Imagine zooming in closer and closer to the device on which you’re reading this article. Its apparently smooth screen quickly dissolves into a jiggling lattice of molecules, which in turn resolve into clouds of electrons buzzing around atomic nuclei. You dive into a nucleus, and atoms disappear as you enter the domain of quarks. It is here, where protons loom as large as solar systems, that Eichhorn’s explorations begin.
Past this point, the fundamental forces themselves shift. Electromagnetism and the weak interaction intensify, while the strong force slackens. The changes happen in a fairly regular way, so physicists have a good sense of how they work … until they don’t.
