Every time I read about a study that tries to explain some quirk of quantum mechanics or gravity by using more dimensions I get a little smirk on my face.  I just can’t help it.  It seems to me that a lot of theories  (such as parts of string theory) are based on people just making crap up and saying, well that sort of works as long as we tweak these values over here and adjust those formulas over there and insert this new constant here.  Ok, yes, they could very well be right.  Yes, they are far smarter than me and know way more.  I’m not saying that I don’t think there aren’t other dimensions.  It just twists my brain when I see people inventing new dimensions to solve a problem.  While it may be absolutely logical to do so it seems like a bit of a cop out to me unless your theory is testable or at least based on some real evidence.

The latest example is a possible explanation of dark energy.  Dark energy is that force we can’t seem to identify that is pushing the universe apart.  So, what is it?  I don’t know.  NewScientist reports Brian Greene and Janna Levin of Columbia University in New York have sketched out a possible solution involving quantum vibrations contained within 0.01 millimeter sized dimensions.  The most interesting thing about this idea, unlike so many others, though is that it should be testable.  According to their theory gravity would become stronger at distances of less than 0.01 millimeter.  So, if they are right we should be able to tell.  So far they have demonstrated that gravity is not any stronger in the 0.1 millimeter range so they are getting close.  It’ll be interesting to see where this leads.