Saw this today. If for no other reason, it's worth reading the highlighted portion below... because you'll wish you'd thought to say it.
"'Despite formidable odds, condensed matter physicists have made a breakthrough most thought impossible — finding a practical use for string theory. The initial breakthrough was made by physicist and cosmologist Juan Maldacena. His theory states that the known universe is only a 2D construct in anti-de-Sitter space, projected into 3 dimensions. This theory manages to model black holes and quantum theory congruently, a feat that has eluded scientists for decades; but it fails to correspond to the shape of space-time in the known universe. However, it does predict thermodynamic properties of black holes, including higher-dimensional viscosity — the equations for which elegantly and almost exactly calculate the behavior of quark-gluon plasma and other superfluids. According to Jan Zaanen at the University of Leiden, 'The theory is calculating precisely what we are seeing in experiments.' Unfortunately, the correspondence cannot prove or disprove string theory, although it is a positive step.'"
Read the full article here.
Of course, all that being said, there's no report about whether the developed theory was able to discriminate between to competing claims...
Nick, does this mean the world really is flat after all?
Paul Martin
Posted by: Paul Martin | June 08, 2009 at 03:53 PM