Abstract, mathematically complex and (so far) unsupported by direct experimental evidence, string theory attracts plenty of criticism. Yet it remains an incredibly active area of research, with ...

The physicist Subir Sachdev borrows tools from string theory to understand the puzzling behavior of superconductors. String theory was devised as a way to unite the laws of quantum mechanics with ...

Ever since antiquity, attempts have been made to reduce an apparently complex reality to a few elementary building blocks from which everything else is constructed. This project – now called ...

String theory strutted onto the scene some 30 years ago as perfection itself, a promise of elegant simplicity that would solve knotty problems in fundamental physics—including the notoriously ...

Researchers are demonstrating that, in certain contexts, string theory is the only consistent theory of quantum gravity. Might this make it true? Thirty years have passed since a pair of physicists, ...

The apparent inability of physics' string theory to be proved right or wrong is one of the stickiest – and argument-generating – problems in modern science. But now researchers at the University of ...

Researchers at Imperial College London think they have found a way to test one of the most important – and controversial ideas in theoretical physics: string theory. The team, headed by Professor ...

Is string theory in trouble? 😵‍💫 Neil deGrasse Tyson breaks down the latest debates in physics, explaining the challenges ...

Experimental physicists study the strong force; string theorists try to calculate its effects. Together, they are finding common ground, where string theory can be applied to the physics of ...

String theory, a mathematical construct aiming to unify physics, posits the existence of extra, curled-up dimensions. Public and media interest in string theory has waned in recent years, coinciding ...

Imagine you are sitting in a big symphony hall, and you’re listening to an orchestra play for the first time. The orchestra is performing a Violin Concerto by Beethoven. As the soloist runs her hands ...

Researchers at The University of South Carolina, USC, have proposed that a link between string field theory and quantum mechanics does exist. The link assumes that string field theory is a fully ...