Space and Time Might Be an Illusion | NOVA | PBS
A cosmic experiment tests the fabric of the universe.
This video was originally produced in 2019.
Physicists have long debated the reality of “spooky action at a distance,” otherwise known as quantum entanglement.
Albert Einstein believed that physical properties, like position or momentum, were definitive and did not change whether anyone observed them or not. But Niels Bohr believed that quantum systems existed in superposition and properties only became definite when measured.
Now, a team of researchers conduct a cosmic Bell test using light from quasars billions of light-years away. By using ancient light to control their experiment, they aim to close a major loophole and show if reality is as strange as quantum mechanics suggests.
📺 Watch the full documentary, “Einstein’s Quantum Riddle”: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/einsteins-quantum-riddle/
📰 Stay up to date on the latest science discoveries, full episodes, articles, videos, and more by signing up for NOVA’s newsletter here: https://to.pbs.org/4brCC7Y
▶️ Stream NOVA documentaries & more with PBS Documentaries on Prime Video: https://amzn.to/4hXBlsu
💙 Help us bring the universe closer to home. Your donation ensures that NOVA’s deep-space discoveries and quantum physics explorations remain free and inspiring for the next generation of scientists. Support fact-based storytelling today. https://bit.ly/48UnsrD
🌟 Follow on social for more NOVA content
Twitter: https://twitter.com/novapbs
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novapbs
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@novapbs

@Temptit
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Time yes it's fake and your concept is flawed, space not so much.
T=∆e time and change in energy are equal meaning time is simply a change in energy. Everything is energy stored in different forms with different decay rates, and it all moves in one direction meaning time travel backwards is impossible.
@barabbasrosebud9282
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Basic physics for little babies. Entanglement is as simple as ABC.
@victorious.butterfly
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
It means we must accept that an action in one place will have a instant effect anywhere in the universe & particles only take on physical properties when we observe them. Let’s unpack that!
@MangeshGatlewar-s9r
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
This is top-tier content.
@SMHS28
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Indra’s net
@NateBostian
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
All is connected. All is information. All is Mind.
@Haha29-v9w
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
I’m waiting for science to prove magic exists before gta6
@LotsofStuffYT
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
We are in a simulation.
@Sanishah7874
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
The comments passed the vibe check.
@Faux.News.Inc.
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Its always baffled me that they claim particles are tied at a distance…. even extreme distance… then they claim to not know exactly where both particles are and what they are doing at the same time. Somehow magically they happened to always capture entangled particles in their clouds even though you cannot know which particles are entangled. Lots of particle clouds… always get entangled particles? Convenient. Lets not forget that measuring either destroys both. Can't actually look at it or you destroy it.
God works via faith too. People pray for rain. Eventually it rains. God is great.
How does the light from the distant galaxy "decide" your filter. How do you not know that there is no inherent issue with that "randomizer" too? What makes you assume the light form a galaxy is random? The photons have to have commingled at the point of impact. Is there no wave interference unless a human is looking for it? Guess that only happens in the lab.
@Chavecito
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
oldie but good
@jongraham7362
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
There was no way that entanglement was going to be overturned… I could have told you that. 😛
@dontveter3372
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
When God created the heavens and the Earth, He created a block universe. All the correlations were built in at that time. But no one wants to accept the block universe, they just want to believe in presentism.
@haniamritdas4725
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Stupidest dramatization ever. Kill the music and just describe the experiment, geniuses lmao
@3zdayz
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Oh it's so much worse…. There's no such thing as a particle… Everything is waves. And a photon is not composed of one single wave.
@3zdayz
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
The perfectly fine for security… Just because they are they can be correlated and that they don't actually update remotely doesn't matter they still match at both ends… And meaning can be assigned.
@mlbreel
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Their are more illusions being overlooked as reality then we can imagine.
@OthoapProto
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
I get the idea they used a source billion of miles away to randomized the test. However then they go on to say at 8:06 "Anywhere in the universe" so that's far from definitive and "hardly any room left". Don't count out Albert yet?
@blackbeastantoine
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
I really don't like religious propaganda. If science needs "strange particles", Dark matter with a quantum vinaigrette, it has become a religion. 2B christians are incapable or finding a single proof of jesus life, over 1700 years. How will science prove any of the quantum BS within a hundred years. The scaffolding is failing! Turn to plasma physics and cut the nonsense!
@AI-mg3hy
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
I'm not sure that these scientists are as curious and skeptical as they claim to be if they are willing to believe that an external actor could be influencing their random choices in the laboratory but the same sort of external actor could not have set the star's behavior billions of years before the experiment. By changing their experiment they suppose there is something determining a part of the experiment that is supposed to be random, but they don't ever say what that something is. Then if it the same experiment can be repeated with stars light years apart then it somehow proves there is no external something? That makes zero scientific sense. More like dancing around something science doesn't want to acknowledge.
@believeinpeace
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Wow! Thank you
@RossD189
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
This is truly exceptional. It is both well-executed and captivating.
@Peteryungis
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
its literally just thoughts. the universe is just a quantum mind
@codycurtin2295
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
Well space and time are metrics of observation based around our "position" within the universe. ….So inherently they do not "exist"
@efx245precor3
September 8, 2026 at 12:21 pm
It’s not spooky because the charges on the two particles are set before they are separated. Then if you look at your local one and it’s positive then you know the other is negative and vice versa. There’s no action happening at a distance at alll.