ScientistPankaj: Will Scientists Ever Find a Theory of Everything?

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Will Scientists Ever Find a Theory of Everything?

View all Scientific American publications.

August 24, 2023

This week, we're contemplating everything. A "theory of everything," that is—the shorthand term physicists use for their quest to sum up the entire universe, alpha to omega, in a single unified framework. Is such a feat possible? I'll say "definitely, maybe." But read our lead story to decide for yourself. Elsewhere this week, we have stories on India's triumphant lunar landing (and Russia's unfortunate failure to do the same), a guide to surviving "Mercury in retrograde" (spoiler alert: you can do nothing and be just fine), the universe's most magnetic stars, and much more. Enjoy!

Lee Billings, Senior Editor, Space & Physics

Quantum Physics

Will Scientists Ever Find a Theory of Everything?

Physicists are on an ever urgent quest to find a fuller understanding of what makes the cosmos tick, which they call a theory of everything

By Sarah Scoles

Space Exploration

Chandrayaan-3 Makes Historic Touchdown on the Moon

The successful lunar landing of the Chandrayaan-3 mission makes India only the fourth country to achieve the feat

By Jatan Mehta

Space Exploration

Can Russia's Luna-25 Moon Mission Transcend Earthly Politics?

In the latest chapter of an ongoing "moon rush," Russia's Luna-25 mission will attempt the nation's first lunar landing in nearly 50 years

By Meghan Bartels

Space Exploration

Russia's Luna-25 Lander Has Crashed into the Moon

Luna-25, Russia's first moon mission in nearly a half-century, was the vanguard of a planned series of lunar probes

By Elizabeth Howell,SPACE.com

Astronomy

How to Survive Mercury in Retrograde

If you want to make it through the trials and tribulations of Mercury in retrograde, it's easy: don't do anything. You'll be fine

By Phil Plait

Astrophysics

This Bizarre Star Could Become One of the Strongest Magnets in the Universe

Magnetars possess magnetic fields that are trillions of times stronger than those of ordinary stars. Now we might have seen one of these extraordinary objects about to form

By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Mathematics

Math's 'Hairy Ball Theorem' Has Surprising Implications

Here's what the hairiest problem in math can teach us about wind, antennas and nuclear fusion

By Jack Murtagh

Quantum Physics

Quantum Physics Can Explain Earth's Weather

By treating Earth as a topological insulator—a state of quantum matter—physicists found a powerful explanation for the twisting movements of the planet's air and seas

By Katie McCormick,Quanta Magazine

Defense

Meet the Physicist who Spoke Out against the Bomb She Helped Create

After atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear physicist Katharine Way persuaded the world's greatest physicists to contribute essays to a book opposing nuclear weapons

By Katie Hafner,Erica Huang,The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Ecology

Turtle Shells Record Nuclear History

Minuscule amounts of uranium detected in the shells of turtles point to a new way to track such materials' impacts on people and ecosystems

By Meghan Bartels

Plants

Tropical Forests May Be Getting Too Hot for Photosynthesis

When trees get too hot, energy production in their leaves breaks down

By Meghan Bartels

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There are plenty of open questions that we do not know how to answer, and I think it is more realistic to try to solve them one at a time rather than trying a single theory of everything. Also, 'everything' is far too much. The world is complex and is better approached with a multiplicity of theoretical tools."

Carlo Rovelli, a theoretical physicist, on the dubious wisdom of pursuing a "theory of everything"

FROM THE ARCHIVE