SU(2) gauge theory with one Dirac flavour in the adjoint representation is investigated on a lattice. Initial results for the gluonic and mesonic spectrum, static potential from Wilson and Polyakov loops, and the anomalous dimension of the fermionic
condensate from the Dirac mode number are presented. The results found are not consistent with conventional confining behaviour, instead tentatively pointing towards a theory lying within or very near the onset of the conformal window, with the anomalous dimension of the fermionic condensate in the range $0.9 lesssim gamma_* lesssim 0.95$. The implications of our work for building a viable theory of strongly interacting dynamics beyond the standard model are discussed.
