Atom-smashing lab says experiment to start end-June
Tue May 27, 2:29 PM ET
GENEVA (AFP) - European particle physics laboratory CERN is set to launch its gigantic experiment which hopes to throw light on the origins of the universe within a month, the laboratory’s head said Tuesday.
If things go according to plan, the greatest experiment in the history of particle physics could unveil a sub-atomic component, the Higgs Boson, known as “the God Particle.”
The “Higgs,” named after the eminent British physicist, Peter Higgs, who first proposed it in 1964, would fill a gaping hole in the benchmark theory for understanding the physical cosmos.
Other work on the so-called Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could explain dark matter and dark energy — strange phenomena that, stunned astrophysicists discovered a few years ago, account for 96 percent of the universe.
The LHC device “will be in working order by the end of June,” CERN director general Robert Aymar told journalists.
A gamble costing six billion Swiss francs (almost six billion dollars, 3.9 billion euros) that has harnessed the labours of more than 2,000 physicists from nearly three dozen countries, the LHC is the biggest, most powerful high-energy particle accelerator ever built.
Beams of hydrogen protons will whizz around at near-light speed in opposite directions until, bent by powerful superconducting magnets, they will smash together in four bus-sized detector chambers, where they will be annihilated at temperatures hotter than the sun.
But Aymar played down hopes of any immediate discoveries once the LHC is set in motion.
“We will accumulate data for two years and it will take a lot of time to interpret,” he said.
He also scoffed at fears that the massive experiment could create a black hole with potentially devastating consequences for life on Earth.
“The system is totally safe. There is nothing to fear,” he said.
From early 2007 below, during a Southern Ohio Paranormal Investigation, a bizarre ball of white light I caught on IR video in my Newport home, flies through the desk and is an ideal example of the multitude of white, cloudy shapes that can be caught with infrared video in active places. They have intelligent, deliberate movements, and have appeared in every active home or building I’ve been in.
View it here
(will open Windows Mediaplayer)
We investigated a home in Burlington, KY on Saturday night. The link to my files and summary are up on the right under “Cases” - “Burlington Home”
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
Tue May 20, 3:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Astronomers have found some matter that had been missing in deep space and say it is strung along web-like filaments that form the backbone of the universe.
The ethereal strands of hydrogen and oxygen atoms could account for up to half the matter that scientists knew must be there but simply could not see, the researchers reported on Tuesday.
Scientists have long known there is far more matter in the universe than can be accounted for by visible galaxies and stars. Not only is there invisible baryonic matter — the protons and neutrons that make up atoms — but there also is an even larger amount of invisible “dark” matter.
Full story…
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER | JKIESEWETTER@ENQUIRER.COM
There’s no wilder tale in Wilder than poltergeists at Bobby Mackey’s nightclub.
The latest to check it out will be a crew from the Travel Channel’s new “Ghost Adventures” series premiering in October.
Paranormal investigator Zak Bragans and two videographers with nightvision cameras and digital records will be locked down Friday from dusk till dawn at the honky tonk club, 44 Licking Pike, in Campbell County.
full story…
Ghost-hunting groups around the country are swelling with members - their popularity fueled by ghost television, use of the Internet to find and form groups, and the increasing availability of high-tech equipment.
“Academics pooh-pooh all of this usually,” said Julieanne Phillips, an assistant professor at Urbana University who invited the ghost hunters and organized the vigil that also included about 80 students and residents. “I’m hoping for some vindication that there might be some type of paranormal activity surrounding this.”
On this April night, there wasn’t.
“Ghost reality shows have really opened the door for people to get involved themselves,” said James Willis, founder of The Ghosts of Ohio, the group watching the tracks for the paranormal train.
—
Next Page »
