Physicists Visualize Extra Dimensions (Caution! Geeky Content!)

"Physicists find way to 'see' extra dimensions"
University of Wisconsin-Madison News Release(February 3, 2007)

"Peering backward in time to an instant after the big bang, physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have devised an approach that may help unlock the hidden shapes of alternate dimensions of the universe.

"A new study demonstrates that the shapes of extra dimensions can be "seen" by deciphering their influence on cosmic energy released by the violent birth of the universe 13 billion years ago. The method, published Feb. 2 in Physical Review Letters, provides evidence that physicists can use experimental data to discern the nature of these elusive dimensions...."

This 2007 press release goes on to discuss string theory, and how six dimensions affected space-time in the first moments after the Big Bang.

All of which won't get the lawn mowed, or your car fixed.

I think it's interesting, though.

For quite a few years now, physicists and cosmologists, some of them, anyway, have thought that there's no particular reason why the universe we're in had to be the way it is.

The mathematical models this release describes can be used to compare what's observed to what the models predict: which helps researchers understand more about what makes the universe tick.