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It Might Be Possible to Detect Gravitons After All
A new experimental proposal suggests detecting a particle of gravity is far easier than anyone imagined. Now physicists are debating what it would really prove.
Can Space-Time Be Saved?
Curious connections between physics and math suggest to Latham Boyle that space-time may survive the jump to the next theory of reality.
Physicists Reveal a Quantum Geometry That Exists Outside of Space and Time
A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless geometry underlying the standard picture of how particles move.
If the Universe Is a Hologram, This Long-Forgotten Math Could Decode It
A 1930s-era breakthrough is helping physicists understand how quantum threads could weave together into a holographic space-time fabric.
The #1 Clue to Quantum Gravity Sits on the Surfaces of Black Holes
A black hole formula worked out in the 1970s remains the most concrete clue physicists have about the threads of the space-time fabric.
The Two Faces of Space-Time
A mysterious phenomenon known as duality often leads to new discoveries in physics. This time, space-time itself can sometimes be two things at once.
The Logic That Must Lie Behind a New Physics
The philosopher Karen Crowther digs into how the space-time fabric could possibly emerge from something non-spatiotemporal.
The Thought Experiments That Fray the Fabric of Space-Time
These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.
John Wheeler Saw the Tear in Reality
Until his dying days, the giant of 20th-century physics obsessed over the underpinnings of space and time, and how we can all share the same version of them.