  In physics the value of a theory is measured by its agreement with
experimental data. But how should the physics community gauge the value of an
emerging theory that has not been tested experimentally as of yet? With no
reality check, a hypothesis like string theory may linger for a while before
physicists will know its actual value in describing nature. In this short
article, I advocate the need for a website operated by graduate students that
will use various measures of publicly available data (such as the growth rate
of newly funded experiments, research grants, publications, and faculty jobs)
to gauge the future dividends of various research frontiers. The analysis can
benefit from past experience (e.g. in research areas that suffered from limited
experimental data over long periods of time) and aim to alert the community of
the risk from future theory bubbles.
