by Mike Gray

Just when you thought you knew something for sure, along comes University of Amsterdam string theorist Erik Verlinde to unsettle you:

… Verlinde posits that gravity results from objects that had been stretched apart from one another and are just relaxing back into more “comfortable” positions. …. Reactions to Verlinde’s proposal provide an interesting contrast to the reception provided to certain others who’ve been willing to examine scientific presuppositions. …. Whether or not gravity is an independent, fundamental force in the cosmos or just the consequence of thermodynamics, as Verlinde and a growing cadre of physicists are thinking, the fact that the basics of a phenomenon so universally observed as gravity are still being discussed seems remarkable in the face of all the bluster that science holds all the answers.