Strings Link the Ultracold with the Superhot
Perfect liquids suggest theory’s math mirrors something real
Shadows live in a simple world. They glide effortlessly across any sort of surface, oblivious to the higher dimension of space in which 3-D bodies move, collide and sometimes block the paths of rays of light.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/10165.jpg?resize=300%2C136&ssl=1)
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sciencenews.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/10166.jpg?resize=300%2C53&ssl=1)
Shadows have no idea how important that third dimension is, and how objects in it endow those very shadows with their quasi-physical existence. Indeed, the laws of shadow physics all depend on the third dimension’s presence. And just as the clueless inhabitants of the shadow world require an extra dimension to explain how they exist and interact, reality for humans may also depend on an invisible dimension or dimensions unknown.