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"The internet is full of people claiming to uncover conspiracies in politics and business..." reports the Wall Street Journal. "Now an unlikely new villain has been added to the list: theoretical physicists," they write, saygin resentment of scientific authority figures "is the major attraction of what might be called 'conspiracy physics'." In recent years, a group of YouTubers and podcasters have attracted millions of viewers by proclaiming that physics is in crisis. The field, they argue, has discovered little of importance in the last 50 years, because it is dominated by groupthink and silences anyone who dares to dissent from mainstream ideas, like string theory... Most fringe theories are too arcane for listeners to understand, but anyone can grasp the idea that academic physics is just one more corrupt and self-serving establishment... In this corner of the internet, the scientist Scott Aaronson has written, "Anyone perceived as the 'mainstream establishment' faces a near-insurmountable burden of proof, while anyone perceived as 'renegade' wins by default if they identify any hole whatsoever in mainstream understanding... As with other kinds of authorities, there are reasonable criticisms to be made of academic physics. By some metrics, scientific productivity has slowed since the 1970s. String theory has not fulfilled physicists' early dreams that it would become the ultimate explanation of all forces and matter in our universe. The Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest particle accelerator, has delivered fewer breakthroughs than scientists expected when it turned on in 2010. But even reasonable points become hard to recognize when expressed in the ways YouTube incentivizes. Conspiracy physics videos with titles like "They Just Keep Lying" are full of sour sarcasm, outraged facial expressions and spooky music... Leonard Susskind, director of the Stanford Institute for Theoretical Physics, says physicists need to be both more sober and more forceful when addressing the public. The limits of string theory should be acknowledged, he says, but the idea that progress has slowed isn't right. In the last few decades, he and other physicists have figured out how to make progress on the vast project of integrating general relativity and quantum mechanics, the century-old pillars of physics, into a single explanation of the universe. The bitter attacks on leading physicists get a succinct summary in the article from Chris Williamson, a "Love Island" contestant turned podcast host. "This is like 'The Kardashians' for physicists — I love it."

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Garrett Gee, the patriarch behind a well-known influencer family, has responded to intense online criticism after a video of him throwing his 7-year-old son off a cliff went viral.

Arguments over Brexit, transgender rights and immigration are some of the top reasons British couples have divorced, a study has revealed.

None of them speak English, and a tribunal accepted they would place 'a significant burden upon the public purse' if they were allowed to move to the UK.

Scientists say while it is unclear whether paracetamol causes autism something is clearly driving the increase in cases, with one in 100 now affected.

For the star-studded, weekend-long wedding ceremony, the lovebirds hired the same event planners who did one of Gomez's ex-boyfriend's wedding as well as her former BFF's.

The news was shared across social media by his long-term partner Phil Griffin, who confirmed the talented dancer had passed away the previous evening.

Openly gay, Infinite says his lifestyle drove a wedge between him and his father, with whom he has not spoken in more than a decade, and provided the creative spark that inspired his imminent release.

DANIEL MATTHEWS AT BETHPAGE BLACK: Bryson DeChambeau watched the ball drop and then turned towards the grandstand that climbed into the sky as dusk closed in over New York.

The frontman, 53, dropped the biggest hint yet that the band will be back following rumours that they will release tickets for Knebworth shows next summer.

Charles, who continues to be treated for an undisclosed form of cancer , and Camilla, 78, were driven in a Range Rover to the Sunday service at nearby Crathie Kirk.

The Team Europe star was the focus for a number of flashpoints as the atmosphere reached boiling point on Saturday, with the crowd screaming 'f*** you, Rory' at the Masters champion.

Strictly Come Dancing has introduced a major new twist to 'ease the pressure on head judge Shirley Ballas', who has faced years of relentless trolling over her dance-off decisions.

A four-year-old boy has vanished without a trace in South Australia.

Follow Mail Sport's live blog on the final day of the 2025 Ryder Cup on the Black Course of Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, New York.

PLUS: US court grounds China’s DJI; India requires 2FA for most payments; Great Firewall busters launch VPN; and more!

Asia In Brief  Over 600 e-government services operated by South Korea’s government are offline after a datacenter fire disrupted operations.…

Patriotism has emerged as a recurring theme of the political party conference season, with Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats trying to position themselves out in front.

One patient contemplated whether he should fulfill his newfound gay fantasies and described his new sexual urges after beginning the trenbolone.

"Swiss voters have backed plans for electronic identity cards by a wafer-thin margin," reports the Guardian, "in the second nationwide vote on the issue." In a referendum on Sunday, 50.4% of voters supported an electronic ID card, while 49.6% were against, confounding pollsters who had forecast stronger support for the "yes" vote. Turnout was 49.55%, higher than expected... [V]oters rejected an earlier version of the e-ID in 2021, largely over objections to the role of private companies in the system. In response to these concerns, the Swiss state will now provide the e-ID, which will be optional and free of charge... To ensure security the e-ID is linked to a single smartphone, users will have to get a new e-ID if they change their device... An ID card containing biometric data — fingerprints — will be available from the end of next year. Critics of the e-ID scheme raised data protection concerns and said it opened the door to mass surveillance. They also fear the voluntary scheme will become mandatory and disadvantage people without smartphones. The referendum was called after a coalition of rightwing and data-privacy parties collected more than 50,000 signatures against e-ID cards, triggering the vote. "To further ease privacy concerns, a particular authority seeking information on a person — such as proof of age or nationality, for example — will only be able to check for those specific details," notes the BBC: Supporters of the Swiss system say it will make life much easier for everyone, allowing a range of bureaucratic procedures — from getting a telephone contract to proving you are old enough to buy a bottle of wine — to happen quickly online. Opponents of digital ID cards, who gathered enough signatures to force another referendum on the issue, argue that the measure could still undermine individual privacy. They also fear that, despite the new restrictions on how data is collected and stored, it could still be used to track people and for marketing purposes. The BBC adds that the UK government also announced plans earlier this week to introduce its own digital ID, "which would be mandatory for employment. The proposed British digital ID would have fewer intended uses than the Swiss version, but has still raised concerns about privacy and data security." The Guardian reports: The referendum came soon after the UK government announced plans for a digital ID card, which would sit in the digital wallets of smartphones, using state-of-the-art encryption. More than 1.6 million people have signed a petition opposing e-ID cards, which would be mandatory for people working in the UK by 2029. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.

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In 2021, the Electoral Commission fined the think-tank run by Morgan McSweeney after identifying more than 20 breaches of election law relating to undeclared donations.