Tuesday, September 09, 2008

LHC

So, is everyone excited about the Large Hadron Collider coming online shortly at CERN? I suppose it has little to do with Battlestar Galactica, unless you believe that turning the thing on is going to cause the destruction of the earth. (I don't.)

As the BBC explains, the LHC will allow scientists to smash protons into even smaller particles in the quest for the Higgs particle also known as "the God particle." Though Stephen Hawking has placed a bet that we won't find it. In any event the research is aimed at understanding some fascinating questions about the universe. The scientists at CERN have made a helpful rap video that explains the basics:


See also, CERN in 3 minutes:


And for some science tie-in to BSG, I found this online at the BBC on the development of robots that are more human.

So, if we survive the LHC, there's still a good chance that the Cylons will eventually rebel against us.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It all makes sense now !!!

The fleet found the Earth after it had been destroyed by the LHC.

Thanks sitrep :)

radii said...

Hawking remains the Einstein of our age. He also debunked wormholes after advocating them for years and hence time-travel is not possible. Hawking should win his bet because it is most likely that mass is a property of bodies in motion rather than a Higgs field giving rise to mass in particles.

radii said...

@anon, for a funny take on the destructive power of finding the Higgs boson, watch the finale of Lexx ... brilliant and slyly, satirically funny all at once. The moment Kai learns the value of the Higgs it is sublime [but it seems more profound if you watch the previous 4 seasons of the show first]

Michael J Mahoney said...

More evidence that SciFi needs to broadcast the rest of BSG now, before the French destroy the world!

Anonymous said...

great videos!!!

JD Grant said...

That LHC song just made my playlist. I love it.

Anonymous said...

my thoughts on lhc
http://snsays.com/429/lhc/

Anonymous said...

we're still here :P and I even live in Switzerland....so first one to go into the black hole...If I get there I'll tell you how it is :P :P :P :P