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I'm intrigued by the result that there seems to be an axis along which the results vary. It suggests symmetry or development of some sort. I've no idea how to interpret the news, let's see how the physicists bounce the idea around. Hopefully they'll be able to make some predictions based on the results to further test the issue.
I'd be interested in knowing whether alternate explanations, perhaps involving changes in the geometry of spacetime, could lead to apparent changes in the laws as observed from here.
One interesting by-product of this is that if the fundamental laws can vary within the universe then there could be a vast number of regions of the universe where the environment is better or worse for life right down at the physical constants level. This means that you wouldn't need to permit the multiverse to extend the Weak Anthropic Principle to account for the astonishingly unlikely fact that nature's physical constants are finely-tuned to allow the conditions we have here for life.
Graham
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