Physicists around the world remain deeply divided on key mysteries of the universe, from dark matter to quantum gravity. The standard cosmological model failed to gain majority support, and no leading theory dominated the survey results.

The largest survey ever conducted among physicists worldwide reveals surprisingly little agreement on some of the field’s biggest mysteries, including black holes, dark matter, and the unresolved effort to unite Einstein’s theory of gravity with quantum mechanics.

Even the leading explanation for how the universe expands, known as ΛCDM (Lambda Cold Dark Matter), failed to win majority support. One reason may be findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) last year, which suggested dark energy could change over time, challenging the standard model’s assumption that it remains constant.