We do detect it directly already. Gravity, magnetism, particle wave duality. The Unified theory just means.. realise that we already detect it, then realise how often we detect it, and then realise what this means, what we can predict with our current detections of it?
Pincho, nothing in your above post represents a detection of any ether. They are all observations of the way things interact, as a matter of experience.
Taking only gravity as an example, I am not qualified to address your other examples as they fall within the scope of QM. We can say a great deal about how objects interact based on gravity and very little as to what gravity is! Einstein came as close as anyone to attempting that feat when he associated gravity with the curvature of space. He did not on the other hand explain how mass and space interact such the curved space and gravity are the result.
At its best the ether, if it does exist, is in a category much like "space", we can say it is there but there is nothing we can do to measure it directly. We can infer upon it some character and fundamental qualities, only by reference to the interaction of objects.
Without making any claim or comment on the following, I have not fully reviewed it myself..., take a look at the following..,
What Gravity Is. Some Recent Considerations, http://vixra.org/pdf/1003.0015v1.pdf