String theory strutted onto the scene some 30 years ago as perfection itself, a promise of elegant simplicity that would solve knotty problems in fundamental physics—including the notoriously ...

A surprising and fascinating interplay may be emerging between string theory and condensed-matter physics. In fact, another even more remarkable interplay between string theory and condensed-matter ...

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Ali Nayeri of Chapman University discusses the explanatory power of string theory cosmology. Ali Nayeri is an assistant professor of physics in the Schmid College of ...

At the turn of the century, it sounded as if string theory could give us big answers about the universe. Well… has it?

String theory proposes that the fundamental constituents of the universe are one-dimensional “strings” rather than point-like particles. What we perceive as particles are actually vibrations in loops ...

This paper is dedicated to Michael J. Duff on the occasion of his 70th birthday. I discuss some issues of M-theory/string theory/supergravity closely related to Mike’s interests. I describe a relation ...

Abstract, mathematically complex and (so far) unsupported by direct experimental evidence, string theory attracts plenty of criticism. Yet it remains an incredibly active area of research, with ...

Heterotic string theory remains a captivating framework in the pursuit of unifying quantum mechanics with gravity. By merging aspects of bosonic and supersymmetric strings, it provides a fertile ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. String theory captured the hearts and minds of many physicists decades ago because of a beautiful simplicity. Zoom in far enough on a ...

“Not even wrong” was Wolfgang Pauli’s ultimate put-down for any theory he considered wide of the mark. Here it is adopted by Peter Woit – a mathematician at Columbia University – and aimed at the ...

In string theory, a paradigm shift could be imminent. In June, a team of string theorists published a conjecture which sounded revolutionary: String theory is said to be fundamentally incompatible ...

STRING theory: you love it or loathe it. To some it represents our best hope for a route to a “theory of everything”; others portray it as anything from a mathematically obtuse minefield to a ...