New project will take a step towards answering whether gravity is quantum

· Scientists are developing an experiment to test whether gravity is quantum · In quantum mechanics, which describes the behaviour of atoms and molecules -objects behave differently to everything we know: they can be in a quantum superposition of being in two places at the same time · Now, scientists are investigating a way to determine whether gravity operates in this way, by levitating micro diamonds in a vacuum · If gravity is quantum, it will 'entangle' the diamonds - an intriguing phenomenon which strongly links two objects in ways impossible in everyday life · This research will help drive understanding of black holes, the big bang and the universe Scientists are developing an experiment to test whether gravity is quantum - one of the deepest questions about our universe. General relativity and quantum mechanics are the two most fundamental descriptions of nature we have. General relativity explains gravity on large scales while quantum mechanics explains the behaviour of atoms and molecules. Arguably the most important unsolved problem in fundamental physics is the correct way to bring these two theories together - to determine whether gravity operates on a quantum level. While theoretical work has proposed many possibilities, experiments are needed to fully understand the behaviour of gravity. For a hundred years experiments on the quantum nature of gravity seemed out of reach, but now scientists based at the Universities of Warwick, UCL, Yale (USA), Northwestern (USA), and Groningen (Holland) will work together to investigate this conundrum.