Reading Compreh...

The Power of the PA 

The  following  passage  explains  the  challenges
facing a  population  of  trees  and  possible  solutions.

Today, oaks are  plagued  with problems. There  is 
lack  of  regeneration  in  populations  of  certain  spe-
cies.  4.010  such  as  the  acorn  weevil  and  the  filbert 
tne  worm  eat  away  at  acorns  and  prevent  
germination.By  undermining  the  root  systems  of  
seedlings  andsaplings,  ground  squirrels,  gophers,  
and  other  small mammals  often  prevent  these  
young  plants  fromreaching  tree  size.  Severe 
diseases such  as  suddenoak  death,  kill  many  adult  
oaks.  Many  mature  oaks are  having  a  tough  time  
withesuppression.  Inthe  past,  with  light  surface  fires,  
the  oaks  had  been able  to  maintain  a  stronghold  
where  other  plantswere  not  able  to  compete  and  
died  out.  Now  oaks are  being  toppled  by  trees  that  
have  a  higher  toler-ance  for  shade  and  are  not  
fire-resistant;  earliersuch  trees  would  have  been  
killed  when  Native Americans  set  fires.Given  all  of  
these  challenges,  the  "old-growth" oaksthe  large  
old  valley  oaks,  Garry  oaks,  coast live  oaks,  and  
canyon  live  oaks  that  have  huge  girthand  large  
canopiesmay  become  a  thing  of  the past.  These  
oaks  in  particular  are  important  becausethere  are  
often  more  terrestrial  vertebrates  living in  mature  
oak  stands  than  in  seedling  and  sapling areas.  This  
prevalence  of  animals  occurs  becausethe  large  
crowns  of  such  oaks  provide  cover  and feeding  
sites  for  a  large  variety  of  wildlife.The  University  of  
California  has  embarked  on  an ambitious  and  
necessary  research  program  calledthe  Integrated  
Hardwood  Range  ManagementProgram  to  explore  
the  significant  causes  of  oak decline  and  offer  
varied solutions. These  includeinvestigating  the  use  
of  grassing  regimes  that  are compatible  with  oak  
seedling  establishment  reveg-etating  sites  with  
native  grasses  to  facilitate  bettergermination  of  oak  
seedling&  documenting  insectsand  pathogens  that  
attack  oaks,  and  exploring  the ways  that  native  
people  managed  oaks  in  the  past. Scientists  at  the  
Pacific  Northwest  Research  Stationin  Olympia,  
Washington,  and  at  Redwood  NationalPark  in  
northern  California  are  reintroducing  theburning  
practices  of  Native  American&  When used  in  Garry  
oak  ecosystems,  fires  keep  Douglas firs  from  
encroaching  on  the  oaks  and  promotethe  growth  of  
wildflowers  that  are  important  foodplants.  Further  
investigations  about  these  firepractices  may  be  
essential  in  figuring  out  how  to maintain  oaks  in  the  
western  landscape  today,  given that  the  fires  
address  many  of  the  factors  that  arenow  causing  
oak  declinefrom  how  to  eliminateinsect  pests  of  
acorns  to  how  to  maintain  an  openstructure  in  oak  
groves.Ecological  restoration,  the  traditional  
approach to  woodland  maintenance,  refers  to  
humansintervening  on  a  very  limited  time  scale  to  
bringback  plants  and  animals  known  to  have  
historicallyexisted  in  an  area.  The  decline  of  oaks,  
one  of  the most  significant  plants  to  Native  
Americans,  shows us  that  humans  may  play  an  
integral  part  in  therestoration  of  oak  areas.  While  
animals  such  as  jayshave  been  recognized  as  
crucial  partners  in  oakwell-being,  human  actions  
through  the  eons  may also  have  been  key  to  the  
oaks'  flourishing.Sudden  oak  death,  for  example,  
although  ofexotic  origin,  may  be  curtailed  locally  by  
thinningaround  coastal  oaks  and  tan  oaks  and  
setting  lightsurface  fires,  simulating  ancient  fire  
managementpractices  of  Native  Americans.  
Indigenous  shrubs and  trees  that  grow  in  
association  with  oaksare  hosts  to  the  sudden  oak  
death  pathogen.  Bylimiting  the  growth  of  these  
shrubs,  burning  thatmimics  earlier  Native  American  
ways  may  reduce opportunities  for  disease  agents  
to  jump  fromother  plants  to  oak  trees.  With  a  more  
open  envi-ronment,  it  may  be  harder  for  sudden  
oak  death  tospread.The  oak  landscapes  that  we  
inherited,  which still  bear  the  marks  of  former  
Native  Americaninteractions,  demand  a  new  kind  of  
restoration  thatcomplements  other  forms  of  
ecological  restoration.This  new  kind  of  restoration  
could  be  called  eth-nobotanical  restoration,  defined  
as  re-establishing the  historic  plant  communities  of  a  
given  areaand  restoring  indigenous  harvesting,  
vegetationmanagement,  and  cultivation  practices  
(seedbear-ing,  burning,  pruning,  sowing,  tilling,  and  
weeding)necessary  to  maintain  these  communities  in  
the long  term.Thus,  this  kind  of  restoration  is  not  
only  aboutrestoring  plants,  but  also  about  restoring  
the  humanplace  within  nature.  Ethnobotanical  
restoration  isviewed  not  as  a  process  that  can  be  
completed,  but rather  as  a  continuous  interaction  
between  people and  plants,  as  both  of  their  fates  
are  intertwined  ina  region.  Using  oaks  (through  
harvesting  acornsand  making  products  from  all  parts  
of  the  tree)  andhuman  intervention  (by  thinning  tree  
populations and  lighting  light  fires)  may  offer  us  
ways  to  benefi-cially  co-exist  while  improving  the  
long-term  healthand  well-being  of  the  remarkable  
oak. 

