Regional Physics

The observation is in the early stages of peer review and validation but if this pans out it's huge.

The textbook industry will love this. Einstein, on the other hand, will roll over in his grave.

From The University of New South Wales...

The laws of physics are different in different parts of the universe, according to new evidence uncovered by a team of Australian and British astrophysicists.

One of the supposed fundamental constants of Nature appears not to be constant after all. The report describes how the "magic number" known as the fine-structure constant – dubbed alpha for short – appears to vary throughout the universe.

“The implications for our current understanding of science are profound. If the laws of physics turn out to be merely “local by-laws”, it might be that whilst our observable part of the universe favours the existence of life and human beings, other far more distant regions may exist where different laws preclude the formation of life, at least as we know it.

“If our results are correct, clearly we shall need new physical theories to satisfactorily describe them.”