Boing Boing » CERN

The world's first website

Rob Beschizza — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:13:37 +0000

Back up at its original URL courtesy of CERN: "Twenty years of a free, open web."

We (probably) found the Higgs Boson. Now what?

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 19:39:36 +0000

I got to join in on a great conversation this morning on Minnesota Public Radio's "The Daily Circuit", all about the Higgs Boson and what it means for the future of physics.

This is a fascinating issue. Finding the Higgs Boson (if that is, indeed, what scientists have done) means that all the particles predicted by the Standard Model of physics have now been found. But that's not necessarily good news for physicists. For one thing, it would have been a lot more interesting to break the Standard Model than to uphold it. For another, we're now left with a model for the Universe that mostly works but still has some awkward holes — holes that it might be hard to get the funding to fill.

Daily Circuit host Kerry Miller, Harvard physics chair Melissa Franklin, and I spent 45 minutes talking about what is simultaneously a beautiful dream and a waking nightmare for the physics world. And I got to make a "Half Baked" reference in a conversation about particle physics, so you know it's a good time, too.

Listen to the whole conversation at Minnesota Public Radio's website.

Why scientists

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 19:07:03 +0000

The discovery of the particle that is most likely the Higgs Boson was met with wild-eyed excitement almost everywhere except CERN, writes physicist Glenn Starkman at Scientific American Blogs. That's because it means the theoretical Standard Model of Physics is probably on the right track. Which means there aren't any crazy inaccuracies leading to awesome mysteries that must be solved. Which means experimental particle physics haz a sad — and more than a little depressive ennui. (Via Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic)

Enter a drawing for a chance to win a trip to CERN

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:27:31 +0000

The Massey Lectures are an annual event in Canada, where one person gives five different public speeches over the course of a month. This year, the speaker is theoretical physicist Neil Turok. He's also the director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Institute is sponsoring a contest where you can win tickets to the lectures (there are two left) or copies of Turok's latest book. The grand prize, though, is the really exciting bit. One lucky winner will get a 7-day trip for two to both the Perimeter Institute and CERN (home of the Large Hadron Collider). Feeling lucky? Enter your name in the drawing by October 24.

Petition to rename font 'Comic Sans' to 'Comic Cerns'

Xeni Jardin — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:52:54 +0000

Typography enthusiasts "moved by Dr Fabiola Gianotti's incredibly strange choice of font in announcing the recent results of Cern's ATLAS collaboration" are petitioning Microsoft to rename Comic Sans to "Comic Cerns." Cosmic Sans might work, too!

Sonnet on a Higgs-Like Particle (video)

Xeni Jardin — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:32:51 +0000

[Video Link] By Vi Hart, about today's big physics news. (thanks, Kathleen McGivney!).

Gettin' Higgy With it: A Roundup of Higgs Boson Jokes on Twitter

Xeni Jardin — Wed, 04 Jul 2012 18:12:08 +0000

On the day we reserve to tell ourselves America is great - July 4 - Europe reminds us that we suck at science. #HiggsBoson
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 4, 2012

Big science news today: Scientists at Europe's CERN research center have discovered a new subatomic particle believed to be a basic building block of the universe, which appears to be the "boson" imagined and named half a century ago by theoretical physicist Peter Higgs. And Stephen Hawking loses a $100 bet. Many of us on Twitter know that we should be excited by all of this, but have no idea what it really means, having dope-smoked our way through Physics class in high school. This animation helps. Still: If you can't join 'em, LOL at 'em. Here are some of the better #higgsjokes I faved on Twitter after the news broke. Did I miss any good ones? Let me know in the comments. And read Maggie's post.

Whoa whoa whoa! We’re cross-breeding hogs and bison now? Thanks a lot Obamacare!
— ed casey (@edcasey) July 4, 2012

Update from CERN:It turns out the thing they found in the Large Haldron Collider was just a GIF.
— Dave Pell (@davepell) July 4, 2012

The #Higgs #Boson walks into a catholic church. Priest says "What are you doing here?" HB says "You can't have mass without me" #higgsjokes
— Kallee (@Kallee) July 4, 2012

"Are You There God Particle? It's Me, Average Person That Doesn't Understand You"
— Steve Murray (@NPsteve) July 4, 2012

Where is your god now, particles?
— Daniel Werneck (@empire_of_dust) July 4, 2012

Overheard on the newsdesk: "I don't care what the Higgs boson headline is, just make sure we spell Hadron correctly."
— Guardian style guide (@guardianstyle) July 4, 2012

I've got 99.9999% problems, but a Higgs ain't one.
— Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) July 4, 2012

I hope Higgs-Boson isn't an Old Testament God particle.
— John Moe (@johnmoe) July 4, 2012

