This week we present the first in our new monthly Instant Expert series. This month, astrophysicist Pedro Ferreira of the University of Oxford offers a concise, up-to-the minute summary of what a well-informed person should know about general relativity.
New 杏吧原创 prides itself on bringing readers objective, critical and rational coverage of the latest, most intriguing ideas. So why give star billing to a theory that is almost 100 years old? Leaving aside the fact that some of the biggest puzzles of modern physics are intimately tied up with relativity, we know that in a world where provocative ideas from the frontiers of research crop up with almost alarming frequency, people also want to be reminded of the solid foundations that cutting-edge work rests on.
Public confidence in science has taken a beating lately, thanks to events like climategate, and an overestimate (so far) of the risks of pandemic flu. Like never before, we need to be confident about the basics. Month by month we will be inviting leading scientists in key fields to explain in unambiguous terms what those basics are.
Advertisement
Read more: Instant Expert: General relativity