Lagos, 7/25/2038 T.A.D. – They say a butterfly’s flap can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. But what about a whisper of a change in gravity’s constant, G?
The scientific community is abuzz after an international team of physicists, straddling both sides of the Kuznetsova Gateway, detected an incredibly subtle shift in the gravitational constant. It’s a change so minute it could only have been detected using the newly-developed Igwuatu-Zeeman interferometer, capable of measuring gravity with unprecedented precision.
“The implications are huge!” said Dr. Hanafi Igwuatu, co-inventor of the I-Z interferometer and head of the tiny Department of Theoretical Physics at the University of Lagos. “Though the change is nearly imperceptible – so incredibly, incredibly small, you understand? It could lead to long strides down the way of knowing our universe.”
While the discovery has no immediate practical implications, it’s triggered a tidal wave of theoretical speculation. Physicists worldwide are scrambling to interpret the data, and the theories range from the plausible to the fantastical.
Some speculate that this shift could be related to the existence of higher dimensions, while others suggest a fluctuating “force” of time. A popular theory is that this shift is somehow connected to the Kuznetsova Gateway itself.
“There is an immediate debate about whether the Kuznetsova Gateway might be influencing our physical constants,” said Dr. Elizah Parker, a temporal physicist the University of Chicago and expert on time’s portrayal in popular culture. “It’s a thrilling thought that this temporal anomaly could be opening up entire new realms of physics. People are going nuts.”
Another school of thought says it is not the Gateway influencing physical constants (“Utter nonsense,” one scientist commented), but rather the changing of what we thought were constants that allowed the Gateway to exist.
Yet others, currently the majority, are convinced there is no relation whatsoever between the measured variance in gravity and the existence of the Gateway. They point out there are existing versions of string theory that posit variable values of G. Investigations have already begun to design new experiments and instruments to further explore these possibilities.
“Gravity is one of the four fundamental forces. Seeing it shift, however minutely, is like watching a mountain move,” said Dr. Akiko Saito, a leading astrophysicist based in Tokyo. “It’s a fascinating puzzle, and we don’t even have all the pieces dumped in a pile on the table yet.”
Reporting for Future News, this is Gimba Mbuku in Lagos.
