Perhaps more fundamental yet, it should be possible to perform a calculation called anomaly cancellation on Weinstein's equations, says Conlon. This checks whether a list of particles is a consistent extension of the standard model, much like the digits of a credit card number can be added in a certain way to confirm their validity. If the predicted particles fail the test, the theory is wrong. "It would take an hour and a half," Conlon said to Weinstein at the lecture.
"Can I ask you to do that?" countered Weinstein, who admitted that he did not have answers to these and other questions raised by his talk, but said he would like to discuss them further. He also has remained vague about when and where his equations will appear in print.
In some sense, though, it is a happy resolution to the media storm. Weinstein has found some physicists who are perhaps willing to listen and guide him, and his theory will face the scrutiny that should be applied to any good scientific idea. Geometric Unity could turn out to be a theory of everything – or just a nice bit of mathematics.