The toughest decision of all: One that offers most choices.
Solution: An out-of-body experience.
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Saturday 1 October 2011
The End Of Particle Physics As We Know It?
'If it is true then we truly haven't understood anything about anything.' ~Alvaro de Rujula, theorist at CERN
'Neutrinos can travel at a speed faster than light.' When I first read this on Facebook (Sadly enough, Fb is currently my main source of information), the thought that jumped to my head was "How many theories are going to require revision?! Second thought- If and only if this is validated and truly true, we are a step closer to time travel. Wow. Third thought -Lets put the internet to work for us through ifttt.com i.e., 'If certain subatomic particles can travel faster than speed of light, reset all the (now) obsolete explanations and theories based on the presumption that the fastest a particle can travel is at the speed of light.
This news came around a week back and since then, the blogosphere's been flooded by related posts. This discovery if found to be true would destroy the very foundation of modern physics.
A fundamental pillar of physics that nothing can go faster than the speed of light appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories - is what The Hindu had to say about this.
If this observation is validated by the Fermi lab in Chicago( a lab well equipped to test the validity of this overwhelming claim), Einstein- the man labeled as the father of modern physics who taught us the energy- mass equivalence, would be dethroned leaving the door open for another great mind to walk in and be immortalized as the man who flawed the almighty E=mc^2 equation.
Did you know - Einstein along with Richard Feynman, Fermi and Openheimer had a direct role to play in the Manhattan Project? In Einstein's defense, his equation might explain the release of energy during a nuclear fission but it does not tell one how to make a nuclear bomb. In his own words, Einstein expressed his regret at having even suggested research on nuclear energy as a good idea to FDR - "Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing."
Anyway, amongst the several theories floating around, one particularly interesting theory goes as follows: particles can travel at a speed greater than 299792 km per second by taking another (a fifth?) dimension through time and that is, travel through wormholes.
Incredible claims require incredible evidence - NY Times.
And for when someone does find this evidence(if it exists), more concrete than anything, the implications will be HUGE. I don't think we can fully appreciate the magnitude of the mess this is going to create.
For now, all we can do is wait. (And hope for time travel to become a reality before our stay on earth terminates.)
'Neutrinos can travel at a speed faster than light.' When I first read this on Facebook (Sadly enough, Fb is currently my main source of information), the thought that jumped to my head was "How many theories are going to require revision?! Second thought- If and only if this is validated and truly true, we are a step closer to time travel. Wow. Third thought -Lets put the internet to work for us through ifttt.com i.e., 'If certain subatomic particles can travel faster than speed of light, reset all the (now) obsolete explanations and theories based on the presumption that the fastest a particle can travel is at the speed of light.
This news came around a week back and since then, the blogosphere's been flooded by related posts. This discovery if found to be true would destroy the very foundation of modern physics.
A fundamental pillar of physics that nothing can go faster than the speed of light appears to be smashed by an oddball subatomic particle that has apparently made a giant end run around Albert Einstein's theories - is what The Hindu had to say about this.
If this observation is validated by the Fermi lab in Chicago( a lab well equipped to test the validity of this overwhelming claim), Einstein- the man labeled as the father of modern physics who taught us the energy- mass equivalence, would be dethroned leaving the door open for another great mind to walk in and be immortalized as the man who flawed the almighty E=mc^2 equation.
Did you know - Einstein along with Richard Feynman, Fermi and Openheimer had a direct role to play in the Manhattan Project? In Einstein's defense, his equation might explain the release of energy during a nuclear fission but it does not tell one how to make a nuclear bomb. In his own words, Einstein expressed his regret at having even suggested research on nuclear energy as a good idea to FDR - "Had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing."
Anyway, amongst the several theories floating around, one particularly interesting theory goes as follows: particles can travel at a speed greater than 299792 km per second by taking another (a fifth?) dimension through time and that is, travel through wormholes.
Incredible claims require incredible evidence - NY Times.
And for when someone does find this evidence(if it exists), more concrete than anything, the implications will be HUGE. I don't think we can fully appreciate the magnitude of the mess this is going to create.
For now, all we can do is wait. (And hope for time travel to become a reality before our stay on earth terminates.)
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