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Physics

A cosmic shape could explain the fundamental nature of the universe

Physicists have created a 3D shape called the cosmohedron, which can be used to reconstruct the quantum wavefunction of the universe – and potentially do away with the idea of space-time as the underlying fabric of the universe

By Karmela Padavic-Callaghan

21 January 2025

Is space-time the fabric of the universe, or is there something deeper?

Shutterstock/Mohd. Afuza

What is the structure of our physical reality? Physicists have long imagined space and time interweaving into “space-time”, the metaphorical fabric that underlies the cosmos. But there may be something even more fundamental. Instead of space-time’s three spatial dimensions and one of time, the physics of our world could be encoded into a set of odd geometrical shapes – and studying them may chart a new, space-time-free path towards a theory of everything.

“The idea is that space-time somehow has to go, that it has to…

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