Higg's Boson almost certainly discovered

[julfo]

Anyone else heard the news? CERN confirmed today (04 july '12) that a particle matching all of the characteristics of the much sought Higg's Boson has been found. They have a confidence level of five-sigma (99.99995%) that it is the Higg's. Fairly high.

This means exciting stuff for physics - it helps prove the standard model! Although if it isn't the higg's it is still exciting as we have yet another new particle to research.

Yeah. Pretty cool.

[Electrofreak]

Cool, all those millions of dollars discovered something only theorized about, and didn't cause the Earth to implode like so many people thought.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

[Khrakhan]

Cool, all those millions of dollars discovered something only theorized about, and didn't cause the Earth to implode like so many people thought.

Sounds like a win-win to me.

Yeah, the money would've been better spent on a new reality show, or different flavors of hot pockets. (sarcasm. I actually support science, even that which I dont completely understand)

[Electrofreak]

Yeah, the money would've been better spent on a new reality show, or different flavors of hot pockets. (sarcasm. I actually support science, even that which I dont completely understand)

I'm a pretty strong proponent of theoretical physics research, I just think it's funny how everyone thought it was going to create a black hole that would suck the Earth in.

[Khrakhan]

I'm a pretty strong proponent of theoretical physics research, I just think it's funny how everyone thought it was going to create a black hole that would suck the Earth in.

That would've been sweet....too bad:evil:

[Dart]

Not a surprise but very important day nonetheless. The LHC isn't even at full power yet. Dark matter next!

[Khrakhan]

Once we can figure out how to remove or neutralize this stuff in space, we can start traveling at speed of light....probably being destroyed ourselves in the process, but atleast we finally go lightspeed, lol.

[julfo]

To be honest I don't know whether I'd prefer some insight into dark matter or PS2 beta :lol: It's a tough decision.

But yeah at least the LHC was useful despite the cost.

[Kyonye]

I'm a huge advocate of quarks...

[Graywolves]

Does this mean that Higby is the master of the universe?

[Khrakhan]

Does this mean that Higby is the master of the universe?

As soon as PS2 is launched, he will rule the world.

[Obiyer]

On BerkeleyLab's youtube channel they made a video where people can ask questions if anyone is interested: Got Questions About the Higgs Boson? Ask a Scientist - YouTube

They are way over my head though, I don't know what a Boson is and only have a slight idea what the standard model is.

[MasterChief096]

I for one, am very excited about this discovery. Who knows what it will lead to one hundred, two hundred, or a thousand years down the line. Hell, twenty years down the line. Go LHC!

[Captain1nsaneo]

Science: Discovering the obvious since gravity.

I get the universe is full of marvels. It didn't take Newton's "discovery" of gravity to build the pyramids. It just took mankind harnessing what the universe provides in abundance.

http://i49.tinypic.com/28s4ppx.gif

There is a massive difference between "how" and "why".

[Sabrak]

I know how and why I take a massive shit. No research needed bro. We mistake research with progress, it's not. Doing, is progress.

Excuse me, but how are we supposed to do new things, which leads to your conception of progress, if we don't make researches on how and why these new things will work? :rolleyes:

[Canaris]

okay they have their Higgs Bosun, now they have to give me cold fusion that was the deal! :)

[Geist]

okay they have their Higgs Bosun, now they have to give me cold fusion that was the deal! :)

Yes. Cold Fusion(from what I understand) would solve a lot of problems. And it sounds bad ass.

Seriously though, this is pretty major if it is in fact the Higgs Boson, and even if it isn't, it's something new. Great times to come

[Sabrak]

Plenty of ways you can progress without spending billions on dollars/euro's on a particle accelerator.

True.
Except you wouldn't progress on particle physics.

It's always the same thing.
"We could use that money to make the world a better place".
Yes we could. But would we?

[Dart]

Plenty of ways you can progress without spending billions on dollars/euro's on a particle accelerator. I think Eclipse may be disappointed that on the one hand science keeps rolling forward without compromise, but on the other hand we still have imbeciles waging war over oil, bearded monkeys bombing skyscrapers and building nukes, and 1/4 of the world still not able to feed themselves properly.

Of course science compromises. What a ridiculous thing to say. I live in Cambridge and work with many researchers who're on the cutting edge of their respective fields and they are ALL dealing with cuts in funding. Scientific exploration is a far more worthy and useful use of public money than bailing out corrupt financial institutions or paying for a politicians' 3rd home!

[stordito]

the discovery may not have any practical use YET.
but the process of building this massive instrument is already changing our lifes with cutting edge technologies and ultimately jobs and wellness.
One proof LHC-related?

To manage the huge data from the particle accelerators a client-server infrastrucure was not enought.
a new network type was then studied and implemented.

today we are starting to use it more and more,many streaming services already use it,like remote storages and game streaming services.
in the next 5-10 years it will be basically everywhere, changing the whole concept of "computer".
probably even Planetside 2 is using this technology.

it's called... cloud computing... ;)

[Greeniegriz]

Cool.

[Obiyer]

Here's Ian Hinchliffe answering questions that were asked in the previous video.

Ian Hinchliffe Answers Your Higgs Boson Questions - YouTube

[Antivide]

You do realize there is a political debate section on the forums, right?

Seriously, it's incredibly obnoxious to state your political views in an unrelated section of the forums. On a thread about physics.

[MasterChief096]

When J.J. Thompson discovered the electron in 1897, he remarked that he didn't think it would be of any use to anyone at all. Now look at what this electron has given us, our world runs on electricity.

A lot of people are saying the discovery of the Higgs Boson won't give us anything, but who knows 100 years down the line? Some new technology similar to electricity that EVERYONE needs?