New test may provide 'smoking gun' for modified gravity

(Phys.org) --Since 1916, general relativity has provided a description of gravity that can explain many observations, including objects in free fall, gravitational lensing by massive objects, and black holes. Despite the success of the theory for nearly 100 years, scientists have been looking at ways to modify general relativity in order for it to better explain certain observations--particularly the accelerated expansion of the universe. Although these modifications can be very different from o...