“This is the greatest damn thing about the universe. That we can know so much, recognize so much, dissect, do everything, and we can’t grasp it.” Maria Popova, @brainpicker. Full article here. More
I’m not saying it, CERN is: Higgs within reach – Our understanding of the universe is about to change… Scientists may have found the so-called Goddamn particle, eventually. Or at least what we would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson, which is part of a theory first proposed by physicist Peter Higgs in the 1960s. But scientists ... More
Remember last month? Neutrinos and the Speed of Light on the Front Pages! A month has passed and now: Faster than light particles? Not so fast, some say. “Since then, their work has been met by a barrage of criticism. Physicists claim to have found flaws in the group’s method of recording the speed of the neutrinos, and they say that correcting ... More
Dark matter, the string theory, particles, the theory of relativity… Unless you have a keen interest for physics and astrophysics, you won’t read about them very often. But since yesterday, neutrinos and the speed of light are on the front pages; who would have thought? On CNN, Particles appear to travel faster than light: ‘Scientists in ... More
CERN built the world’s largest grid computing resource and now anyone with Internet connectivity and a computer can participate by helping run more simulation of particle physics. ‘Those who want to volunteer will download an x86 Sun Microsystems virtualization software package called VirtualBox, which runs the Monte Carlo simulations on home ... More
While we are fighting on Planet Earth for sometimes very unimportant reasons (and we don’t fight enough for some other very important issues), a storm may be brewing above our heads. A solar storm, even a severe one. Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted a state of maximum solar activity that may strike ... More
The Bahrain Grand Prix will not go ahead. Many concerned people such as #Nicholas Kristof and Kenneth Roth tweeted this week about the upcoming Formula One Grand Prix expected to take place next October in Bahrain. In a post published on Foreign Policy we can read: ‘On Friday, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, the governing body for ... More
U.N. probes absences amid Sudan clashes. Since Northern Sudanese forces seized Abyei, many rightfully think northern and southern fighting over Abyei could reignite a full blown war in #Sudan. And we thought U.N. peacekeepers in Sudan would protect the people of Abyei from the attacks; apparently we were wrong. According to Reuters: ‘U.N. peacekeepers ... More
New Visual Evidence of Government of Sudan War Crimes in Abyei. Here we are, again. Al-Bashir is back, alive and kicking. Hard. Again. And unlike in #Darfur, this time we have proof of what is happening right now, thanks to the Satellite Sentinel Project: ‘The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has released new visual evidence that the Government of ... More
Baryonic or nonbaryonic dark matter? Honestly, I am not a physicist and even if I have a keen interest for the universe and particles, I am far from being ‘dark matter savvy’. Nevertheless, I read a lot about it and a few days ago I read on BoingBoing: Video comic about dark matter. And this video comic is the cleverest thing I have ever read on ... More
