Karmela Padavic-Callaghan via New Scientist:

‘One of the universe’s fundamental forces appears to be stronger than we thought, a finding that could lead to the discovery of new particles. The electroweak force unifies the electromagnetic and the weak nuclear forces. Under ordinary conditions, the two forces are distinct and play a role in different processes, such as the weak force being part of radioactive decay and the electromagnetic force affecting charged objects. But at very high energies and temperatures, like those seen in some stages of the early universe and in particle colliders, the two forces combine. Alessandro Conigli at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany and his colleagues have now calculated several properties that capture the strength of the electroweak force with unprecedented precision and found a discrepancy with past calculations…’