Of the many forms poetry can take, triolet, ballad, ode,
and epigram, to name a few, none is quite as
briefly as the Japanese haiku.
With a $$2$$ complex history and a challenging structure, the
haiku is as popular as it is difficult to master. Composed of only three
lines and $$17$$ or fewer syllables, haiku have been written by some of the
world's most prominent poets.
3 $$[1]$$ Pre-Buddhist and early Shinto ceremonies included
narrative poems called "uta", or songs. $$[2]$$ These songs were written
about common activities like planting and prayer. $$[3]$$ The most popular
"uta" were "waka", or songs featuring $$31$$ syllables broken into five
different lines. $$[4]$$ Later, the "waka" format was distilled into the $$5-7-5-7-7$$
syllables-per-line format that is still used and recognized today.
$$[5]$$ During the same time period, writers played word games. $$[6]$$ The
syllabic $$5-7-5-7-7$$ structure would remain throughout the work, adhering
to the guidelines used in ceremonies and royal court proceedings.
$$[7]$$ They would compose lines of poetry, alternating turns, until long
strings of text called "renga were created. $$[8]$$ It was not until the $$15th$$
and $$16th$$ centuries that writers of "renga" broke with tradition and
shortened the form, writing "hokku," meaning "first verse". $$[9]$$ $$4$$ This
name changed into "haiku" over time. $$5$$
$$6$$ Previously, hokku master Matsunaga Teitoku begain teaching
renga in an attempt to ignite a classical renaissance. He founded a
writing school where he taught Matsuo Basho, who is now known as
one of Japan's most famous writers. Basho traveled throughout Japan
writing about nature and his travels.
It is through Basho's many poems that $$7$$ haiku came to be known
as being pretty tied up with nature and the seasons. $$8$$ Basho influenced
many students of verse over the course of his lifetime, and was declared
the saint of the haiku in the Shinto religion.
It was not until $$1827$$ that the hokku was renamed haiku by
Masaoka Shiki. $$9$$ Shiki was a poet, and he most famously shrank the structure of the
haiku to its current format of $$5-7-5. His work $$10$$ helped
western writers like e.e.cummings and Ezra Pound, but haiku did not
become the easily recognizable, popular type of poetry that it is today
until writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac popularized it.
These writers were taken by $$11$$ the brevity of the form, but it provided
them a new, challenging form of expression while enabling them
to share full ideas in such a short form. Both Japanses and American
poets continue to use the structures to create snapshots of beauty and calm.

