Uniting gravity with its quantum nemesis might take a detector the size of the universe. So say two physicists who think they have found a way to resolve one of the biggest conflicts in modern physics using high-resolution maps of the infant cosmos. The universe is currently described using two distinct frameworks: gravity for larger objects such as planets and black holes, and quantum mechanics for the tiny world of bosons and quarks. Even though almost everyone expects these realms to be linked, no one has been able to build a bridge between the two. Previous work focused on trying to finding the graviton - the quantum unit of gravity - the sheer existence of which would unite the two theories.
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