Search
Relativity Theory
Einstein always loses in the quantum realm.
Uncertainty is inherent to our Universe.
The theory is accurate within at least one part in a quadrillion.
The concept is so complex that scientists still argue whether it exists or if it is an illusion.
John Templeton Foundation
In special relativity, the statement that two events happened at the same time is meaningless.
What we call "basic research" is actually the most cutting-edge. It underpins knowledge, and without it, technology does not come into being.
LIGO can detect the inspirals and mergers of the lowest-mass black holes, but not the biggest ones. Here's how pulsars can help.
Modern cosmology conjectures different possible fates for the Universe and thus for the end of time. Details depend on which model is right.
The idea of gravitational redshift crossed Einstein's mind years before General Relativity was complete. Here's why it had to be there.
According to renowned physicist Christophe Galfard, physics can’t explain our universe - yet.
John Templeton Foundation
Time isn't the same for everyone, even on Earth. Flying around the world gave Einstein the ultimate test. No one is immune from relativity.
4mins
Our world would be impossible without quantum mechanics — but we still don’t have a narrative of how it works.
John Templeton Foundation
Look out at a distant object, and you're not seeing it as it is today. It's size, brightness, and actual distance are all different.
We take for granted that time is real. But what if it's only an illusion, and a relative illusion at that? Does time even exist?
Realism in science cannot be completely unmoored from human experience. Otherwise, realism ends up tortured with unreal paradoxes.
Theoretical physicist Brian Greene explores the potential particles of time and why we could, in theory, travel forward in time but not back.
John Templeton Foundation
Einstein's theories of relativity faced fierce opposition. One critic claimed he was attempting to subvert the scientific method.
From physics and alchemy to theology and eschatology, Isaac Newton’s research was rooted in a personal pursuit of the Divine.
The Solar System isn't a vortex, but rather the sum of all our great cosmic motions. Here's how we move through space.
Setting resolutions for the new year means you think the future is up to you — but is it?
Even without the greatest individual scientist of all, every one of his great scientific advances would still have occurred. Eventually.
Going to smaller and smaller distance scales reveals more fundamental views of nature, which means if we can understand and describe the smallest scales, we can build our way to […]
Cosmic rays aren’t just limited by the speed of light. Even among non-scientists, it’s well-understood that there’s an ultimate speed limit to the Universe: the speed of light. If you’re a […]
The concept of ‘relativistic mass’ has been around almost as long as relativity has. But is it valid? No matter who you are, where you are, or how quickly you’re moving, […]
It’s 92 billion light-years wide after just 13.8 billion years. And that’s just fine. If there’s one rule that people know about how fast things can move, it’s that there’s a […]
A single lifetime is more than enough to take you to the limits of the Universe. Right now, there are only three things limiting how far our spacecrafts can take […]
It’s fundamentally different from space. Here’s how. Here’s a question that most of us have been asked at some point in our lives, “what’s the shortest distance between two points?” By […]
We might live in a quantum Universe, but we’ll violate the principle of relativity if space is discrete. If you try and divide matter into smaller and smaller chunks, you’ll […]