Laws of physics may just be 'local by-laws'

[ikos9lives]

Although it is commonly accepted that physical laws and values of fundamental constants are the same throughout our universe, a recent finding, in which the fine-structure constant alpha has been found to vary by a small amount (1 part in 100,000) going from one end of the universe to another, i.e. surprisingly the variation seems to be unidirectional. Here's the web link to the news article on this:

http://www.gizmag.com/laws-of-physics-may-vary-throughout-the-universe/16329/.

Comments? (I'd wonder myself about some sort of systematic experimental error, but the article doesn't give details about the experiment.)

[wuliheron]

Someone once said, "Every new astronomy headline contradicts the last". That's a bit of an exaggeration, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[arildno]

So what if it is true?

The point of generalizations made in physics is that they should be falsifiable.

This means that such generalizations, if they are to be worth anything, necessarily must be shaped in such a way that they assert how something-not-already-checked is going to behave.

In this case, a vague idea about variability of a "constant" is a worthless scientific claim, even if it is "truer" than a claim saying it IS constant, or a claim that it varies in some highly precise manner.

[Upisoft]

I wonder if the 2 telescopes have something to do with this observation. Maybe consistent errors based on the equipment or a different methodology.

[Siv]

Someone once said, "Every new astronomy headline contradicts the last". That's a bit of an exaggeration, but I wouldn't hold my breath.True.
But its amazing that we have been able to understand so much as it is. Our brains were not designed (and I just mean that as a manner of speaking, I am not an ID proponent!) to understand the universal constants or the theories of relativity.