Gravitation Anomaly Measured

Rob Riggs writes "Is there a hole in Einstein's Theory of Relativity? A story in The Economist talks about an apparent gravitation anomaly recorded during solar eclipses. According to Chris Duif at the Delft University of Technology, the 'Allais effect' is real, unexplained, and could be linked to another anomaly involving a the Pioneer spacecraft. More detailed information can be found in the paper he has just posted on arXiv.org."

Comments

The Economist?

[raider_red]

Why is this being carried in the Economist? Shouldn't it be picked up by New Scientist or some other scientific (or pseudo-scientific) publication?

Re:The Economist?

[dustmite]

Which in my mind only casts doubt on its existance.

Indeed. An economist making a valuable contribution to science ... that's almost as absurd as, oh, I don't know, a patent clerk making a valuable contribution to science.

Re:Einstein would not be surprised

[Ignignot]

Exactly. There are almost certainly missing elements in the model for gravity, for quantum mechanics, and so on. Maybe sometime in the future someone will come up with a quantum - relativistic super duper theory that brings disparate theories together. Yes, some of that is what string theory is trying to do. In the end though, it is going to take a LOOONG time before advances in science can be applied to engineering. Finding new particles, finding dark matter, and finding where missing socks go have no real life application right now - and I can't even imagine one. Just as math was (and still is) far ahead of where science can go, science is far ahead of where engineering can go. The missing elements of models would be useful for abstract knowledge, but have no practical use right now or probably in the next century.