Archive for July, 2012

Haven’t had your recommended daily allowance of DANGO?  Well, you’re in luck:

• DANGO 2012, #4
• DANGO 2012 #5
• DANGO 2012 #6

Research on, my friends.

-Dr. D

The Higgs particle is barely three weeks old (the baby photos are already up), and one of the hazards of being a particle physicist is that people will ask you to explain what the Higgs particle is.  So I issued a challenge on our Facebook page for the best Higgs explanations.  Here are my personal favorites:

1.  The gentle start – an Official FermiLab video provides a very nice explanation.  (I’m actually at FermiLab for the next few weeks, so I may be a little biased.)  This is called “What is a Higgs Boson?” by Don Lincoln

2.  The lunchtime chat – a video from PhD Comics (required reading for anyone thinking about grad school) with terrible sound quality, since it was literally recorded in the crowded CERN cafeteria at lunch, but cool animations called “The Higgs Boson Explained”.

3.  Fun, Short AND Technical – If you’ve made it this far, head over to Minute Physics and check out part 1 of a fantastic but slightly technical video series on “The Higgs Boson“.  I really like the motivation here for introducing spontaneous symmetry breaking, so this is the explanation I usually give to physics majors.  Incidentally, part 2 brings in some more interesting issues, so it’s nice but not required.

4.  How to Ruin Your Afternoon – If you’re yearning for theoretical minutiae, you can’t do better that Matt Strassler’s blog.  What I admire/fear about his Higgs explanations for the general public is that he refuses to gloss over any aspect, no matter how technical it may be.  Read through the “Higgs FAQ 1.0” and keep going with his other posts for an informative way to annihilate your afternoon.

Finally, I love the “Craziest Higgs Stories” by Hank Campbell for the failed attempts at reporting on the Higgs.  Time travel, teleportation, disproving religion, you betcha!  Behold what passes for journalism these days.

Got something better (or worse)? Pass it along.

-Dr. D

ACU’s Engineering Program officially launches this fall with a new class of entering freshpeople.   We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ken Olree will be the first director of the engineering program.  The ACU press release says:

“I am extremely excited to be directing the new engineering program at ACU,” says Olree, the new director of engineering. “This is a unique time in history. Never before have the needs been as great, and the technology as available, to solve the problems that exist in the world today.”

Our new engineering program will greatly strengthen the offerings and options in the department.   So far, many of our physics majors have gone on to engineering fields after graduation.  In fact, the national averages show that 1 in 3 physics undergraduates are employed in engineering and 1 in 5 who attend grad school will do so in engineering.  The new engineering program will give students more options and the ability to focus on their discipline of choice.  This program also seeks to offer ACU’s first ABET accredited engineering degree.

UPDATE: The Abilene Reporter News has also covered the story.

In all of my classes I take special effort to have a Fun Friday every week.  These classes are exactly like Mondays and Wednesdays except, you know… fun.  Here are some Fun Friday links from the Interwebs:

1.  Stephen Hawking loses $100 bet on the Higgs – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmzwuYj5w1U&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmzwuYj5w1U&feature=player_embedded

2.  My favorite Higgs predictions: http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2012/06/higgs-boson-soon-place-your-bets.html

Fermilab scientists interrupt the announcement, saying, “Yo CERN, I’m really happy for you and I’mma let you finish. But the top quark was one of the best particle physics discoveries of all time. One of the best of ALL TIME!”

Odds: 49 in 100

3. This cartoon by Walt Handelsman:

Quark's view of a RHIC collision

4. Published math paper retracted because it contains no scientific content: http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/math-paper-retracted-because-it-contains-no-scientific-content/

The official notice says:

This article has been retracted at the request of the Publisher, as the article contains no scientific content and was accepted because of an administrative error. Apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process.

The abstract reads: “In this study, a computer application was used to solve a mathematical problem.”  The authors give emails addresses at yahoo.com and budweiser.com.   The conclusion ends with:

In brief an impossible proposition was proved as possible. This is a problematic problem. Further studies will give birth to a new branch of mathematical science.

Happy Fun Friday!

-Dr. D

This week is a two-for-one double DANGO update as we clear our plates in preparation of this week’s big physics news:

• DANGO 2012, Issue #2
• DANGO 2012, Issue #3

Make your plans to celebrate Higgsdependence Day this Wednesday.

-Dr D.