Lord of the Rings

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is a 17 mile ring buried deep below the countryside on the outskirts of Geneva, Switzerland. When its operation begins in 2007, the LHC will be the world’s most powerful particle accelerator. High-energy protons in two counter-rotating beams will be smashed together in a search for signatures of super symmetry, dark matter and the origins of mass.

The beams are made up of packets containing billions of protons. Traveling at a whisker below the speed of light they will be injected, accelerated, and kept circulating for hours, guided by thousands of powerful superconducting magnets.

The magnets are superconducting and are cooled by a huge cryogenics system. It could hold 140 000 sausages at a temperature colder than deep outer space. The cables conduct current without resistance in their super-cooled state. The superconducting cable is made up of strands which are made of filaments. The total length of filaments is astronomical, 5 times to the sun and back (with enough left over for a few trips to the moon).

The Large Hadron Collider at CERN could be the most ambitious scientific undertaking ever. The results of LHC experiments may change our fundamental knowledge of the universe. 

Invisibility Cloak

I can easily imagine the things I could do if I had an invisibility cloak. However, the only solid objects I have ever seen disappear are the Statue of Liberty* and one quick footed blind date. Soon, thanks to new materials and fabrication techniques, we may all get a glimpse at the invisible.

Invisibility Cloak

Light Reading: Time Machines

Did you know that when you see distant objects in the night sky, you’re looking back in time? How far back you see depends on how long it’s taken light from that object to reach you. The farther the object, the farther back in time you see. Once you look beyond our solar system, objects are so far away it takes more than hours or even days for light to reach us. We’re seeing objects as they looked years ago. 

Backward Research Goes Forward

University of Washington physicist (and science-fiction author) John Cramer is moving forward with his experiment in backward causality, thanks in part to tens of thousands of dollars in contributions sent in by his fans. Although Cramer emphasizes that his lab is looking at “nonlocal quantum communication” rather than backward time travel per se, the gadgetry he’s assembling could settle a controversy surrounding a seemingly faster-than-light effect that Albert Einstein thought was downright spooky.  

Levitation On The Rise

I saw David Blaine do it--right in the middle of the street. I watch in amazement as Mind Freak Chris Angel did it over the Luxor in Vegas. But those are clever illusions, right? How about real levitation? A recent discovery by a team at University of St Andrews in Scotland has the media promising everything from floating cars to flying carpets.

The real story is that theoretical physicists believe that they can engineer the Casimir force of quantum physics to cause an object to repel rather than attract another in a vacuum. This is a long way from hovering skateboards, but just as fascinating when you think about how much scientists must know about our universe to be able to make this claim.

Scientists reveal secret of levitation
Physicists Have 'Solved' Mystery of Levitation

A Star is Born

Scientists have been trying to build a miniature star in the laboratory for more than half a century. When the National Ignition Facility (NIF) is completed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 2009, that long-sought goal will be much closer to realization.

How to build a star

The Elegant Universe

NOVA and author-physicist Brian Greene, present an excellent series on string theory.