Tag: science discovery

Search For The God Particle

 

The Large Hadron Collider is a superstar in the physics world, if only because it’s one of the few physics tools that have crossed over into mainstream consciousness.  Basically everyone is aware of the LHC, thanks to the comic books and pop-up children’s books and

the whole “it’s going to destroy the world!” furor that surrounded the launch of the LHC.  Well, as it turns out, all those mini-big bangs may have yielded the ultimate discovery.  The CERN team at the LHC is bringing in reporters to its Geneva, Switzerland,  headquarters and are expected to announce the discovery of the Higgs boson, AKA the God Particle.

First postulated by Peter Higgs in 1964, the Higgs boson is the lynchpin to the unified theory of physics, which states that all matter is composed ultimately of the same subatomic materials organized in a different way.  The Higgs boson, according to scientists and the current theory, is the reason why we have elements and materials and all the things we take for granted (because we are composed of them).  The Higgs is the glue that holds together subatomic particles.

This may be the first real evidence of the Higgs boson, and it’s all thanks to the world-threatening LHC.

Inside the heart of the volcano for the first time!

Image Source: Pixabay.com

For the first time in history scientists have descended 650 feet into the magma chamber of a volcano. These incredible images show one explorer gently lowering himself into the heart of the dormant Thrihnukagigur volcano in Iceland.  When it last erupted 3000 years ago, superheated molten rock from the depths of the Earth’s crust spewed from this magma chamber to help create the Atlantic island we call Iceland. Since then, it has been known as the “sleeping volcano.”

Only now – 50 years since the first man went into space – have human beings visited the only magma chamber on the planet currently safe to explore.

The team were made up of two scientists and 15 support staff, including expert mountaineers accompanied by a film crew and a photographer to document the historic event. By physically visiting a magma chamber the scientists were able to learn valuable lessons about the complicated plumbing system of the volcano as they looked to draw comparisons with how the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted. Last March Eyjafjallajokull caused global chaos when it erupted, grounding aeroplanes and leaving hundreds of thousands of people stranded.