| Vital Signs: Nostrums: A Bit of Marijuana Is Found to Ease Pain Patients with persistent nerve damage inhaled, and felt better, but did not get high, a Canadian study reports. feeds.nytimes.com |
A Rebranding for ‘Global Warming’? After a White House adviser suggests that "global climate disruption" is a more accurate term, conservative news outlets suggest that politics is at work. feeds.nytimes.com |
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 |
Joyous Swiss celebrate longest tunnel breakthrough By FRANK JORDANS 2010-10-15T13:40:12ZSEDRUN, Switzerland (AP) -- Swiss engineers smashed through the last stretch of rock Friday to create the world's longest tunnel, sparking a national groundswell of elation over a costly, technically difficult project that has been 60 years in the making.... hosted.ap.org |
Museum banks on science, not belief The Science Museum aims to engage on climate science bbc.co.uk |