I read about string theory a while ago, has there been any progression in this theory..?

Question

also, have there been any other popular 'Unifying' theories in the last 4 years or so

Answer 1

Here is some of the progress in high energy physics from the past week:
http://www.arxiv.org/list/hep-th/recent
String theory features in many of these papers.

String theory is a very active research area. There are far more than a "handful" of people working on it.

Ed Witten ( http://www.sns.ias.edu/~witten/ ) has made many contributions to the field. He has some short articles written for non-experts on his webpage.

Answer 2

There is a handful of eminent physicists and mathematicians devoting their lifetimes to string theory. The latest thoughts (if not true theories) are:

1. The several string theories that once embarrassed physicists, because only one theory should be the right one, have been combined into M theory, which says the several string theories are just different points of view of the same thing.

2. M theory specifies that the "strings" really are membranes (sheets) rather than strings. Like strings, though, the branes exist in multidimensions beyond our four dimensions.

3. No one has yet conducted experiments to test the brane theory (or strings). Some have been proposed, but not carried out as yet. One of the coolest proposed experiments has to do with measuring gravitons (the gravity messenger particle) to see why gravity is so weak. The theory is that gravitons are weak because part of their effect escapes into the higher dimensions predicted by string theory. The problem with this experiment, of course, is that no one has found, let alone measured, a graviton.

Until M theory can be tested, it remains more a philosophy than a theory.

Answer 3

I don't know much about string theory, in fact I have only a basic idea of what it's about, but there was something I read about it recently. Apparently it seems to have a rival, called loop quantum gravity which is earning more respect than string theory. Apparently loop quantum gravity "describe elementary particles as merely tangles in space" where "everything in the universe emerges from a simple network of relationships, with no fundamental building blocks at all". If this means anything to you then great.

Answer 4

Quantum Leap - Dr Sam Beckett

Answer 5

Not really as they all got tied up in the theory

Answer 6

Theoretical work if continuing. I don't think we have competed building the necessary equipment to conduct useful experimental tests.

Answer 7

they are beginning to think that super string theory is wrong i believe.

Answer 8

Not much change ...
Still working on about 11 dimensions...