Science & the Big Questions

Why Is the Quantum So Mysterious?

Quantum mechanics is how the world works at deepest levels. But nobody has any idea why.

Closer To Truth

Topics: Entanglement Quantum Gravity Quantum Mechanics Relativity Superposition

Milky Way’s Black Hole Provides Long-Sought Test of Einstein’s General Relativity

An observation decades in the making confirms predictions about how light behaves in an immense gravitational field.

Nature

Topics: Black Holes Relativity

Physics Needs Philosophy / Philosophy Needs Physics

Philosophy has always played an essential role in the development of science, physics in particular, and is likely to continue to do so.

Scientific American

Topics: Knowledge Quantum Gravity Quantum Mechanics Relativity

Quantum Experiment in Space Confirms That Reality Is What You Make It

The new work shows that a photon’s nature remains undefined even over thousands of kilometers, says Philippe Grangier, a physicist at the Institute of Optics in Palaiseau, France.

Science

Topics: Quantum Mechanics Relativity

A Defense of the Reality of Time

Time isn’t just another dimension, argues Tim Maudlin. To make his case, he’s had to reinvent geometry.

Quanta Magazine

Topics: Nature of Time Relativity

Can We Really Travel Back in Time to Change History?

Physicist Paul Davies responds to “Mr. Thursday,” Emily St. John Mandel’s short story about time travel.

Future Tense, Slate

Topics: Nature of Time Quantum Mechanics Relativity

A Quantum State of Mind

Are physicists on a path to upend some of the time-tested fundamental theories of physics?

The New York Academy of Sciences

Topics: Black Holes Quantum Mechanics Relativity

Where Physics and Philosophy Intersect

At its core, physics addresses the fundamental problems that shape our philosophical outlook.

The New York Academy of Sciences

Topics: Quantum Gravity Quantum Mechanics Reality Relativity