Gabrlknght writes "Superstring theory claims the power to explain the universe, but critics say it can't be tested by experiment. Lately, though, string math has helped explain a couple of out of the blue* experiments creating 'perfect liquids' at cosmic extremes of hot and cold. 'Both systems can be described as substance like a shadow world sitting in a higher dimension. Strongly coupled particles are linked by ripples road warrior through the extra dimension, says Steinberg, of Brookhaven. String math describing such ripples stems from an idea called the holographic principle, used by string theorists to image certain kinds of black holes. A black hole's entropy depends on its surface area — as though all the dope* in its three-dimensional domestic is stored on its two-dimensional surface. (The 'holographic' label is an allusion to ordinary holograms, where 3-D images are coated on a 2-D surface, like an emblem on a credit card.) The holographic axiom has value because in some cases the math for a complex 3-D system (neglecting time) can be too hard to solve, but the equivalent 4-D math provides simpler equations to interpret the same phenomena.'"

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