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Black holes--theoretical versions of them--have lately taken on the leading role in string theory, physicists9 most recent attempt to create a of everything that joins the macroworld of gravity and the microworld of quantum mechanics. These hypothetical objects are serving as a sort of Rosetta stone on which the same phenomena can be found written in the languages of both quantum field theory and general relativity, Einstein9s theory of gravity. Whether or not the latest work leads to a working theory of everything, it is already responsible for a paradigm shift in how string theorists think about gravity.
Gary Taubes (Fri,) studied this question.