String theory found its origins in an attempt to understand the nascent experiments revealing the strong nuclear force. Eventually another theory, one based on particles called quarks and force ...

CHAPTERS 0:00 What we see vs. possible hidden reality 2:06 What is a dimension? 3:22 Isn't time a dimension? 5:20 The strange world of the 4th dimension 6:54 Does physics allow extra dimensions? 7:23 ...

An early attempt to explain the concept of extra dimensions came in 1884 with the publication of Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland: ...

String theory has been famously untestable for decades. This week the Economist reported that has changed, and the reason involves an extra dimension of space that might be just big enough to notice ...

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 ...

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 ...

Scientists are on the trail of a mysterious five-particle structure that could challenge one of the biggest theories in physics: string theory. This rare particle—never seen before and predicted not ...

All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers. If you buy something through links on our site, Gizmodo may earn an affiliate commission. Reading time 7 minutes ...

In quantum field theory, spontaneous particle formation can occur when the potential energy between two elementary particles increases with their separation, as if they were confined by a string. When ...