I am not an expert and it's been a while, so please feel free to correct me. There are two contexts the string theory is talked about. First, it is by most co

I am not an expert and it's been a while, so please feel free to correct me. There are two contexts the string theory is talked about. First, it is by most considered the most promising theory of fundamental interactions (a.k.a. the theory of everything in press and blogs.) Second, it has been shown about ten years ago that there is an equivalence between some version of string theory and some field theories. The second part makes it possible to use string theory for calculations in quantum field theory. It is not related at all to whether string theory is indeed the correct fundamental theory. (It also means you can't kill string theory: even if some other theory, say loop quantum gravity, is the correct fundamental theory, you can still use string theory for calculations in the quantum field theory.) As far as I understand, the new results the OP mentions are derived using the latter technique, i.e., applying string theory to obtain results in regular field theory. As such, it has nothing to do with demonstrating physical reality of string theory, at least not in the most obvious sense. The original article: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1174962 http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1174962