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Cosmic Paradox Reveals the Awful Consequence of an Observer-Free Universe

November 19, 2025

Encouraged by successes in understanding black holes, theoretical physicists are applying what they’ve learned to whole universes. What they’re finding has them questioning fundamental assumptions about how physics ought to be done.

Old ‘Ghost’ Theory of Quantum Gravity Makes a Comeback

November 17, 2025

Has the secret to understanding gravity been hiding in plain sight for nearly 50 years?

Why Did The Universe Begin?

July 24, 2025

In this episode of The Joy of Why, Thomas Hertog discusses his collaboration with Stephen Hawking on a provocative theory arguing that the laws of physics evolved with the universe, and how this could have shaped a cosmos fit for life.

Mathematicians Attempt to Glimpse Past the Big Bang

May 31, 2024

By studying the geometry of model space-times, researchers offer alternative views of the universe’s first moments.

Hopes of Big Bang Discoveries Ride on a Future Spacecraft

April 17, 2024

Physicists and cosmologists will have a new probe of primordial processes when Europe launches the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) next decade.

Q&A

She Turns Fluids Into ‘Black Holes’ and ‘Inflating Universes’

December 12, 2022

By using fluids to model inaccessible realms of the cosmos, Silke Weinfurtner is “looking for a deeper truth beyond one system.” But what can such experiments teach us?

Asymmetry Detected in the Distribution of Galaxies

December 5, 2022

Two new studies suggest that certain tetrahedral arrangements of galaxies outnumber their mirror images, potentially reflecting details of the universe’s birth. But confirmation is needed.

How the Physics of Nothing Underlies Everything

August 9, 2022

The key to understanding the origin and fate of the universe may be a more complete understanding of the vacuum.

The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

December 3, 2021

The James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to rewrite the history of the cosmos and reshape humanity’s position within it. But first, a lot of things have to work just right.