[Updated/corrected, April 22, 2015] The worldâs most powerful particle accelerator â the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) â is scheduled to restart in March of 2015, after a two year hiatus for repairs and upgrades (and data analysis). The machine is located at CERN (in Switzerland) the largest and most prestigious high energy physics laboratory in
It was perhaps particle physicsâ most elegant and aesthetically appealing theory of (almost) everything: Super Symmetry (SUSY). SUSY, a type of gauge theory developed over the past thirty years, was an ambitious attempt to integrate elementary particle physics with a broader theoretical understanding of the cosmos â an attempt to approach a âTheory of Everything.â
 âTelltale signs: The snapshot of a particle collision in the CMS detector shows decay products of a Xi_b^* baryon. Easily recognizable are, among other things, the two muons (red lines).â A new particle has been discovered in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator. The new particle is called the Xi_b^* baryon. It helps
The following is a roundup of some of the more notable, or intriguing, science news items from the past month or so⌠Funding for Most Biomedical Experiments using Chimps is Curtailed â New Ethics Rules The movement to ban the use of chimpanzees (mostly Pan troglodytes) in biomedical experiments has been steadily growing over the
The news from CERN physicists that the speed of light âmay have been exceededâ sent a lightning bolt of excitement and disbelief (not quite surpassing the speed of light) through the worldâs physics community. Fully accepting that their results would be met with great skepticism, the same physicists are inviting other particle physicists and labs to verify â or disprove â their results, which, if validated, will overturn one of the principle tenets of modern physics: that nothing travels faster than the speed of ligh
Slated to be shuttered indefinitely (or sold for parts) later this year, the nationâs largest particle collider â the Tevatron â may have detected traces of a previously unknown specie of particle that could potentially alter Quantum Theory.
âŚAnd with it, our chance to beat the Europeans to the quantum punch: the confirmation of the Higgs Boson â the mysterious particle that bestows mass unto all other particles. Itâs one of physicâs biggest âprizesâ, but, it seems that our Dept. of Energy couldnât come up with the extra 35 million to keep the
