7. juni 2007

And now for settling one of those REALLY important questions... Is Tinky Winky really gay?  You probably remember the recent worry in Poland that one of the Teletubbies were gay. I am more worried about adults that contemplate the sexuality of puppets, myself. 7:17:13 PM    comment []  trackback []

Study: Hurricanes not caused by global warming (in fact, it is normal) A study to be published in Nature concludes that the increase in Atlantic hurricanes in the last decades is in fact a return to normal, and also find little reason to believe global warming will lead to a further increase (though neither is it ruled out). The scientists investigated coral data to learn about hurricane trends 270 years back, and found that, essentially, Al Gore is full of it. The recent upsurge in the number of major Atlantic hurricanes may be the rule and not the exception, a new report suggests. The findings of this and other studies call into question recent assertions that global warming is behind the burst in hurricane activity seen since the mid-90s. Between 1995 and 2005, an average of 4.1 major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher) were spawned over the Atlantic each year. But in the three decades before that, only 1.5 major hurricanes formed each year, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records. [...] The researchers compiled data of these coral proxies, or stand-ins, for direct hurricane data, and reconstructed wind shear and sea surface temperature records for the past 270 years, giving them an idea of what hurricane activity might have been like. They found that the downward trend in the number of hurricanes from the 1940s to the 1970s was replicated by the reconstruction and is attributable to greater wind shear, which likely stifled hurricane development. The scientists also used the reconstruction to compare the current upswing in hurricanes to past active phases and found that it was “unexceptional.” Meanwhile, an animal adoption group has jumped on the bandwagon and declared that global warming is to blame for a surge in stray cats. Alarmists everywhere may be relieved that while global warming did not cause Katrina, it can at least be blamed for the kitty serenade outside your window. It is an urgent problem! 6:52:05 PM    comment []  trackback []

Did Fermilab scoop CERN for the Higgs particle? CERN's massive particle accelerator at Geneva, Switzerland, has been closed down for a massive upgrade for years, and now it looks likely that the $8 billion Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will not be used for a trial run in November as planned. A number of technical setbacks has delayed the project, but the delay may not be all bad news, as it gives scientists more time to prepare for the real experiments. It is now scheduled for early 2008. It is no secret, however, that the LHC is created for one purpose: to find the last major missing link in the Standard Model of Particle Physics, the Higgs Boson. The Standard Model is undoubtedly the most tested and most solidly confirmed piece of hard science in human history. Quantum mechanics may not be very intuitive, but its mathematical predictions are confirmed in experiments to a breathtaking accuracy. What is missing is the Higgs particle, a mathematically predicted elementary particle that has the crucial job of explaining the mass of all other particles. The Higgs, unlike other particles we know about, is the particle corresponding to the (pretty literally) omnipresent Higgs field. The energy required to provoke its appearance in a particle accelerator has so far been missing, and that is the job of CERN's massive LHC. There are, however, persistent rumours that the largest particle accelerator in the US, Fermilab's Tavatron, has already produced the Higgs particle, despite it being assumed that its energy was not sufficient to do that job within a feasible probability (quantum mechanics is about probability; so you can be lucky and beat the odds). The rumours are by no means confirmed, but appear better founded than earlier premature celebrations. If the Higgs particle is actually found, it will not only steal a lot of CERN thunder. It will also mean that the entire Standard Model is essentially finished and confirmed, leaving only a few i's to dot and t's to cross. What we don't know about the universe after that is the domain of still-speculative string theory, which actually can't be confirmed in any experiment we can currently imagine doing in the real world. It has been stated that a particle accelerator required to confirm string theory would have to be the size of the Milky Way galaxy, which is quite beyond the EU's science budget, even if they should start reducing the French agricultural subsidies. 1:16:42 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2007 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.07.2007; 23:26:40.