The Fine Structure Constant how it varies

The Fine Structure Constant (alpha) seems to show a variation along a dipole. One end of the dipole is among objects that show high redshifts and provide a smaller alpha whereas the other end is among objects with even higher redshifts that provide higher values of alpha. Hmmm... Can't wait for readings from the other hemisphere of our universe.

Ever changing and always the same?

Today I read this:

After measuring alpha in around 300 distant galaxies, a consistency emerged: this magic number, which tells us the strength of electromagnetism, is not the same everywhere as it is here on Earth, and seems to vary continuously along a preferred axis through the universe,” Professor John Webb from the University of New South Wales said.

“The implications for our current understanding of science are profound. If the laws of physics turn out to be merely 'local by-laws', it might be that whilst our observable part of the universe favours the existence of life and human beings, other far more distant regions may exist where different laws preclude the formation of life, at least as we know it,” Webb added. “If our results are correct, clearly we shall need new physical theories to satisfactorily describe them.

A report of the discovery has been submitted by the University of New South Wales, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Cambridge for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters. A preliminary version of the paper is currently under peer review.

This is related to something that has held my interest since high school. That is, are physical constants time-invariant? Does the gravitational constant slowly change in some way? Does it slowly orbit some strange attractor values? Can it change in a discontinuous manner from x to z? Now they are saying that yes, this constant does change but what I want to know now is it different values in the same time frame?For example, if measuring alpha at distance x always yield the same alpha? If so, alpha may only vary with time. Remember a measurement taken at distance x is time t in the past as it takes light that long to travel to us. Thus another measurement a distance, 2x, happened at a time, 2t, ago. What we see is always in the past and what we see farther away is even farther in the past. It is actually comforting to me to find that yes, even the most meticulous research can mistake a curve for a line. Sorry, Albert, but the universe seems to be getting more complicated the more closely we look.