STRING theory began life in the late 1960s as an attempt to understand the properties of nuclear matter such as protons and neutrons. Although it was not successful it has since developed a life of its own as a possible theory of everything - with the potential to incorporate quantum gravity as well as the other forces of nature. However, in a remarkable about face in the last five years, it has now been discovered that string theory and the standard theory of nuclear matter - QCD - might in fact describe the same physics. This is an exciting development that was the centre of discussion at a major workshop in Seattle in February.
After spending 30 years as a possible theory of everything, string theory is returning to its roots to describe the interactions of quarks and gluons as Nick Evans describes in the May issue of Physics World. Nick Evans is in the Department of Physics at Southampton Univeristy; email evans@phys.soton.ac.uk