AS EVERY schoolchild knows, the concept of gravity came to Isaac Newton after a close encounter with an apple – or so the story goes. Older students go on to learn Einstein’s view of gravity: that masses warp space-time like a ball on a rubber sheet. Now we could be closing in on an explanation of where gravity comes from: it might be an emergent property of the way objects are organised, much as fluidity arises as a property of water (see “Gravity’s origin falling into place”). This idea might seem exotic now, but to kids of the future it…
To continue reading, today with our introductory offers
Advertisement
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
Woman with Alzheimer's starts conversing again after taking psilocybin
2
Possible signs of ancient life on Mars are rich in complex carbon
3
Screwworm could be the first species targeted by an 'extinction drive'
4
You should turn off fans when it's too hot – but how hot is too hot?
5
Some of the last Neanderthals were surprisingly genetically diverse
6
Sean Carroll: uncovering the mysteries of quantum mechanics
7
How menopause radically changes the brain – and what happens after
8
The best sci-fi novel in 2026 so far – plus 6 other great reads
9
How some people's brains make an extraordinary recovery from stroke
10
Huge crater in Australia may be the oldest impact structure on Earth
