Desktop Sized Atom Smasher Demonstrated

From the “E.O. Lawrence would be jealous department”  and the University of Texas Austin comes this bit of interesting news (h/t to “View From the Solent”). Full disclosure, I made a cyclotron myself and went to the National Science Fair with it in 1975. It was about the size of desk, and I powered its…

Higgs Boson Hysteria – but no fireworks on the 4th of July

From CERN, another science press release with a “could” and “preliminary” caveat. Sigh. I expected fireworks. It is encouraging though. 5 sigma isn’t anything to sneeze at. I have to wonder though, if the fact that CERN delayed this press release (from Monday when it became known) to today, the 4th of July, wasn’t a…