The physicist Subir Sachdev borrows tools from string theory to understand the puzzling behavior of high-temperature superconductors.

I don't understand string theory. In fact, I bet there's fewer than 1% of the world that can speak cogently on the subject, but I am fascinated by the concept and have read a bit on it. Not enough ...

In June, a team of string theorists published a conjecture which sounded revolutionary: String theory is said to be fundamentally incompatible with our current understanding of 'dark energy'.

Before I explain the significance of Smolin’s conclusion, it is important to understand what string theory is, what problems it is attempting to solve and why, in Smolin’s view, it has failed.

Understanding the basic, fundamental structures of string theory is needed and helpful. You’ve got to start somewhere where you can compute things, and that leads, often, to very mathematical corners.

The String Theory Backlash Discover how the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1984 reshaped our understanding of the Standard Model of particle physics.

Now, physicists are still trying to understand the mechanics of string theory, which require very different initial conditions to function such as extra dimensions and flavours.