Of the many forms poetry can take, triolet, ballad, ode,
and epigram, to name a few, none is quite as
briefly as the Japanese haiku.
With a $$2$$ complex history and a challenging structure, the
haiku is as popular as it is difficult to master. Composed of only three
lines and $$17$$ or fewer syllables, haiku have been written by some of the
world's most prominent poets.
3 $$[1]$$ Pre-Buddhist and early Shinto ceremonies included
narrative poems called "uta", or songs. $$[2]$$ These songs were written
about common activities like planting and prayer. $$[3]$$ The most popular
"uta" were "waka", or songs featuring $$31$$ syllables broken into five
different lines. $$[4]$$ Later, the "waka" format was distilled into the $$5-7-5-7-7$$
syllables-per-line format that is still used and recognized today.
$$[5]$$ During the same time period, writers played word games. $$[6]$$ The
syllabic $$5-7-5-7-7$$ structure would remain throughout the work, adhering
to the guidelines used in ceremonies and royal court proceedings.
$$[7]$$ They would compose lines of poetry, alternating turns, until long
strings of text called "renga were created. $$[8]$$ It was not until the $$15th$$
and $$16th$$ centuries that writers of "renga" broke with tradition and
shortened the form, writing "hokku," meaning "first verse". $$[9]$$ $$4$$ This
name changed into "haiku" over time. $$5$$
$$6$$ Previously, hokku master Matsunaga Teitoku begain teaching
renga in an attempt to ignite a classical renaissance. He founded a
writing school where he taught Matsuo Basho, who is now known as
one of Japan's most famous writers. Basho traveled throughout Japan
writing about nature and his travels.
It is through Basho's many poems that $$7$$ haiku came to be known
as being pretty tied up with nature and the seasons. $$8$$ Basho influenced
many students of verse over the course of his lifetime, and was declared
the saint of the haiku in the Shinto religion.
It was not until $$1827$$ that the hokku was renamed haiku by
Masaoka Shiki. $$9$$ Shiki was a poet, and he most famously shrank the structure of the
haiku to its current format of $$5-7-5. His work $$10$$ helped
western writers like e.e.cummings and Ezra Pound, but haiku did not
become the easily recognizable, popular type of poetry that it is today
until writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac popularized it.
These writers were taken by $$11$$ the brevity of the form, but it provided
them a new, challenging form of expression while enabling them
to share full ideas in such a short form. Both Japanses and American
poets continue to use the structures to create snapshots of beauty and calm.

Of the many forms poetry can take, triolet, ballad, ode,
and epigram, to name a few, none is quite as
briefly as the Japanese haiku.
With a $$2$$ complex history and a challenging structure, the
haiku is as popular as it is difficult to master. Composed of only three
lines and $$17$$ or fewer syllables, haiku have been written by some of the
world's most prominent poets.
3 $$[1]$$ Pre-Buddhist and early Shinto ceremonies included
narrative poems called "uta", or songs. $$[2]$$ These songs were written
about common activities like planting and prayer. $$[3]$$ The most popular
"uta" were "waka", or songs featuring $$31$$ syllables broken into five
different lines. $$[4]$$ Later, the "waka" format was distilled into the $$5-7-5-7-7$$
syllables-per-line format that is still used and recognized today.
$$[5]$$ During the same time period, writers played word games. $$[6]$$ The
syllabic $$5-7-5-7-7$$ structure would remain throughout the work, adhering
to the guidelines used in ceremonies and royal court proceedings.
$$[7]$$ They would compose lines of poetry, alternating turns, until long
strings of text called "renga were created. $$[8]$$ It was not until the $$15th$$
and $$16th$$ centuries that writers of "renga" broke with tradition and
shortened the form, writing "hokku," meaning "first verse". $$[9]$$ $$4$$ This
name changed into "haiku" over time. $$5$$
$$6$$ Previously, hokku master Matsunaga Teitoku begain teaching
renga in an attempt to ignite a classical renaissance. He founded a
writing school where he taught Matsuo Basho, who is now known as
one of Japan's most famous writers. Basho traveled throughout Japan
writing about nature and his travels.
It is through Basho's many poems that $$7$$ haiku came to be known
as being pretty tied up with nature and the seasons. $$8$$ Basho influenced
many students of verse over the course of his lifetime, and was declared
the saint of the haiku in the Shinto religion.
It was not until $$1827$$ that the hokku was renamed haiku by
Masaoka Shiki. $$9$$ Shiki was a poet, and he most famously shrank the structure of the
haiku to its current format of $$5-7-5. His work $$10$$ helped
western writers like e.e.cummings and Ezra Pound, but haiku did not
become the easily recognizable, popular type of poetry that it is today
until writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac popularized it.
These writers were taken by $$11$$ the brevity of the form, but it provided
them a new, challenging form of expression while enabling them
to share full ideas in such a short form. Both Japanses and American
poets continue to use the structures to create snapshots of beauty and calm.

