Oftentimes, we think of space as an endless, mostly empty vacuum, a silent backdrop where planets, stars, and galaxies play out their dance. We also think of time as something separate, a steady ...

In the mid-19th century, Bernhard Riemann conceived of a new way to think about mathematical spaces, providing the foundation for modern geometry and physics.

Physicists have long treated space and time as the stage on which quantum particles perform, not as actors in the drama ...

Whether space-time exists should neither be controversial nor even conceptually challenging, given the definitions of “space-time,” “events” and “instants.” The idea that space-time exists is no more ...

"The appearance of such structures sheds new light on the sorts of mathematical objects that nature is built from." When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

One of the most awkward parts of writing a book is that, eventually, authors have to ask people for “blurbs” – the endorsements that you see on the cover of a book, encouraging you to buy it. I am now ...

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 and the latter a point in space, but in both cases the normally ...

The first time a physicist told me they wanted to get rid of space-time, on a cold January morning earlier this year, I stopped typing my interview notes and clutched my New Scientist mug of tea.

Physicists hope that understanding the churning region near singularities might help them reconcile gravity and quantum mechanics. At the beginning of time and the center of every black hole lies a ...