ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2008) reports that exotic new particles may offer a glimpse of the existence and shapes of extra dimensions when the world's most powerful particle accelerator starts up later this year.

Gary Shiu, lead author of a paper appearing in the Jan. 25 issue of Physical Review Letters, said Much as the shape of a musical instrument determines its sound, the shape of these dimensions determines the properties and behavior of our four-dimensional universe (bold added) ...

String theory describes the fundamental particles of the universe as tiny vibrating strings of energy. Scientists using this theory suggest the existence of six or seven unseen spatial dimensions in addition to the time and three space dimensions that we normally see and conventional wisdom accepts as scientific fact.

The shape of the dimensions is crucial because, in string theory, the way the string vibrates determines the pattern of particle masses and the forces that we feel.

Shiu commented, "There are myriad possibilities for the shapes of the extra dimensions out there. It would be useful to know a way to distinguish one from another and perhaps use experimental data to narrow down the set of possibilities."


Just think of what this demonstration will do to school science curricula when scientists, as they expect to do, demonstrate four or more dimensions of reality.

I know a middle school student waiting for her science teachers to discuss string theory in class. Maybe she can use her Tablet PC to read about it outside of school.

I wonder if we're seeing the emergence of something about dimensions of reality akin to the end of the flat earth theory of hundreds of years ago.

Thanks, KurzwellAI.net, for the tip.

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