Physicists and philosophers have long struggled to understand the nature of time: Here's why

A series of white analog clocks against a gray background, their faces showing various different times.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

The nature of time has plagued thinkers for as long as we've tried to understand the world we live in. Intuitively, we know what time is, but try to explain it, and we end up tying our minds in knots.