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Nature 449, 797-798 (18 October 2007) | doi:10.1038/449797a; Published online 17 October 2007

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String theory: Back to basics

Hermann Nicolai1

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Long touted as a theory of everything, it seems that string theory may at last succeed as a theory of something very specific — the interactions of particles under the strong nuclear force.

Whether string theory can live up to its claim of being a 'theory of everything', and whether it will ever produce a falsifiable prediction as such, remain hotly debated questions. Meanwhile, developments in a quieter side-alley1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 indicate that the theory might be about to deliver something of its original promise: helping us to understand the physics of interactions mediated by the strong nuclear force.

  1. Hermann Nicolai is at the Max-Planck-Institut für Gravitationsphysik (Albert-Einstein-Institut), Mühlenberg 1, D-14476 Potsdam, Germany.
    Email: nicolai@aei.mpg.de

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