Happy Higgs-like Day!

[nanila]

Also, Happy Revolting Colonial Day!

Around these parts, though, we're mostly celebrating Particle Announcement Day at CERN.

Londoners: The Royal Society Summer Exhibition is on again this week. I'll be there this afternoon (1330 to 1700, when it closes to the public) along with purplecthulhu and tomorrow morning (Thursday, 1000 to 1330) on the Herschel stand. I realise this is work-time for most of you, but the exhibition is open late to the public on Friday and also at the weekend. Come on down to Carlton House Terrace and see the new and exciting things going on in science!

ETA: We're watching the CERN webcast in the lab. It is hilarious watching the dance between the press and the scientists. The press are practically begging for them to say without qualification that this is the Higgs boson. The scientists are steadfastly refusing.

Now that I've been watching for half an hour, I can sum up the interaction thusly.

Press: "Please, please say this is the Higgs. PLEASE."
Scientists: "Here is a technical explanation of the reason why we refuse to define this particle as the standard-model Higgs."
Press: "OK, if you won't do that, will you at least help us with our headlines by saying something about dark matter?"
Scientists: "....No."
repeat ad infinitum

Comments

[alwayswondered]

Haha, so of course they're just calling it "Higgs-like". Oh journalism.

[nanila]

And putting "everything" in "quotation marks". The particle was "discovered", according to the BBC.

[foxfinial]

Happy Looks-A-Bit-Like-The-Higgs Day! :D

I am going to partake in science on Friday night. Science! (Mostly I want to see the stuff from Doggerland.)

[nanila]

Wahey! I had no time to go to the other stands, but from the visitors to the Herschel stand, I gather it was all pretty awesome.

[ironed_orchid]

Oh media people! How sad and funny.

[soliano]

Yay Revolting Colonial Higgs day!

[nanila]

Well, this is what you get when you try to mix people who want instant headlines with people who are willing to wait decades to learn an answer to a question that they know will simply breed 50000 more questions.

[lark_ascends]

*snorts at your assessment of the web cast*

[nanila]

It was a bit sad to watch after the nicely summarized results basically only raised the question, rephrased many times, "So, is it the Higgs?"

[lark_ascends]

Yeah... Mind you, one of my old astro colleagues posted on facebook that they'd found the Higgs! I nearly head desked. He should know better. Somebody else pointed out to him that it's consistent with the Higgs.