SuperString Theory and You

String Theory can be explained thusly for dolts like me: Shrink everything in the universe down to its smallest part, or elementary particles, and we should find we're all the same stuff. Not particles of the same matter, smaller than that. Think about the stuff that makes an electron an electron and a neutrino a neutrino and a quark a quark.
Physicists call it String Theory and hope it will unite quantum physics with the rest of the mathematical world. It is hoped String Theory will be the unified theory of all four observed forces in nature: Electromagnetism, Gravity, Strong Force (Atom bombs go BOOM! When this bond is broken) and Weak Forces (radiation slowly leaks past this bond.)
Physicists suggest all matter in the universe is comprised of these minuscule, twisted, vibrating strings. Based on its vibrations and/or oscillations, a string could be anything--a positron or a proton. They also suggest these strings conceal (or create) alternate dimensions within them.
The fact is, something makes particles on a sub-atomic level function differently--for instance, gravity seems to have no effect on electrons circling the nucleus of an atom, so it's theorized there is another set of dynamics at play in the universe, and most people call them "Strings."
Anyway, nobody has been able to prove this is the case, but researchers are getting closer.

Two Physicists recently announced they might have discovered how and why the universe formed the way it did, revealing it had a choice of developing either three or seven dimensions.

Here's a cool story from scientific journalist Diana Steele. I know, it's hard for some scientists to believe a woman could get her pretty little head around such complex issues and write a compelling story, but here's the link anyway. Check it out!