It turns out that almost nothing is as curious--or as enlightening--as, well, nothing. What is nothingness? Where can it be found? The writers of the world's top-selling science magazine investigate--from the big bang, dark energy, and the void to superconductors, vestigial organs, hypnosis, and the placebo effect--and discover that understanding nothing may be the key to understanding everything:

What came before the big bang, and will our universe end?
How might cooling matter down almost to absolute zero help solve our energy crisis?
How can someone suffer from a false diagnosis as though it were true?
Does nothingness even exist? Recent experiments suggest that squeezing a perfect vacuum somehow creates light.
Why is it unfair to accuse sloths--animals who do nothing--of being lazy? And more!

Contributors Paul Davies, Jo Marchant, and Ian Stewart, along with two former editors of Nature and 16 other leading writers and scientists, marshal up-to-the-minute research to make one of the most perplexing realms in science dazzlingly clear. Prepare to be amazed at how much more there is to nothing than you ever realized.