Dimensions beyond the four we’re familiar with could solve a host of problems in physics and cosmology. Columnist Leah Crane ...

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This also means that there could be hidden curvatures of space-time or gravitational fields, which could explain a fundamental issue in physics: the hierarchy problem. There are several ongoing ...

Scientists seeking the secrets of the universe would like to make a model that shows how all of nature’s forces and particles fit together. It would be nice to do it with Legos. But perhaps a better ...

Gravity is by far the weakest of nature’s four fundamental forces, and physicists have spent decades asking a deceptively simple question: why? One answer, first sketched a century ago and refined ...

In this video, we explore the relationship between string theory and quantum field theory (QFT). QFT is a mathematical framework that describes nearly all particles and forces in the universe but ...

String theory proposes that the fundamental constituents of the universe are one-dimensional “strings” rather than point-like particles. What we perceive as particles are actually vibrations in loops ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. String theory captured the hearts and minds of many physicists decades ago because of a beautiful simplicity. Zoom in far enough on a ...

In 1919, physicist Theodor Kaluza hypothesized that extra dimensions might solve some outstanding problems in physics. And while we haven't found any evidence yet for anything outside our normal ...

String theory began over 50 years ago as a way to understand the strong nuclear force. Since then, it’s grown to become a theory of everything, capable of explaining the nature of every particle, ...

At the turn of the century, it sounded as if string theory could give us big answers about the universe. Well… has it? String theorists, this one may be for you. The theorized object warps spacetime ...