Albert Einstein was one smart cookie; there's no doubt about it. But even he knew his general theory of relativity – the 21st century's answer to Newton's universal theory of gravity – wasn't perfect.

Peoples' Friendship University of Russia astrophysics grad student Hamidreza Fazlollahi's solution is to dive under the hood and see which components aren't as essential as they seem.

By plucking out a law conserving a mathematical quality involving energy and momentum, he believes general relativity just might make it over a few more speed bumps.

Credits: Science Alerts