Blog Profile / Symmetry Breaking
| URL : | http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/breaking/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | Academics / Physics | |
| Posts on Regator: | 955 | |
| Posts / Week: | 4.1 | |
| Archived Since: | December 20, 2008 | |
Blog Post Archive
The power of basic science
Long-term funding and support for science pays huge dividends from unexpected discoveries and applications—even when the potential impact is unclear at the time of discovery. Amid the worldwide excitement of the recent discovery of what...Show More Summary
What's next for the Large Hadron Collider?
Experiments at the Large Hadron Collider made a major discovery, but the world’s highest-energy particle accelerator is just getting started. The Large Hadron Collider, the largest particle accelerator in the world, started colliding particles more than three years ago. Show More Summary
Drell and Gates receive National Medal
Two scientists whose work has made a lasting impact on particle physics received the National Medal of Science at a White House ceremony. At a formal White House ceremony last Friday, SLAC Deputy Director Emeritus Sidney Drell and Director of the University of Maryland Center for String and Particle Theory S. Show More Summary
Energy Secretary Steven Chu to step down
This morning, Steven Chu announced his decision not to serve a second term as US Secretary of Energy. In a letter to Department of Energy employees, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced this morning that he will not serve a second term. Show More Summary
Priorities in particle physics
A first draft of the European Strategy for Particle Physics places emphasis on research at the Large Hadron Collider. Leaders in Europe’s particle physics community have released the first draft of a document listing their highest priorities for the field. Show More Summary
Tiny bubbles
A hipster detector searches for the crystalline “plink” of dark matter. In the hunt for dark matter, the stealthy stuff that makes up about a quarter of the universe but neither emits nor absorbs light, observational techniques spanShow More Summary
BaBar searches for new physics in invisible decays
On the hunt for physics beyond the Standard Model, scientists recently searched BaBar data for evidence of invisible particles. Scientists analyzing data from the BaBar experiment, which operated at SLAC between 1999 and 2008, recently...Show More Summary
Illuminating the dark universe
The pursuit of dark matter and dark energy is one of the most exciting—and most challenging—areas of science. Now researchers think they’re beginning to close in. If you could use only 5 percent of the alphabet, you’d be stuck with the letter A. Show More Summary
Dark energy goes to Nerd Nite
More than 250 self-proclaimed nerds pack a bar in the heart of San Francisco to learn something new. On an otherwise drab block of Fell Street in San Francisco, the Rickshaw Stop stands out, a giant octopus spreading suckered tentacles across its purple façade. Show More Summary
We are all made of star stuff, thanks to the W
Physicists announced 30 years ago today the discovery of the W boson, a particle that remains an important topic of research. Today marks the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the W boson, a fundamental piece of the Standard Model...Show More Summary
Physics and the wisdom of crowds
Researchers apply the rules of particle physics to the world of online shopping and recommendation engines, and suggest it may be unwise to rely on popular opinion. You’ve heard the age-old advice that it's foolish to jump off a cliff...Show More Summary
Say hello to CERN
Scientists, engineers and other personalities from Europe’s largest physics lab begin a new series of “Hangout with CERN” video chats this week. On Jan. 24, CERN researchers will give some virtual face-time to friends, fans and curious...Show More Summary
A galaxy with a view
It takes my eyes a few moments to adjust when I walk out the door of the Victor M. Blanco telescope in Chile around 2 a.m. I take a few careful steps into the moonless October night with a physicist and a software developer following close behind. Show More Summary
A bullet through an apple
The Large Hadron Collider is getting ready for a two-year upgrade to prepare it to run at even higher energies. But first it's going for one more run.
Precocious protons
Ask a bunch of 10-year-olds this question: Would you rather hear about the journey of a proton through Fermilab’s accelerators, or would you rather be a proton and take that journey yourself? And now, go visit an ear doctor, since the deafening sound of kids shouting out the second option has no doubt caused some damage. Show More Summary
Neutron scattering
The first nuclear reactors, developed in the 1940s to produce fissionable materials for atomic weapons, paved the way for a new and intriguing research technique that led to a Nobel Prize and innovations in a number of fields in science...Show More Summary
Midwest muon experiments carry on East Coast legacy
This spring, scientists at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory will break ground on the buildings for a Muon Campus. The two initial experiments proposed for the campus draw on three decades of technological advances to turn muons into supersensitive probes for physics beyond the Standard Model.
Bosons
There are two kinds of elementary particles in the universe: bosons and fermions. Bosons don’t mind sitting on top of each other, sharing the same space. In principle, you could pile an infinite number of bosons into the tiniest bucket. Show More Summary
The secret of Picasso’s paint
Although he was one of the few artists who attained wealth from his trade, Pablo Picasso used inexpensive, common house paint for some of his works. Perhaps more surprising is that, decades after he painted his greatest masterpieces,...Show More Summary
The gift of beam: Neutron therapy restarts at Fermilab
Amid the forest of wires and machines in Fermilab's Linac Gallery is a small, windowless room accessible only through a sliding steel door. With wood-paneled walls and a couple of white, synthetic orchids in full bloom, the room seems like it belongs in a home from the 1960s and not among the complex technology of a national accelerator laboratory.