Will we ever fully understand reality? Can we ever fully know the inner workings of the universe? Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli thinks we’re asking all the wrong questions. Inspired by the monumental, mind-bending artworks of Anish Kapoor, Rovelli explains how we must let go of old ideas and accept that we will never know everything about the universe.

Speaking to New ¾«¶«´«Ã½ reporter Michael Brooks, Rovelli questions whether space even exists and criticises the pursuit of unfounded theories. His radical perspective suggests everything is connected, from our atoms to our soul, and the new challenge is finding a language that brings all aspects of reality into the conversation.

Rovelli is a theoretical physicist and author based at Aix-Marseille University in France, whose work focuses on loop quantum gravity, which aims to unify quantum mechanics and Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.

Physics is filled with mysteries – and, believe it or not, gravity remains one of them. We rely on gravity to explain things large and small. But at a fundamental level, we still don’t fully understand it. At the heart of the challenge: a rift between general relativity and quantum mechanics – two spectacularly successful theories that won’t play nicely together. In this video, we go inside the labs where scientists are investigating gravity with innovative and ingenious experiments, such as cooling metal bars to near absolute zero, suspending microscopic gold beads, and searching for signs that gravity might be quantum.