| Peter Higgs, UCL and William Waldegrave | Jon Butterworth We're not just looking for his boson, we also gave Higgs a fellowship and explained his mechanism to William WaldegraveI won't make a habit of writing about my meals. But yesterday I had a very nice dinner, most notable to me for the presence of Professor Peter Higgs*. For several years I have been trying to find out whether his ideas on the origin of mass and the unification of fundamental forces are correct, so I think a mention is excusable.The cocktail party analogy of the Higgs mechanism, featuring Margaret Thatcher as a particle. Cartoon: CernHiggs was a lecturer at University College London a long time ago, before he moved to Edinburgh and wrote his famous papers. On this occasion we were recognising his huge contribution by awarding him an honorary degree. He is a charming and modest man. I last met him trying to explain to John Denham and Ian Pearson (who were government ministers at the time) why science was important.The lecturing connection and our search for the boson are not the only links between UCL and Higgs. In 1993 when the government was deciding whether or not the UK would participate in the Large Hadron Collider, the then science minister William Waldegrave challenged particle physicists to explain to him how the Higgs boson gave things mass. Many particle physicists responded, and the most quoted of the winning entries came from Professor (now emeritus) David Miller at UCL, who was also there last night. The same explanation was re-used this year by a friend and colleague (and dodgy banjo player) Bob Stanek from Argonne National Lab, in Morgan Freeman's "Through the Wormhole" programme, with President Obama substituted for Margaret Thatcher.I can't really explain it better than David. It is an analogy for some beautiful mathematics, and it misses out some important stuff of course, but it is accurate as far as it goes, and it is certainly the best explanation I have ever seen of the relationship (and difference) between the Higgs boson and the Higgs (or possibly BEHHGK) mechanism. In an amazing example of internet durability, David's full explanation is still available here. Enjoy.* Ok, actually I was just as excited to meet some of the others there too.Jon Butterworthguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Today's mystery bird for you to identify | GrrlScientist This African Mystery Bird will present you with an ID challenge, and the question that accompanies it is a hint to its ID (but only if you already know what the bird is)Mystery Bird photographed at Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area, northeastern Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]Image: Dan Logen, 23 January 2010. [larger view]. Nikon D300, 600 mm lens with 1.4 extender, ISO 1000, f/5.6, 1/1250 secDue to our historic misunderstanding of avian evolution and taxonomy as well as the vagaries of giving birds common names, part of this African Mystery Bird's common name is shared with an Australian group of birds -- and even one North American species -- none of which are closely related. Can you name this bird, and its similarly-named non-relatives?Daily Mystery Bird Rules: 1. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification, keeping in mind that more than one field mark is often necessary to distinguish between species. IDs without any supporting information are not valid and may be deleted by the moderators. 2. Expert and intermediate level birders: do NOT try to be the first to blurt out the mystery bird's ID. Instead, please provide helpful hints, such as descriptions, literary references, puns, personal anecdotes, and other forms of discussion and assistance for beginning birders and for those following on their iPhones without naming the species. Expert and intermediate birders are free to name the bird species 24 or more hours after it was first published.3. Each mystery bird is usually accompanied by a question or two. These questions can be useful for identifying the pictured species, but may instead be used to illustrate an interesting aspect of avian biology, behaviour or evolution, or may be intended to generate conversation on other topics, such as conservation. 4. Each bird species will be demystified 48 hours after publication. If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and appreciate audience, feel free to email them to me for consideration.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Claims to BP Fund Attract Scrutiny People are submitting questionable claims that range from grocery money to $20 billion, with little documentation. feeds.nytimes.com |
