Up Next
Back to Show
PBS Space Time
Are Cosmic Strings Cracks in the Universe?
Season 8
Episode 7
Reality has cracks in it. Universe-spanning filaments of ancient Big Bang energy, formed from topological defects in the quantum fields, aka cosmic strings. They have subatomic thickness but prodigious mass and they lash through space at a close to the speed of light. They could be the most bizarre undiscovered entities that actually exist.
Support Provided By
Season
14:50
Why is there any matter in the universe? A new antimatter breakthrough at LHC holds clues.
16:30
There’s an extremely good chance that Earth once did have a ring system.
17:23
How is it possible to tell if a space rock will one day collide with the Earth?
15:58
Did you know that many of us have up to 4% neanderthal DNA?
16:35
What if the Big Bang was just an endless cycle?
19:39
Why are billions suddenly being pumped into fusion startups?
16:36
The universe should've collapsed after the Big Bang, but a light Higgs boson let us exist.
14:30
Maybe dark energy doesn't exist?
18:32
Dark matter has eluded us for many decades but we may be able to discover more now.
15:35
What do you get if you combine something that’s infinitely massive and negative infinitely massive?
13:39
What does an electron really look like?
16:35
Is there a limit to how much energy you can cram into, or pull out of one patch of space?