Of the many forms poetry can take, triolet, ballad, ode,
and epigram, to name a few, none is quite as
briefly as the Japanese haiku.
With a $$2$$ complex history and a challenging structure, the
haiku is as popular as it is difficult to master. Composed of only three
lines and $$17$$ or fewer syllables, haiku have been written by some of the
world's most prominent poets.
3 $$[1]$$ Pre-Buddhist and early Shinto ceremonies included
narrative poems called "uta", or songs. $$[2]$$ These songs were written
about common activities like planting and prayer. $$[3]$$ The most popular
"uta" were "waka", or songs featuring $$31$$ syllables broken into five
different lines. $$[4]$$ Later, the "waka" format was distilled into the $$5-7-5-7-7$$
syllables-per-line format that is still used and recognized today.
$$[5]$$ During the same time period, writers played word games. $$[6]$$ The
syllabic $$5-7-5-7-7$$ structure would remain throughout the work, adhering
to the guidelines used in ceremonies and royal court proceedings.
$$[7]$$ They would compose lines of poetry, alternating turns, until long
strings of text called "renga were created. $$[8]$$ It was not until the $$15th$$
and $$16th$$ centuries that writers of "renga" broke with tradition and
shortened the form, writing "hokku," meaning "first verse". $$[9]$$ $$4$$ This
name changed into "haiku" over time. $$5$$
$$6$$ Previously, hokku master Matsunaga Teitoku begain teaching
renga in an attempt to ignite a classical renaissance. He founded a
writing school where he taught Matsuo Basho, who is now known as
one of Japan's most famous writers. Basho traveled throughout Japan
writing about nature and his travels.
It is through Basho's many poems that $$7$$ haiku came to be known
as being pretty tied up with nature and the seasons. $$8$$ Basho influenced
many students of verse over the course of his lifetime, and was declared
the saint of the haiku in the Shinto religion.
It was not until $$1827$$ that the hokku was renamed haiku by
Masaoka Shiki. $$9$$ Shiki was a poet, and he most famously shrank the structure of the
haiku to its current format of $$5-7-5. His work $$10$$ helped
western writers like e.e.cummings and Ezra Pound, but haiku did not
become the easily recognizable, popular type of poetry that it is today
until writers like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac popularized it.
These writers were taken by $$11$$ the brevity of the form, but it provided
them a new, challenging form of expression while enabling them
to share full ideas in such a short form. Both Japanses and American
poets continue to use the structures to create snapshots of beauty and calm.

The following passage is adapted from a novel set in the early twentieth century. Mr. Beebe, a clergyman, is speaking with Cecil Vyse about a mutual acquaintance, Lucy Honey church. Miss Honey church has recently returned from a journey with her older cousin and chaperone, Miss Bartlett.
Lucy Honey church has no faults, said Cecil, with grave sincerity. I quite agree. At present she has none. 
At present?
Im not cynical. Im only thinking of my pet theory about Miss Honeychurch. Does it seem reasonable that she should play piano so wonderfully, and live so quietly? I suspect that someday she shall be wonderful in both. The water-tight compartments in her will break down and music and life will mingle. Then we shall have her heroically good, heroically badtoo heroic, perhaps, to be good or bad. Cecil found his companion interesting. And at present you think her not wonderful as far as life goes? Well, I must say Ive only seen her at Tunbridge Wells, where she was not wonderful, and at Florence. She wasnt wonderful in Florence either, but I kept on expecting that she would be.  
In what way?
Conversation had become agreeable to them, and they were pacing up and down the terrace. I could as easily tell you what tune shell play next. There was simply the sense that she found wings and meant to use them. I can show you a beautiful picture in my diary. Miss Honey church as a kite, Miss Bartlett holding the string. Picture number two: the string breaks. The sketch was in his diary, but it had been made afterwards, when he viewed things artistically. At the time he had given surreptitious tugs to the string himself. 
But the string never broke? No. I mightnt have seen Miss Honeychurch rise, but I should certainly have heard Miss Bartlett fall. It has broken now, said the young man in low, vibrating tones. Immediately he realized that of all the conceited, ludicrous, contemptible ways of announcing an engagement this was the worst. He cursed his love of metaphor; had he suggested that he was a star and that Lucy was soaring up to reach him?
Broken? What do you mean? 
I meant, Cecil said stiffly, that she is going to marry me. 
The clergyman was conscious of some bitter disappointment which he could not keep out of his voice. 
I am sorry; I must apologize. I had no idea you were intimate with her, or I should never have talked in this flippant, superficial way. You ought to have stopped me. And down in the garden he saw Lucy herself; yes, he was disappointed. 
Cecil, who naturally preferred congratulations to apologies, drew down the corner of his mouth. Was this the reaction his action would get from the whole world? Of course, he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement. 
 Im sorry I have given you a shock, he said dryly. I fear that Lucys choice does not meet with your approval.

