Scientists may be on brink of discovering fifth force of nature

The tantalising theory that a fifth force of nature could exist has been given a boost thanks to unexpected wobbling by a subatomic particle, physicists have revealed. Now researchers have said there could be another, fifth, fundamental force of nature. They can be calculated very precisely in the standard model but that calculation involves quantum loops, with known particles appearing in those loops. “Maybe what they are seeing is standard scientific thinking – the so-called standard model,” Patel said. “So if the theory predictions get sorted out, this could indeed be the first confirmed evidence for a fifth force – or something else strange and beyond the standard model.”