Physics marches inexorably backwards...

[Smiles]

The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland has been restarted after a two year rest for some serious renovations. ( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/technolo ... e23799528/ ).
"After a rest" indeed .... the last problem it solved was the proof of the existence of the fundamental particle called the Higgs Boson, an ongoing search for a number of decades.

The latest 'rest' has apparently upped the creatable energy level by twice that before the tinkering, which conceivably puts it at the level of energy which existed just fractions of a second after the big bang.
Things to look for: possiblly a solid confirmation ~ or at least understanding ~ of String Theory (or the opposite ... a discarding of the theory all together). A discovery of even smaller and more fundamental particles. Hopefully a greater understanding of Dark Matter.

I love this stuff and I enjoy very much reading about it, although I do so in layman's writings .... a physicists written word makes me crazy.

[LoveThailand]

Why do I always read it as "Hardon"?

[Smiles]

Why do I always read it as "Hardon"?

It's in code. Dozens and dozens of highly educated, but horny, physicists in white coats with engorged and raging hadrons running up and down CERN's immensely long hallways. Dashing into toilets.

(LonelyWombat pops his hadron in here at this point, appalled that a serious and scholarly topic has, once again, turned sexual).

[Surfcrest]

As the Universe continues to expand and accelerate from the Big Bang, there is still an incredible amount we don't know about what we can't see out in Space or what we assumed for so long to be nothing. Similarly so, how Galaxy's form and the shapes that they take on may have more to do with dark matter and the possible properties and laws of physics that affects how it interacts with matter.

Thank goodness for Prof Brian Cox!

Surfcrest

[francois]

I love this stuff and I enjoy very much reading about it, although I do so in layman's writings .... a physicists written word makes me crazy.

Wish I could answer all these cosmological questions but I studied under Professor Newton and have not keep pace with modern developments. Bah hum bug to String Theory.

[francois]

Thank goodness for Prof Brian Cox!
Surfcrest

Phooey on Brian Cox. He has claimed/proclaimed that intelligent life is unique only to Earth and nowhere else in the Universe.

Phooey on Brian Cox. He has claimed/proclaimed that intelligent life is unique only to Earth and nowhere else in the Universe.

He has neither claimed nor proclaimed. He has argued and given the reasons for his argument. That is what scientists do. However there was a major blooper in his most recent series. He put forward the standard argument about Easter Island being a warning to us all to look after our environment lest we follow the same path.

Pretty much the same week BBC Four broadcast a programme by archaeologist Dr Jago Cooper in which he showed fairly conclusively that not only is the ecological disaster scenario improbable on the grounds solely of logic, but the most likely reason for the destruction of Rapa Nui culture on Easter Island came about through contact with sailors from the first European ship to reach the island. Those sailors brought a disease - probably something as simple as the flu - for which the inhabitants of Easter Island had no resistance. As a result half the population died and the remainder lost faith in their gods to protect them (hence the toppling of the statues).

Jago Cooper 1, Brian Cox 0

[Smiles]

" ... I studied under Professor Newton and have not keep pace ... "

And still chasing Thai guys all over the floor of Eros Bar (and environs), otherwise known as Chaos Theory.
Issac taught you well.

[francois]

And still chasing Thai guys all over the floor of Eros Bar (and environs), otherwise known as Chaos Theory.
Issac taught you well.

Chaos Theory taught and learned at Kaos Go-Go in Sunee Plaza a place frequented by Issac and myself. Alas the Professor died a virgin although, in his own words, confessed at age 19 yo of ""having uncleane thoughts words and actions and dreamese."

[francois]

Phooey on Brian Cox. He has claimed/proclaimed that intelligent life is unique only to Earth and nowhere else in the Universe.

He has neither claimed nor proclaimed. He has argued and given the reasons for his argument. .

I was somewhat inaccurate in what I posted above. It seems that Prof. Cox's comments were limited to our Galaxy and not the entire Universe.

Here is the text of what was published in The Daily Mail however accurate the reporting may or may not be:

The biological process which lead to intelligent life on earth was a fluke that is unlikely to have been repeated anywhere else in the universe, claims Professor Brian Cox.
The presenter and scientist blames a series of 'evolutionary bottlenecks' for the lack of extraterrestrial life on other planets, despite there being a mind-bogglingly vast number of them in the galaxy.
Humanity miraculously overcame them in a chance binding of two single cells merging somewhere in the mists of time, he said.
'There is only one advanced technological civilisation in this galaxy and there has only ever been one - and that's us. We are unique.
'It's a dizzying thought. There are billions of planets out there, surely there must have been a second genesis?
'But we must be careful because the story of life on this planet shows that the transition from single-celled life to complex life may not have been inevitable.'
He made the claims in an episode of BBC's Human Universe, adding that yet another freak occurrence - the meteor which wiped out the dinosaurs - allowed mammals and ultimately humanity to dominate the planet.
On the subject of the genesis of complex life, he added: 'We still struggle to understand how this happened. It's incredibly unusual.
'We're confident this only happened once in the oceans of the primordial earth.Life here did squeeze through.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z3WqRoMhke
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