Which would you rather smell like? Another Silly Saturday video to enjoy!It's Saturday and I am ill. But I am not so ill that I can't enjoy sharing these videos with you!First, here's a look at a man who could leave crumbs in my bed, anytime! And next, here's a look at a monster who tries to emulate my man:Now tell me, what are those tickets in the clamshell "to the thing you love" for? (for me, it'd be round-trip tickets to Irian Jaya (West New Guinea) or, if they're from the monster, it'd be tickets for the upcoming screening of the next Harry Potter film in London). Oh, and tell me, which do you prefer: the man or the monster?GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Spooks and Horizon | TV review The new series of Spooks is even more bonkers than ever. But it's still a brilliant rollercoaster, says Sam WollastonSpooks series blog: series nine, episode sixYou may be interested to hear what happens when someone experiences technological difficulties here at the Guardian. A frozen screen, lost file, that kind of thing. So you call the IT department. And one of the nice people will ask some questions in order to diagnose the problem, then they'll say they're going to take control of the computer remotely from wherever they are (the basement I imagine, like in The IT Crowd). It's quite weird, seeing your cursor moving around the screen without you doing anything. Like some one's taken over your mind.Not interesting? The same where you are? I only mention it because something similar happens in this episode of Spooks (BBC1). But it's not the MI5 IT department moving the cursor around Harry and the team's screens. Nor are they searching for a three-quarters finished but totally unsaved television review. This is a Chinese-Russian alliance of cyber-hackers and it's after classified information: state secrets, information about troop movements, that kind of thing. The enemy is intent on causing maximum damage.So, desperately trying to keep the MI5/my workplace parallel alive, it's as if the IT departments of the Times and the Independent have successfully hacked into our system and now control Guardian computers. They're undermining our integrity by typing gibberish interspersed with rude words, then sending it off to our printers. (What do you mean you've long thought that was already happening? Cheeky.) And they've locked down the building so we can't get out to tell the world what's going on. Look up at the second floor: that's me at the window, holding up a piece of paper. "DON'T BELIEVE OUR LIES" it says.Here the two paths – ours and MI5's – diverge. Because what we don't have lying around the office at Kings Place is an old bomb that can be recommissioned and used to blast our way out (well, security editor Richard Norton-Taylor probably does, but he's not in today, and his drawer's locked). The Spooks dudes do though, and are able to escape their prison, then locate and capture the enemy. And the west is saved from defeat in the cyber war.It wasn't going well up to that point. The Taliban had already hacked into allied networks, figured out how to make US drones perform U-turns in mid-air and attack the bases they'd just left (you'll soon be able to read about it on WikiLeaks). This was due to discrepancies in the American and British operating systems – they'd upgraded to Windows 7, we were still on 3.1. But if you can do this from a cave in the Afghan mountains, imagine what a collaboration between China and Russia could have achieved. The security of the free world was looking seriously compromised. But in the end, even in these hi-tech times, what won the day was a good dollop of old-fashioned British pluck. Hurrah!I don't do Spooks religiously any more. These days I just drop in from time to time, usually to find that someone I used to like is no longer there, most probably neutralised (bayonet protocol, data five, as Harry says when he's authorising a kill). Plus it's increasingly unclear whose side Lucas is on. And the whole thing is even more bonkers than it was before. It doesn't really matter though; it's still bloody good fun, a buttock-clenching roller-coaster. The music's so good too. If you had it for your ringtone would your life immediately become more exciting and glamorous? Only one way to find out.Horizon: Miracle Cure? A Decade of the Human Genome (BBC2) has a different, deeper and more real kind of urgency to it. The documentary assesses how much progress has been made in finding treatments for genetic diseases since the decoding of the human genome 10 years ago. But it's given a whole lot of extra personal potency because the three people doing the investigating have genetic disorders themselves. So it's not just a case of: "Tell us about this interesting research you're doing." It's more along the lines of: "Any idea when you may have figured out how to diffuse this ticking time bomb I've got round my neck?" Especially for Sophie, who has cystic fibrosis and whose lungs will pack up in the not-too-distant future. She does a brilliant job, finding out about mutated genes and how it will be possible to insert healthy genes into cells, how gene therapy is already being used to treat other condictions. And all the time inside she must be shouting – gasping – get a bloody move on.TelevisionSpooksDocumentaryMedicineGeneticsSam Wollastonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |