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Fundamental physics
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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.
The Unraveling of Space-Time
This special issue of Quanta Magazine explores the ultimate scientific quest: the search for the fundamental nature of reality.
The First Nuclear Clock Will Test if Fundamental Constants Change
An ultra-precise measurement of a transition in the hearts of thorium atoms gives physicists a tool to probe the forces that bind the universe.
Diminishing Dark Energy May Evade the ‘Swampland’ of Impossible Universes
The largest-ever 3D map of the cosmos hints that the dark energy that’s fueling the universe’s expansion may be weakening. One community of theoretical physicists expected as much.