Sabine Hossenfelder's Blog, page 3

These Mathematicians Don’t Believe Large Numbers Exist. I’m Serious.

In our current understanding of mathematics, space and time extend infinitely and are made of infinitely many points of size zero. But according to a small group of physicists and mathematicians, this reliance on infinities has led us astray, forcing researchers to create strange concepts like multiverses or cosmological constants in order to explain away unwanted infinities. This sounds a bit

String Theory is “Fashion,” Penrose Said. We Finally Have a Response

Roger Penrose is a very well-known mathematician, physicist, and author who won the Nobel Prize a few years back. He’s repeatedly questioned string theory’s prominent role in physics today, most notable in his 2016 book “Fashion, Faith and Fantasy” (the “fashion” part refers to string theory). We finally have a response.

NASA Is Considering Nuking An Asteroid

Late last year, an asteroid made global headlines as astronomers discovered it had a 1% chance of hitting the Earth in 2032. That chance has since gone to almost zero, but astronomers say there’s now a 4% chance of it hitting the Moon. NASA is now considering two possible options for protecting our moon: deflecting the asteroid, or blowing it up with a nuke. Let’s take a look.

Quantum Healing Might Be Real – But Not Like We Thought

Quantum biology is an area of research at the intersection of biology, chemistry, and physics which examines how organisms use quantum effects in their bodily functions. The field is quickly gaining momentum in the scientific community, and a recent (not-yet-peer-reviewed) study has revealed how quantum mechanics play a role in wound healing. Let’s take a look.

Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Looks Increasingly Weird

Our solar system has an interstellar visitor. It’s an object called 3I-Atlas, and is just the third interstellar object to enter our system. It’s shedding nickel and iron at “exceptional” rates, emits “unusual” amounts of carbon dioxide and water, and changes the polarization of light in a way “unprecedented among asteroids and comets.” Let’s take a look at this object, and answer your biggest

The Webb Telescope Just Observed Faster Than Light Signals

Recently, the James Webb Space Telescope observed signals that moved faster than the speed of light. Does this mean that faster-than-light travel is real? If not, what explains the phenomenon the telescope just observed? And how could information travel faster than light, for real? Let’s take a look.

Why is Everyone Suddenly Talking about Nuclear Fusion?

Recently, the hype around nuclear fusion has reached new peaks. Government officials are promising that fusion reactors will be powering the grid within the decade, fusion startups are receiving billions of dollars in funding, and other companies are selling off energy that they haven’t yet produced. Let’s take a look.

How AI Is Replacing Mathematicians

AI is threatening to take over multiple jobs currently fueled by human labor. It appears that the world of mathematics is no exception – a few recent advances in AI’s math capabilities seem to indicate that mathematicians might go the way of human calculators and find themselves fully replaced by proof-writing algorithms. Let’s take a look.

Is Gravity Just an Illusion Caused by Entropy? New Theory Explains How.

Over the past few decades, the idea that gravity is not a fundamental interaction but is instead caused by the increase of entropy has become increasingly popular in the world of physics. Today, we have a paper from a group of physicists who claim that entropic gravity might be the result of space being full of qubits. Let’s take a look.

The 2025 Physics Nobel Prize: Quite A Surprise

The 2025 Physics Nobel Prize was awarded for macroscopic quantum tunneling. What is this and what is it good for. I have a brief summary.