Gravity, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 9, 2021

'Tsunami' of gravitational waves sets record for most ever space-time ripples detected

A record tsunami of gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time — could help to unlock the mysteries of how the universe and its stars evolved and put Einstein's theory of general relativity to the test. Scientists working at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the U.S....

Jan 14, 2022

China builds 'artificial moon' for gravity experiment

Chinese scientists have built an artificial moon research facility that will enable them to simulate low-gravity environments using magnetism. The facility, slated for official launch this year, will use powerful magnetic fields inside a 2-foot-diameter (60 centimeters) vacuum chamber to make gravity disappear. The scientists were inspired by an earlier...

Nov 15, 2022

Something is wrong with Einstein's theory of gravity

Everything in the universe has gravity – and feels it too. Yet this most common of all fundamental forces is also the one that presents the biggest challenges to physicists. Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity has been remarkably successful in describing the gravity of stars and planets, but it...

Feb 8, 2023

Physicists want to use gravitational waves to 'see' the beginning of time

Ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves could help reveal the secrets at the dawn of time, just moments after the Big Bang, new research suggests. And physicists say they can learn more about these primeval gravitational waves using nuclear fusion reactors here on Earth. In a new study, physicists...

Feb 9, 2023

Scientists reveal 'invisible' galaxy from the early universe, using space-time trick predicted by Einstein

Researchers have finally revealed the details of an extremely distant and dark galaxy that's been nearly impossible to see — until now. The young, star-forming galaxy is filled with dust and gas, and formed 2 billion years after the Big Bang, the researchers report — an era more than 11...

Feb 15, 2023

Da Vinci understood key aspect of gravity centuries before Einstein, lost sketches reveal

Leonardo da Vinci may have had an understanding of gravity that was centuries ahead of his time, his sketchbooks reveal. Da Vinci's sketches, which were forgotten for decades, show triangles formed by sand-like particles pouring from a jar. These falling grains depicted experiments to show that gravity was a form...

Aug 1, 2023

Rare 'Einstein cross' warps light from one of the universe's brightest objects in this stunning image

Astronomers have discovered a stunning, rare example of an Einstein cross splitting and magnifying light from the far depths of the universe. In the image, one foreground elliptical galaxy, around 6 billion light-years from Earth, has warped and quadrisected a bright beam of light from a background galaxy about 11...

Sep 27, 2023

Major CERN experiment proves antigravity doesn't exist — at least when it comes to antimatter

On Sept. 27, an international team of physicists reported a major finding about an elusive form of matter known as antimatter. It appears that antimatter responds to gravity the same way regular matter does, validating theories proposed by Albert Einstein more than a century ago. This result marks the first-ever...

Oct 16, 2023

Elusive Planet Nine could be an alternative form of gravity masquerading as a planet, study claims

The elusive Planet Nine, which is theorized to be lurking somewhere in the outer reaches of the solar system, may not be a planet after all, a new study suggests. Instead, what we assumed to be a massive object could be evidence that gravity doesn't work like we thought it...