Category Archives: This Week’s Hype

Absurd press releases from major universities hyping the idea that “string theorists have finally found a way to test string theory” have been a feature of theoretical physics for decades now. This nonsense is never going to stop. Latest example … Continue reading →

No. If you want to hear Cumrun Vafa’s latest “predictions of string theory”, there’s a podcast at Quanta magazine you could listen to. Over the years, Vafa has promoted various proposals for “predictions” of string theory. For instance, back in … Continue reading →

NYU today put out a press release claiming that Physicists ‘Bootstrap’ Validity of String Theory, telling us that NYU and Caltech scientists develop innovative mathematical approach to back existence of long-held framework explaining all physical reality. and String theory, conceptualized … Continue reading →

If a post-truth field of science is going to keep going, it needs to convince funders and the public that progress is being made, so there’s a continual need for people uninterested in truth and willing to produce appropriate propaganda. … Continue reading →

Today’s Washington Post has an opinion piece from Brian Greene, running under the demonstrably false title Decades later, string theory continues its march toward Einstein’s dream. In the piece, the argument of string theory critics is given as: Critics argue … Continue reading →

PRL has just published this paper (preprint here), with associated press release here. The press release explains that the authors have discovered how to use string theory to provide “an easier way to extract pi from calculations involved in deciphering … Continue reading →

Until about a year and a half ago, the way to get funding in physics was to somehow associate yourself to the hot trend of quantum computing and quantum information theory. Large parts of the string theory and quantum gravity … Continue reading →

If I’m going to point to something about string theory and say the same things as always about it, seems best to first start with the opposite, an item about something really worth reading. This spring I’ve been teaching a … Continue reading →

For the last thirty years or so, one tactic of those who refuse to admit the failure of string theory has been to go to the press with bogus claims of “we finally have found a way to get testable … Continue reading →