The following passage is adapted from a novel set in the early twentieth century. Mr. Beebe, a clergyman, is speaking with Cecil Vyse about a mutual acquaintance, Lucy Honey church. Miss Honey church has recently returned from a journey with her older cousin and chaperone, Miss Bartlett.
Lucy Honey church has no faults, said Cecil, with grave sincerity. I quite agree. At present she has none. 
At present?
Im not cynical. Im only thinking of my pet theory about Miss Honeychurch. Does it seem reasonable that she should play piano so wonderfully, and live so quietly? I suspect that someday she shall be wonderful in both. The water-tight compartments in her will break down and music and life will mingle. Then we shall have her heroically good, heroically badtoo heroic, perhaps, to be good or bad. Cecil found his companion interesting. And at present you think her not wonderful as far as life goes? Well, I must say Ive only seen her at Tunbridge Wells, where she was not wonderful, and at Florence. She wasnt wonderful in Florence either, but I kept on expecting that she would be.  
In what way?
Conversation had become agreeable to them, and they were pacing up and down the terrace. I could as easily tell you what tune shell play next. There was simply the sense that she found wings and meant to use them. I can show you a beautiful picture in my diary. Miss Honey church as a kite, Miss Bartlett holding the string. Picture number two: the string breaks. The sketch was in his diary, but it had been made afterwards, when he viewed things artistically. At the time he had given surreptitious tugs to the string himself. 
But the string never broke? No. I mightnt have seen Miss Honeychurch rise, but I should certainly have heard Miss Bartlett fall. It has broken now, said the young man in low, vibrating tones. Immediately he realized that of all the conceited, ludicrous, contemptible ways of announcing an engagement this was the worst. He cursed his love of metaphor; had he suggested that he was a star and that Lucy was soaring up to reach him?
Broken? What do you mean? 
I meant, Cecil said stiffly, that she is going to marry me. 
The clergyman was conscious of some bitter disappointment which he could not keep out of his voice. 
I am sorry; I must apologize. I had no idea you were intimate with her, or I should never have talked in this flippant, superficial way. You ought to have stopped me. And down in the garden he saw Lucy herself; yes, he was disappointed. 
Cecil, who naturally preferred congratulations to apologies, drew down the corner of his mouth. Was this the reaction his action would get from the whole world? Of course, he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement. 
 Im sorry I have given you a shock, he said dryly. I fear that Lucys choice does not meet with your approval.

