QUANTUM GRAVITY

ALMOST ALL WE KNOW about the universe boils down to the rules of quantum mechanics. Just about everything can be described as fields (electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force) and matter, and we've slowly rebuilt our understanding of the cosmos out of these fundamental building blocks.

- Jackie Appel

That is, except for gravity. As far as we have been able to prove, gravity isn’t quantum, even though it theoretically should be. The greatest scientific minds in the world still don’t have a quantum description of gravity, usually just called “quantum gravity.” The best way to describe it right now is through general relativity, and the disconnect between classical gravity and all of our known quantum fields is the reason people continue to search feverishly for a grand unified theory of physics. We watch gravity and quantum fields work together, so the rules should work together, too.

The search for the rules of quantum gravity has been a slog, but scientists keep at it regardless, as it would truly change our understanding of...well... everything. And according to a study published in the journal