Scientists: Nature's Fundamental Laws May Be Changing

ScienceLive via Fox News ^ | July 13, 2006 | Michael Schirber

[grey_whiskers]

Public confidence in the "constants" of nature may be at an all-time low.

Recent research has found evidence that the value of certain fundamental parameters, such as the speed of light or the strength of the invisible glue that holds atomic nuclei together, may have been different in the past.

"There is absolutely no reason these constants should be constant," says astronomer Michael Murphy of the University of Cambridge. "These are famous numbers in physics, but we have no real reason for why they are what they are."

The observed differences are small — roughly a few parts in a million — but the implications are huge.

The laws of physics would have to be rewritten, and we might need to make room for six or seven more dimensions than the four — the three spatial ones, plus time — that we are used to.

[grey_whiskers]

I posted the thread more with

in mind.

I saw it on the dust jacket of the copy of Warped Passages which I got from the library.

Cheers!

[MHGinTN]

I had to buy a copy because when I read a non-fiction book I mark it up ... I know, it's a sacrilege to mark up a book, but it allows me to dive in while maintaining a place beside the pool.

[MHGinTN]

Ah, you fallen for the deceit that the fine tuning happened only the once, at the start of it all.

[csense]