2006-10-24 17:17:12 · 3 answers · asked by srikanta 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Superstring theory & 'M' theory...
Each theory was like a large planet of which we only knew a small island somewhere on the planet. But over the last four years, techniques were developed to explore the theories more thoroughly, in other words, to travel around the seas in each of those planets and find new islands. And only then it was realized that those five string theories are actually islands on the same planet, not different ones! Thus there is an underlying theory of which all string theories are only different aspects. This was called M-theory. The M might stand for Mother of all theories or Mystery, because the planet we call M-theory is still largely unexplored.
2006-10-24 19:58:07 · answer #1 · answered by Jasee J 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Alas, there are no "new" developments in string theory, or in it's subfields. Sure it has been noodled about and now it is being applied to new concepts on dark energy and confinement of the early universe, but as a scientific theory it remains exactly where it has been for a long, long time: A very pretty piece of mathematics that does not predict the behaviour of the universe any better than existing theories and makes no new predictions that can be tested using the scientific instruments that he have today.
2006-10-25 19:19:09 · answer #2 · answered by wugga-mugga 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's not vibrating strings after all. The universe is held together by DUCT TAPE!
2006-10-25 01:59:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