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    Why the apparent flatness of space is an enduring cosmological mystery

    Empty space isn’t ‘nothing’. Since Albert Einstein, scientists have known that space has distinct physical properties, giving it the ability to bend, ripple and expand. One of its most mysterious characteristics, however, is its apparent flatness, allowing objects travelling on parallel paths to continue on parallel paths unless acted upon by the gravitational force of another object – a feature of the Universe that appears to be ‘a gigantic, cosmic-level coincidence’. This brief animation probes our evolving understanding of space, brushing up against the edges of current human understanding.

    Video by MinutePhysics and PHD Comics

    7 September 2017
    A man with glasses and a beard speaking, wearing a dark jacket and grey collar, with a blurred globe in the background.

    videoPhysics

    Time is fundamental, space is emergent – why physicists are rethinking reality

    9 minutes

    Hand-drawn image of a stick figure holding ‘F’ with arrows pointing to a battery, lightning in a cloud and a red horseshoe magnet.

    videoPhysics

    How two scientists built a bridge between Newton and Einstein in ‘empty’ spaces

    5 minutes

    A drawing of two figures discussing different theories with speech bubbles, arrows, and grids about the expansion of the universe.

    videoCosmology

    Turns out that, even when Einstein was wrong, he was kind of right

    6 minutes

    Two animated identical characters pointing at each other, one standing next to a table with sets of keys.

    videoQuantum theory

    Why aren’t our everyday lives as ‘spooky’ as the quantum world?

    7 minutes

    Illustration of a scientist looking through a telescope by a window with gears in the background and stylised clouds outside.

    videoCosmology

    The mysterious ‘something’ behind the accelerating expansion of the Universe

    3 minutes

    Abstract black-and-white image featuring a spherical shape at the centre surrounded by an intricate web of swirling, crisscrossing lines, creating a three-dimensional effect. The background is dark, enhancing the contrast and emphasising the white lines and central sphere.

    videoPhysics

    Imagining spacetime as a visible grid is an extraordinary journey into the unseen

    12 minutes

    Swirling abstract design with vibrant pink, purple, and black colours creating a glossy, cosmic-like pattern.

    videoMetaphysics

    To see the Universe more clearly, think in terms of processes, not objects

    6 minutes

    Abstract digital artwork split vertically, one side dark with white icons and the other light with dark icons resembling stars and shapes.

    videoPhysics

    Logic tells us that antimatter should have annihilated the Universe. So why hasn’t it?

    4 minutes

    A grand piano stands alone on a rocky, Mars-like desert landscape under an orange sky.

    videoPhysics

    How would a piano sound on Mars? Embark on an interplanetary sonic journey

    20 minutes