For over 100 years, two theories have shaped our understanding of the universe: quantum mechanics and Einstein’s general relativity. One explains the tiny world of particles; the other describes ...

There’s an adage coined by [Ian Betteridge] that any headline ending in a question mark can be answered by the word “No”. However, Lorentz invariance – the theory that the same rules of physics apply ...

110 years ago today, Albert Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity, which redefined the relationship between matter and gravity. Suddenly, our mysterious universe made a little more sense ...

According to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the behavior of a black hole depends on two numbers: how heavy it is, and how fast it is rotating. And that’s it. Black holes are said to ...

Planets orbiting dead stars known as white dwarfs might be able to remain habitable thanks to general relativity subtly altering their motion. When stars like our sun run out of fuel, they expand and ...

Tiny “Ferris wheels” made from light and extremely cold particles could allow researchers to test a facet of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity on unprecedentedly small scales. Theories of special ...

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 ...

Physicists artificially slowed down time to reveal the bizarre Terrell-Penrose effect, a consequence of special relativity. This image from the experiment shows a sphere seemingly moving at 99.9 ...