Gravity

Reductionism breaks the world into elementary building blocks. Emergence finds the simple laws that arise out of complexity. These two complementary ways of viewing the universe come together in modern theories of quantum gravity.

One of the world’s preeminent theoretical physicists seeks a quiet place to think.

The newly developed theory of emergent gravity, proposed as an alternative to dark matter, struggles in one of its first trials.

Recent calculations tie together two conjectures about gravity, potentially revealing new truths about its elusive quantum nature.

The physicist who designed the LIGO experiment that detected gravitational waves still holes up in a small basement lab surrounded by electronics and optical instruments.

A different kind of dark matter could help to resolve an old celestial conundrum.

A proposed theory of gravity does away with dark matter, even as new astrophysical findings challenge the need for galaxies full of the invisible mystery particles.

Just months after their discovery, gravitational waves coming from the mergers of black holes are shaking up astrophysics.

A satellite spotted a burst of light just as gravitational waves rolled in from the collision of two black holes. Was the flash a cosmic coincidence, or do astrophysicists need to rethink what black holes can do?