Have they discovered the God particle?

The long-sought Higgs boson particle may be been discovered. This is "the elementary particle hypothesized to be the origin of the mass of all matter", sometimes called 'the God particle'.

Text from: www.scientificamerican.com\
Image from the Wikipedia article on the Higgs boson.

Faster than light particles!

Yikes! There is a claim that CERN scientists have measured particles going faster than the speed of light! If so, this would invalidate Einsteinian physics. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

I like this response, reported in the story about this at the journal Science's website:

"Chang Kee Jung, a neutrino physicist at Stony Brook University in New York, says he'd wager that the result is the product of a systematic error. 'I wouldn't bet my wife and kids because they'd get mad,' he says. 'But I'd bet my house.'"

Colliding smoke rings

Via: BoingBoing

Black holes 'zap galaxies into existence'

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

"Astronomers have long wondered which came first, the black hole or the galaxy around it. The leading theory holds that the two co-evolve, starting small and building over time.
But colossal black holes may zap galaxies into existence from scratch, new observations suggest."
Read all about it here on Yahoo news.

Japan to Spend $21,000,000,000 on a Power Plant in F%#king Space

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I can't beat either the headline or the blog entry from Gizmodo on this amazing story. My picture is kind of irrelevant, though- I'm out of time.

Butterfly Station

Image via Wikipedia

There are a lot of artistic and beautiful physics visualizations at the Butterfly Station.

The image shows a Spirograph, which I loved when I was a kid. You can simulate one at the Butterfly Station.

Super Mario Physics

Here is a scholarly study of the physics in Super Mario games. The main conclusion is that, while gravity is getting closer to realistic values in newer games, in most games Super Mario would lose consciousness due to the acceleration forces to which he is subject.

Via: BoingBoing. Picture from: http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com

Amberial Nebulosa Realms

Amberial Nebulosa Realms is a great game added to the amazing physics Amberial Series. Photo here.

Confirmed: Scientists Understand Where Mass Comes From | 80beats | Discover Magazine

"Particle physics explains that the bulk of atoms is made up of protons and neutrons, which are themselves composed of smaller particles known as quarks, which in turn are bound by gluons. The odd thing is this: the mass of gluons is zero and the mass of quarks [accounts for] only five percent. Where, therefore, is the missing 95 percent?"
Confirmed: Scientists Understand Where Mass Comes From | 80beats | Discover Magazine

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[Image: Singer Mariah Carey, who has an album called E=mc²]

These Balls Are Made For Hiding

These Balls Are Made For Hiding is simple, hard, addicting game. Photo here.

Vector intro

This is a nice simple intro to the use of vectors in physics, which we were recently discussing.

Totem Destroyer

Totem Destroyer is a neat physics game recalls Boom Blox. Photo here.

Physics Games

Fun-motion.com is a blog devoted to physics games. It's a little Windows-heavy, but there are some great Flash games there too. Shown here: Raptor Safari (requires Unity Player 3D Plug-in.)

Doodle with physics

This Flash-based Doodle toy with built-in physics is fun.