Archive

11/01/06

Joe Willie: The solar flare problem

How does a high school in upstate New York become a hot spot for monitoring the correlation between cosmic rays and solar flares? The story goes back to a flier from the University of Rochester about an outreach program called QuarkNet in the spring of 2000.

11/01/06

Quark Park

There's a new scientific path in Princeton, New Jersey. Out of the loam of a vacant lot, a cluster of quasicrystals winks at some pink plasma. Tectonic plates shift, and neurons connect in a hippocampus curve of bamboo.

11/01/06

ILC cryogenics

Cavities propel charged particles by transferring energy from electromagnetic waves to the particles, speeding them up. Superconducting cavities are made of material that can conduct electric currents without resistance at a very low temperature.

11/01/06

The European strategy for particle physics

At a special meeting in Lisbon on July 14, the CERN Council unanimously adopted a 17-point European Strategy for Particle Physics, based on the premise that "Europe should maintain and strengthen its central position in particle physics."

11/01/06

Catching neutrinos in China

Buried deep in the mountains of southern China, a new neutrino experiment would rely on a series of Chinese nuclear reactors and the brains of scientists from several countries.

11/01/06

Close quarters

A little after midnight, foreign voices and scents of dinner drift from the kitchen and down the halls of Dorm 1. Slavic dialogue stirs me from sleep and the aroma of cooked kielbasa sausage grabs my full attention.

11/01/06

InterAction collaboration: Particle physics and the press

These are exciting times for particle physics, and the world's press are taking notice.

11/01/06

Emerging particle physics in China

Traditionally, the big five particle physics laboratories have been Fermilab and SLAC in the United States, CERN in Switzerland, DESY in Germany, and KEK in Japan. However, a changing world economy is bringing new players into the game.

09/01/06

Particle pocket card

In the early 1950s, Nobel-Laureates-to-be Norman Ramsey and Ed Purcell created cards of physical constants they found themselves using most frequently.

09/01/06

Particle Data Book

This year, the Particle Data Group celebrates its 50th anniversary with a release of a 1230-page edition of the Review of Particle Physics.

09/01/06

Particle Jeopardy

Next time you watch the Jeopardy quiz show on TV, don't be surprised if you learn about a particle physics experiment at Fermilab.

09/01/06

The pentaquark rush

In 2003, results published by three experimental collaborations initiated a flood of papers about a class of particles known as pentaquarks.

09/01/06

Cartoons by design

As a mechanical designer, Catherine Carr's first big undertaking at SLAC was a vacuum transporter system that let operators install electron cathodes, under vacuum, into the injector gun of the Stanford Linear Collider.

09/01/06

Antarctica, California

When researchers at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center realized their distance from Antarctica was a scientific inconvenience, they set about crafting an icy world of their own in Menlo Park, California.

09/01/06

Theorist dreams big and wins $4 million

"Since middle school, I've always had plans to get rich," says Michael Binger, a theoretical particle physicist at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. On August 11, 2006 his dream came true: Binger placed third at the World Series of Poker Championships in Las Vegas.

09/01/06

E=mc($$$)

With his genius and his unmistakable appearance, Albert Einstein is an icon of both science and culture. Since his passing Einstein has inspired films, books, and even an opera, Einstein on the Beach. Not surprisingly, his popularity pays off handsomely.