{
  "id": 8889412,
  "title": "What kills Schrödinger’s cat? Gravity may not be the answer",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/21/what-kills-schrodingers-cat-gravity-may-not-be-the-answer",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-21T09:24:50.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "ScienceDaily",
    "slug": "sciencedaily",
    "url": "https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260920222350.htm"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Between the quantum realm of particles and atoms and our everyday experiences, quantum behavior seemingly disappears. This phenomenon, known as decoherence, is central to Schrödinger's famous cat thought experiment. However, physicists have yet to determine the precise cause of decoherence, especially whether gravity plays a role. A new experiment at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratory suggests gravity may not be the primary explanation. The study, supported by the Foundational Questions Institute, used a highly sensitive detector buried deep underground to test a specific gravity-induced decoherence model proposed by Hungarian physicist Frigyes Károlyházy in the 1960s. Károlyházy's theory suggested that tiny fluctuations in spacetime caused by gravity might disrupt quantum superpositions, gradually destroying them. While the new findings don't definitively rule out gravity's involvement, they do eliminate one prominent explanation and provide tighter boundaries for future theories connecting gravity with quantum mechanics. This result brings us closer to understanding one of the most profound mysteries in fundamental physics, as precision experiments reach levels of sensitivity that can test long-held theoretical predictions.",
  "summary": "Physicists have put a decades-old idea about why the strange rules of quantum mechanics disappear in our everyday world to one of its toughest experimental tests yet. Deep beneath Italy’s Gran Sasso mountain, researchers searched for an extremely faint radiation signal predicted by a theory suggesting that tiny fluctuations in spacetime, caused by gravity, gradually destroy quantum…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}