| Would you like 1 hump or 2 with your dinosaur? By SETH BORENSTEIN 2010-09-08T18:26:59ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The weird world of dinosaurs has just gotten a tad more bizarre. Scientists found a nearly complete fossil of a new dinosaur that sports a noticeable hump, maybe as possible advertising.... hosted.ap.org |
Prizes honor studies in vision loss, obesity By MALCOLM RITTER 2010-09-21T04:01:54ZNEW YORK (AP) -- Three scientists have won prestigious medical prizes - one for devising a treatment for a major cause of vision loss and two for laying the groundwork for an explosion in obesity research.... hosted.ap.org |
The mystery of mass: What makes one particle light and another heavy? The author of Massive introduces a short film that summarises quantum mechanics and the quest for the Higgs bosonThe origin of mass is one of the most intriguing mysteries of nature. Some particles, such as the W boson (which carries the weak force) have so much mass they barely move, while others, like the photon, are entirely massless and zip around at the speed of light. What is it that makes one particle light and another heavy?The mass of fundamental particles – those that carry forces and build nuclei and atoms – is often explained by the way they move through an invisible "Higgs field" that is thought to pervade the vacuum of space. To some particles, such as the top quark, the Higgs field is like molasses: they get bogged down and become very heavy. To others, like the photon, the field is empty space: they fly through unimpeded and gain no weight at all. In this exclusive video, our kid Brian Cox explains how giant particle colliders like the Large Hadron Collider at Cern near Geneva, are closing in on the elusive Higgs particle. When and if they do, the puzzle of mass will be solved.Particle physicsCernPhysicsIan Sampleguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Nature by Numbers Mathematics helps us discover nature: A stunning movie inspired by numbers, geometry and nature, by Cristóbal VilaIn this beautiful video, "Nature by Numbers," filmmaker Cristobal Vila presents a series of animations illustrating various mathematic principles, beginning with a breathtaking animation of the Fibonacci Sequence before moving on to the Golden Ratio, the Angle Ratio, the Delaunay Triangulation and Voronoi Tessellations. The words are scary-sounding, but the math is beautiful and the film serves to remind us of the intimate relationship between nature and math. Music, "Often a Bird," by Belgian composer Wim Mertens [Download this piece from iTunes]. This movie was inspired by numbers, geometry and nature. You can learn more about the videographer, Cristóbal Vila, at etereaestudios. That website has more information about the film, including a fascinating step-by-step explanation of the theory behind the film (English is side-by-side con Español), along with stills, screenshots, tutorials and workshops.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Modest hopes for climate summit "Keeping the show on the road" may be all governments can hope for at next week's UN climate talks, the UK admits. bbc.co.uk |