The following passage is adapted from a novel set in the early twentieth century. Mr. Beebe, a clergyman, is speaking with Cecil Vyse about a mutual acquaintance, Lucy Honey church. Miss Honey church has recently returned from a journey with her older cousin and chaperone, Miss Bartlett.
Lucy Honey church has no faults, said Cecil, with grave sincerity. I quite agree. At present she has none. 
At present?
Im not cynical. Im only thinking of my pet theory about Miss Honeychurch. Does it seem reasonable that she should play piano so wonderfully, and live so quietly? I suspect that someday she shall be wonderful in both. The water-tight compartments in her will break down and music and life will mingle. Then we shall have her heroically good, heroically badtoo heroic, perhaps, to be good or bad. Cecil found his companion interesting. And at present you think her not wonderful as far as life goes? Well, I must say Ive only seen her at Tunbridge Wells, where she was not wonderful, and at Florence. She wasnt wonderful in Florence either, but I kept on expecting that she would be.  
In what way?
Conversation had become agreeable to them, and they were pacing up and down the terrace. I could as easily tell you what tune shell play next. There was simply the sense that she found wings and meant to use them. I can show you a beautiful picture in my diary. Miss Honey church as a kite, Miss Bartlett holding the string. Picture number two: the string breaks. The sketch was in his diary, but it had been made afterwards, when he viewed things artistically. At the time he had given surreptitious tugs to the string himself. 
But the string never broke? No. I mightnt have seen Miss Honeychurch rise, but I should certainly have heard Miss Bartlett fall. It has broken now, said the young man in low, vibrating tones. Immediately he realized that of all the conceited, ludicrous, contemptible ways of announcing an engagement this was the worst. He cursed his love of metaphor; had he suggested that he was a star and that Lucy was soaring up to reach him?
Broken? What do you mean? 
I meant, Cecil said stiffly, that she is going to marry me. 
The clergyman was conscious of some bitter disappointment which he could not keep out of his voice. 
I am sorry; I must apologize. I had no idea you were intimate with her, or I should never have talked in this flippant, superficial way. You ought to have stopped me. And down in the garden he saw Lucy herself; yes, he was disappointed. 
Cecil, who naturally preferred congratulations to apologies, drew down the corner of his mouth. Was this the reaction his action would get from the whole world? Of course, he despised the world as a whole; every thoughtful man should; it is almost a test of refinement. 
 Im sorry I have given you a shock, he said dryly. I fear that Lucys choice does not meet with your approval.

The following passage is adapted from a book published in 1999.
Calling it a cover-up would be far too dramatic. But for more than half a centuryeven in the midst of some of the greatest scientific achievements in historyphysicists have been quietly aware of a dark cloud looming on a distant horizon. The problem is this: There are two foundational pillars upon which modern physics rests. One is general relativity, which provides a theoretical framework for understanding the universe on the largest of scales: stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and beyond to the immense expanse of the universe itself. The other is quantum mechanics, which provides a theoretical framework for understanding the universe on the smallest of scales: molecules, atoms, and all the way down to subatomic particles like electrons and quarks. Through years of research, physicists have experimentally confirmed to almost unimaginable accuracy virtually all predictions made by each of these theories. But these same theoretical tools inexorably lead to another disturbing conclusion: As they are currently formulated, general relativity and quantum mechanics cannot both be right. The two theories underlying the tremendous progress of physics during the last hundred yearsprogress that has explained the expansion of the heavens and the fundamental structure of matterare mutually incompatible. 
   If you have not heard previously about this ferocious antagonism, you may be wondering why. The answer is not hard to come by. In all but the most extreme situations, physicists study things that are either small and light (like atoms and their constituents) or things that are huge and heavy (like stars and galaxies), but not both. This means that they need use only quantum mechanics or only general relativity and can, with a furtive glance, shrug off the barking admonition of the other. For 50 years this approach has not been quite as blissful as ignorance, but it has been pretty close.
      But the universe can be extreme. In the central depths of a black hole, an enormous mass is crushed to a minuscule size. According to the big bang theory, the whole of the universe erupted from a microscopic nugget whose size makes a grain of sand look colossal. These are realms that are tiny and yet incredibly massive, therefore requiring that both quantum mechanics and general relativity simultaneously be brought to bear. The equations of general relativity and quantum mechanics, when combined, begin to shake, rattle, and gush with steam like a decrepit automobile. Put less figuratively, well-posed physical questions elicit nonsensical answers from the unhappy amalgam of these two theories. Even if you are willing to keep the deep interior of a black hole and the beginning of the universe shrouded in mystery, you cant help feeling that the hostility between quantum mechanics and general relativity cries out for a deeper level of understanding. Can it really be that the universe at its most fundamental level is divided, requiring one set of laws when things are large and a different, incompatible set when things are small?
     Superstring theory, a young upstart compared with the venerable edifices of quantum mechanics and general relativity, answers with a resounding no. Intense research over the past decade by physicists and mathematicians around the world has revealed that this new approach to describing matter at its most fundamental level resolves the tension between general relativity and quantum mechanics. In fact, superstring theory shows more: within this new framework, general relativity and quantum mechanics require one another for the theory to make sense. According to superstring theory, the marriage of the laws of the large and the small is not only happy but inevitable. Superstring theory has the potential to show that all of the wondrous happenings in the universefrom the frantic dance of subatomic quarks to the stately waltz of orbiting binary starsare reflections of one grand physical principle, one master equation.