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Nature Physics 4, 11–12 (1 January 2008) | doi:10.1038/nphys816

String cosmology: Cosmic defects in the lab

Cliff Burgess

A surprising and fascinating interplay may be emerging between string theory and condensed-matter physics. String theorists and condensed-matter experimentalists are not known for congregating at the same meetings. This is not exclusively due to any pig-headedness on either side, but rather reflects a fundamental fact that is often taken for granted: nature comes to us on a variety of scales, and we don't need to understand them all at once.