Science Foo Camp at Google

As the science conference at Google HQ wraps up, the New Scientist reflects on some big ideas—from jet packs to the nature of time and gravity—presented in humble surroundings. “But one of the best things about SciFoo has been the ease of chatting with unexpected people,” says attendee Jo Marchant. “The mix of disciplines has created the sense of a level playing field, in which we are united by curiosity and an enthusiasm for new ideas. … And so at dinner, at a not-half-bad sushi restaurant, Verlinde patiently attempts to summarise his ideas about gravity in a way that I can understand. … Verlinde’s big idea is that gravity is not fundamental at all. It’s just an emergent property, or side effect, of something else that’s happening.”