Pete Seeger & Arlo Guthrie

"This Land is OUR Land"

The Damned Engineers

This video highlights the key moments in the Mars Science Laboratory mission (Curiosity). It is an elegant engineering solution to a number of unique challenges.

The title of this post, "The Damned Engineers," refers the reaction of a German tank brigade commander in WWII as American army engineers blew one bridge after another in his face.

Boson's Mate

It would appear the Higgs boson has been found. This is a good day for modern physics as it demonstrates in epic fashion that the Standard Model is here to stay. I'll let Phil Plait take it from here:

Now technically, that’s all the physicists can say: the particle is definitely there. But is it the Higgs? Well, to be fair, they can’t actually say that. But if it walks like a Higgs, looks like a Higgs, and quacks like a Higgs… yeah. So there you have it. A new fundamental particle has been found, and if it’s the Higgs – which it really really really looks like it is – is the first step to our truly understanding such basic concepts as mass and gravity in the Universe. It’s technical, and it’s complicated, and it’s the result of a vast amount of time, money, and effort by thousands upon thousands of people… but it’s real. And it’s only the first step. There’s much work to be done. But oh, what a step. The Universe has once again done something wonderful — let us peek behind the curtain and get a glimpse of its inner workings. Never forget this either: we humans did this. The discovery of this new particle, and the vast potential it has, was all because we’re curious. This huge machine, the LHC, was built solely because we wanted to find things out, and some people had the vision to fund it and build it. When we wish to explore, when we wish to see what’s over the next hill, wonders unfold before us.

All we have to do is want it enough.

Image credit: CERN