The question of why the Universe is the way it is is an ancient one, and none of the answers we have come up with are satisfying.
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All the things that surround and compose us didn’t always exist. But describing their origin depends on what ‘nothing’ means.
Neuroscientist and author Bobby Azarian explores the idea that the Universe is a self-organizing system that evolves and learns.
We need a hypothesis that accounts for both the fine-tuning of physics for life but also the arbitrariness and gratuitous suffering we find in the world.
The U.S. ranked 59th worldwide.
Why does time move forward but not backward? Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder explains.
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Figuring out the answer involved a prism, a pail of water, and a 50 year effort by the most famous father-son astronomer duo ever.
In the beginning, genes weren’t needed.
Stars orbiting black holes were observed to move significantly slower than expected. One explanation centers on dark matter.
Our understanding always will remain incomplete.
There are two methods to measure the expansion rate of the Universe. The results do not agree with each other, and this is a big problem.
The difference between predictions and observations of the magnetic properties of muons suggests a mystery for the Standard Model.
Many have argued that free will is an illusion, but science does not support that.
Without wormholes, warp drive, or some type of new matter, energy, or physics, everyone is limited by the speed of light. Or are they?
To Einstein, nature had to be rational. But quantum physics showed us that there was not always a way to make it so.
Apart from the energy needed to flip the switch, no other energy is needed to transmit the information.
In general relativity, white holes are just as mathematically plausible as black holes. Black holes are real; what about white holes?
The paper does not prove the existence of dark matter, but it mostly eliminates a rival theory called Modified Newtonian Dynamics.
Some constants, like the speed of light, exist with no underlying explanation. How many “fundamental constants” does our Universe require?
In the infant Universe, particle physics reigned supreme.
Holograms preserve all of an object’s 3D information, but on a 2D surface. Could the holographic Universe idea lead us to higher dimensions?
Lord Kelvin is thought to have said there was nothing new to discover in physics. His real view was the opposite.
A relatively new interpretation of quantum mechanics asks us to reimagine the process of science itself.
If nature were perfectly deterministic, atoms would almost instantly all collapse. Here’s how Heisenberg uncertainty saves the atom.
We think of physical reality as what objectively exists, independent of any observer. But relativity and quantum physics say otherwise.
Realizing that matter and energy are quantized is important, but quantum particles aren’t the full story; quantum fields are needed, too.
A human hand has the power to split wooden planks and demolish concrete blocks. A trio of physicists investigated why this feat doesn’t shatter our bones.
The multiverse pushes beyond the limits of the scientific method. From our vantage point in the Universe, we cannot know if it’s real.
How do physicists solve a problem like entropy?
The concept of ‘relativistic mass’ has been around almost as long as relativity has. But is it a reasonable way to make sense of things?