Higgs Boson Explainer: It's like, a particle, man.
— pourmecoffee (@pourmecoffee) July 4, 2012

Turned down opportunity to go on 1-hour radio programme to discuss the religious significance of the Higgs particle since there isn't any.
— Marcus Chown (@marcuschown) July 4, 2012

The Higgs discovery makes me feel heavier already. What we need instead is the anti-Higgs. A particle that takes mass away.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) July 4, 2012

Yup. HIggs boson. Right where I left it.
— Adam Rogers (@jetjocko) July 2, 2012

If I discovered the Higgs boson, I'd also do my presentation in ComicSans just to watch the outrage on Twitter ;-)
— Bora Zivkovic (@BoraZ) July 4, 2012

Ricky Gervais collapses after yelling at 2 strangers discussing the God particle.
— Andy Kindler (@AndyKindler) July 4, 2012

There's an easy-to-understand video online that explains Higgs boson & creation of the universe, but it's like four minutes long.Pass.
— Mike Scully (@scullymike) July 4, 2012

Why didn't they let Danny Glover announce the "Higgs" part of the whole Higgs boson thing? #toooldforthissigma
— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) July 4, 2012

Can't believe they've already lost the Higgs Boson.
— Peter Serafinowicz (@serafinowicz) July 4, 2012

The Higgs boston is the theoretical particle that accounts for heaviness of accents.
— John Rennie (@tvjrennie) July 4, 2012

A Higgs boson walks into a bar. The barman doesn't understand.
— Ed Yong(@edyong209) July 4, 2012

An FTL neutrino walks into a bar. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... A confused Higgs Boson walks into a bar.
— Martin Robbins (@mjrobbins) July 4, 2012

A neutrino goes into a bar. "What would you.." says the barman, but the neutrino is already thousands of miles away.
— Martin Robbins (@mjrobbins) July 4, 2012

A Higgs Boson walks into a bar. "Want a drink?" asks the barman. The Higgs Boson doesn't reply. Because it's a Higgs Boson. Not a person.
— Martin Robbins (@mjrobbins) July 4, 2012

Discovery of Higgs boson a blow to Bravo's upcoming reality show America's Next Top Standard Model.
— Adam Rogers (@jetjocko) July 4, 2012

Hey I wrote this awesome post and... No, no its not about the Higgs but you... Wait, where are you going? Hey, come back.
— Ed Yong(@edyong209) July 4, 2012

Large Hadron Collider turned back on

Rob Beschizza — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:04:54 +0000

Buttons glow in the control room of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva on April 5, 2012. At 0:38 CEST this morning, the LHC shift crew declared "stable beams" as two 4 TeV proton beams were brought into collision at the LHC's four interaction points. The collision energy of 8 TeV is a new world record, and increases the machine's potential to solve perplexing scientific questions. Top of the list: confirming the existence of the Higgs boson, a hypothetical particle posited to explain why matter has mass. Photo: REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

The Higgs Boson has not been discovered (again, in the same place)

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:49:59 +0000

Data from Fermilab's shuttered Tevatron accelerator seems to support the data released by CERN last December. These two different accelerators are both seeing a signal that could be the Higgs Boson in roughly the same place. To quote the New York Times: "It has led to a joke in physics circles now: The Higgs boson has not been discovered yet, but its mass is 125 billion electron volts." (Via dsut in Submitterator)

Quilts inspired by the Large Hadron Collider

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:58:22 +0000

Last week, while I was on a train, researchers at CERN announced that neutrinos are probably not traveling faster than the speed of light. Last year, as you'll recall, the OPERA experiment clocked the neutrinos breaking that speed limit. Unfortunately, it looks like those measurements were probably caused by one or more problems with the GPS system used to synchronize clocks between the neutrinos' point of origin and where they were speeding off to.

That's disappointing news. To make up for it, I offer you this art chaser—a gallery of beautiful quilts inspired by CERN's Large Hadron Collider.

The quilts are the work of artist Kate Findlay, and they're completely amazing. The one pictured here is called "Inner Eye." It's based on ATLAS, one of the major detectors built to encircle the Large Hadron Collider and collect information on what's going on inside it. Comparing the photo with the quilt makes both images doubly awesome.

See the rest of the quilts at Symmetry Magazine

Via Alexandra Witze

A limerick for the Higgs boson

Maggie Koerth-Baker — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:06:04 +0000

"They said when the collider goes on
Soon they'd see that elusive boson
Very soon we shall hear
Whether Cern finds it this year
But it's something I won't bet very much on."
— Shelly Glashow, Boston University. Nobel prize in physics, 1979
From a collection of physicists' statements on the Higgs boson in The Guardian. (Via Ed Yong)