa Newton looking at a pair of falling apples.a
quantum gravity

How Gravity Is a Double Copy of Other Forces

By Charlie Wood
May 4, 2021
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An enigmatic connection between the forces of nature is allowing physicists to explore gravity’s quantum side.

Q&A

How to Rewrite the Laws of Physics in the Language of Impossibility

By Amanda Gefter
April 29, 2021
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Chiara Marletto is trying to build a master theory — a set of ideas so fundamental that all other theories would spring from it. Her first step: Invoke the impossible.

Abstractions blog

The Quantum Theory That Peels Away the Mystery of Measurement

By Philip Ball
July 3, 2019
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A recent test has confirmed the predictions of quantum trajectory theory.

Q&A

How to Understand the Universe When You’re Stuck Inside of It

By Amanda Gefter
June 27, 2019
Read Later

Lee Smolin’s radical idea to reimagine how we view the universe.

Photo of Cohl Furey
fundamental physics

The Peculiar Math That Could Underlie the Laws of Nature

By Natalie Wolchover
July 20, 2018
Read Later

New findings are fueling an old suspicion that fundamental particles and forces spring from strange eight-part numbers called “octonions.”


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