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The Universe Itself Might Be Hiding the Gravity Particle From Us

2026-01-13 Education
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PBS Space Time
PBS Space Time
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Description

Head to https://brilliant.org/Spacetime/ to start learning for free for 30 days. Plus, our viewers get 20% off an annual Premium subscription for unlimited daily access to everything Brilliant has to offer. To progress to the next level in understanding reality, we need to combine quantum mechanics and Einstein’s general relativity. And to do that, most physicists believe we need a theory of quantum gravity .. which means we need gravitons. But it also seems like the laws of physics make it impossible to ever detect this quantum particle of gravity. Almost like the universe is set up to keep the final answer forever out of our reach. So, can we outsmart the universe, catch a graviton, and finally solve physics? Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Richard Dyer & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. © 2025 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Alexander Tamas David Paryente Juan Benet Mark Rosenthal Morgan Hough Peter Barrett Santiago Tj Steyn Vinnie Falco Supernova Ethan Cohen Glenn Sugden Grace Biaelcki Mark Heising Stephen Wilcox Tristan Lucian Claudius Aurelius Tyacke Hypernova Alex Kern Ben Delo Cal Stephens chuck zegar David Giltinan Dean Galvin Donal Botkin Gregory Forfa Jesse Cid Dyer John R. Slavik Justin Lloyd Kenneth See Massimiliano Pala Michael Tidwell Mike Purvis Paul Stehr-Green Scott Gorlick Scott Gray Spencer Jones Stephen Saslow Thomas Mouton Zachary Haberman Антон Кочков Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Aaron Pinto Adrien Molyneux Almog Cohen Anthony Leon Arko Provo Mukherjee Ayden Miller Ben McIntosh Bradley Jenkins Bradley Ulis Brandon Lattin Brian Cook Bryan White Chris Liao Christopher Wade Chuck Lukaszewski Collin Dutrow Craig Falls Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Donahue Daniel Jennings Daron Woods Darrell Stewart David Johnston Doyle Vann Eric Kiebler Eric Raschke Eric Schrenker Faraz Khan Frederic Simon Harsh Khandhadia Ian Williams Isaac Suttell James Trimmier Jeb Campbell Jeremy Soller Jerry Thomas jim bartosh John Anderson John De Witt John Funai John H. Austin, Jr. John591 Joseph Salomone Junaid Ali Kacper Cieśla Kane Holbrook Keith Pasko Kent Durham Koen Wilde Kyle Atkinson Marcelo Garcia Marion Lang Mark Daniel Cohen Mark Delagasse Matt Kaprocki Matthew Johnson Michael Barton Michael Clark Michael Lev Michael Purcell Nathaniel Bennett Nick Hoffenstoffer III Nicolas Katsantonis Paul Wood Rad Antonov Reuben Brewer Richard Steenbergen Robert DeChellis Ross Story Russell Moore SamSword Sandhya Devi Satwik Pani Sean Owen Shane Calimlim SilentGnome Sound Reason Steffen Bendel Steven Giallourakis Terje Vold Thomas Dougherty Tomaz Lovsin Tybie Fitzhugh Vlad Shipulin William Flinn WILLIAM HAY III Zac Sweers

Top Comments (10)

@_peters6221 2026-01-13

I feel like we're missing the really obvious trick of leaving a Graviton's favorite food under a propped-up box and waiting.

5.2k 139 replies
@corneredbadger 2026-01-14

"well that sucks." Is probably the most understated reaction possible to your experiment collapsing into a blackhole

1.7k 23 replies
@THEMithrandir09 2026-01-14

10:40 Gotta love it when physicists say: "Once we build the 3 light year diameter collider, we then get to the real challenge."

1.3k 52 replies
@jeffmagic32 2026-01-13

Yes teacher. My homework exists, but the universe prevents you from detecting it.

1.3k 14 replies
@damianich4824 2026-01-14

10:30 the final boss of "just one more accelerator bro"

837 10 replies
@DotNetBoy101 2026-01-13

I miss the Q&A from older episodes. Sometimes they were pretty funny. For me it was a reason to watch all the way to the end, and a reminder if I missed an episode.

831 48 replies
@davetoms1 2026-01-13

Maybe the real gravitons were the friends we detected along the way

584 15 replies
@pbsspacetime 2026-01-13

Head to https://brilliant.org/Spacetime/ to start learning for free for 30 days. Plus, our viewers get 20% off an annual Premium subscription for unlimited daily access to everything Brilliant has to offer.

202 37 replies
@danielcusumano3889 2026-01-19

Wow, this video sure does make me want to engage. It should probably be served to more users

164 8 replies
@SentientBratwurst 2026-04-18

Every time I hear about gravitons, I feel like I'm being asked to believe in an invisible unicorn or a flying spaghetti monster.

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