Submission + - A new, simple unifying theory of the universe (telegraph.co.uk)
aalobode writes: In an article titled "Surfer dude stuns physicists with theory of everything" the Times of London evaluates an article from New Scientist and reports that one Garret Lisi, a 39 year old physicist with a doctorate but no affiliation has come up with a testable theory that shows great promise. The theory's simplicity is also highlighted: needing 1 dimension of time and 3 of space as opposed to eight or more for competing theories. The theory is still being developed, and the crucial tests will be to make predictions that can be tested. String theory, one of the competing ideas, has failed to produce viable predictions. Fortunately, the Large Hadron Collider is due to come on line in Geneva in the near future and he can test his predictions there. It's always possible that beauty hides in simplicity — but the long shadow of cold fusion reminds us to take every new theory with a generous pinch of salt.
