For decades, physicists have faced one of science’s greatest puzzles: merging quantum mechanics, which describes tiny particles, with general relativity, which explains the universe’s vast structures.

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. An image of a black hole surrounded by matter. Does the secret of quantum gravity lie around ...

Quantum gravity remains one of the big missing pieces of a Grand Unified Theory that could bridge quantum field theory and general relativity. Knowing that quantum gravity solutions must resemble ...

Quantum physics is often described as the most successful scientific framework in history. In its 100 years of existence, it has explained everything from the periodic table of the elements to how ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Two blind spots torture physicists: the birth of the universe and the center of a black hole. The former may feel like a moment in time ...

Could our universe be expanding then shrinking back into a tiny point, reliving a kind of big bang over and over again? Probably not, according to a mathematical analysis that argues that the laws of ...

"This work is a step toward understanding how quantum mechanics and gravity work together, a major unsolved problem in physics." The first step toward quantum gravity, the "holy grail of physics," may ...