Fundamental physics

Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s inexorable slide into decay. But entropy, as it’s currently understood, is less a fact about the world than a reflection of our growing ignorance. Embracing that truth is leading to a rethink of everything from rational decision-making to the limits of machines.

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.

Curious connections between physics and math suggest to Latham Boyle that space-time may survive the jump to the next theory of reality.

A decade after the discovery of the “amplituhedron,” physicists have excavated more of the timeless geometry underlying the standard picture of how particles move.

A 1930s-era breakthrough is helping physicists understand how quantum threads could weave together into a holographic space-time fabric.

A black hole formula worked out in the 1970s remains the most concrete clue physicists have about the threads of the space-time fabric.

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 philosopher Karen Crowther digs into how the space-time fabric could possibly emerge from something non-spatiotemporal.

These three imagined scenarios lead many physicists to doubt that space-time is fundamental.