The Higgs Boson
I have heard many commentators try to explain about the Higgs boson and the search for its existence.
All have failed to make head or tail of the complex subject. Admittedly, my physics stopped at A-level in 1965, but I have read extensively to extend my knowledge.
However, Phil Allport of Liverpool University, explained it all pretty well in words that I could understand. Or at least the detection process, even if the theory of the boson’s existence, is way beyond me.
But I should say, that if Professor Allport were to write a Brief History of the Higg’s Boson, I’d certainly buy it, as it is my type of holiday read. But then I read a book called something like, In search of the Quark, by a pool in the West Indies, only to find that one of the other guests was a Professor of Physics at a prestigious American university. it was this book, that got me looking for Lise Meitner. Sadly, it’s gone the way of a lot of my books.
Again, I wish I’d videoed his talk.
ATLAS
ATLAS is the name of one of the experiments performed at CERN.
Liverpool University had a significant part in the building of this experiment. Their participation is described here.
CERN And Liverpool University
We were then treated to a lecture, about how Liverpool University fitted into the CERN firmament. Here’s some pictures that I took.
I think I should have made a video.
I can’t find a decent tome about how CERN and Liverpool University started their collaboration, so if anybody has one, send me a link, as the history of science fascinates me. That has led me to two of my heroes being Lise Meitner and Rosalind Franklin.
Nuclear physics at Liverpool dates back to the 1930s, when James Chadwick, who discovered the neutron, was appointed professor. The story of his research at Liverpool and the building of the cyclotron there is described here.
One phrase stands out from the talk. I think it was Sir Howard Newby, the University Vice-Chancellor, who said.
Research is global.
This is so true and it is why places like CERN must exist.
A Visit To CERN
On Friday, I left the cold of London for hopefully better climes in Geneva.
The purpose of the visit was to go to CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research. The invite came from the Alumni Relations people at my old University of Liverpool. It was a full weekend, so I’m going to post things as they turn up. To give a taster of this visit, I’m posting this picture.
A Visit To CERN
This shows me in front of the CMS experiment. It is being rebuilt at the moment.
The picture was taken about a hundred metres underground the French countryside. That was a long climb back. But they did have a lift, which was cosy for the twenty-five or so in each party.
And We Think We Have Food Safety Problems!
This story from the BBC about rat meat in China, makes me think we’re lucky. I like this paragraph.
I heard one anecdote about a restaurant in southern China that serves up rat meat dishes. Believe me these establishments do exist.
At this particular restaurant, the owners reassured the customers their rats had been caught in the countryside and not in the sewers.
Incidentally, when I visited London’s sewers, I didn’t see one rat.
Richard Feynman
I’d never heard of Richard Feynman, before tonight, when BBC2 had a program about his work on the Enquiry into the Challenger Disaster and a profile of his life. Wikipedia says this about the report on Challenger.
He warned in his appendix to the commission’s report (which was included only after he threatened not to sign the report), “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
It’s a wonderful quote and all politicians should have it tattooed on their bottom.
Are There Indirect Consequences Of Bereavement Or Divorce?
Yesterday, I met someone, who has divorced after a fairly long marriage. I’m not sure how long ago it was, but they did move house in the last year.
I first noticed their nails and they appeared to be short and brittle just like mine below. They also had similar bumps to those I have on my index finger.
My Left Hand
On questioning, they revealed that they lived in a south-facing flat, although it doesn’t have under-floor central heating, like my house.
So are they living in a hot, dry atmosphere, like I have for a lot of the time, since I moved into this house? There is only one way to find out and that is buy one of these.
Maplin Hygro-Thermometer
I got mine from Maplin. Click here for details.
Since the begining of January, I’ve kept the temperature most of the time in the range of 19-21 °C, with the humidity as high as possible. Admittedly, it’s a bit hotter this morning, but then the sun is on and both the heating and air-conditioning are off.
The consequences for my gut have been dramatic. Ever since my stroke in 2010, my gut has been lively, which an expert neurologist said was strange, as if stroke sufferers have a problem it’s usually constipation. For a long time, I thought I’d been glutened in hospital.
Now I was married for forty years and my lunch companion had probably been married for a long time, although they had got divorced. So the nails and the hands got me thinking.
Could it be, that when you are living with someone, you get into habits and a pattern of living? C and myself, were a couple, who did things together, but she was very definite in what she wanted. She always slept on the same side of the bed, kept the temperature of her car at a precise 22.5 °C and always liked to eat at particular times. She also was the first to complain, if the inside of a house or hotel room was too hot, and I would be told to do something about it.
I was happy to live at her temperature, but she always complained that my office or car was too hot.
After she died, I decided to warm the house up. I changed radiators and also switched from blankets to duvets in a quest for more warmth.
Unfortunately, I didn’t do any before and after measurements, but it was about this time that my rhinitis or as I thought at the time, hay fever, started.
This rhinitis got very much worse after the stroke in Hong Kong. My hospital room, had a big picture window and the sun streamed through. Could it have been very hot and dry?
When I moved to this house, it was very hot and I started to feel unwell and even thought the house was trying to kill me.
I have now got air-conditioning and control the temperature and humidity as tight as I can. But all of this does illustrate the chain of events from C’s tragic death, that ruined my health.
There may also be other factors, that come in on either bereavement or divorce, or even just moving house.
I hate gas cookers with a passion, as I don’t like naked flames anywhere, but others won’t cook on anything else. C and I, were both very happy with an AGA.
I don’t like draughts either and generally keep the windows shut and go for a walk if I want fresh air. After a bereavement or divorce, you may have a tedency to shut yourself away, so perhaps acquiring a dog that needs to be walked is maybe a good idea. I haven’t gone for the dog, but I do walk quite a bit.
How many women after a divorce, go from a comfortable air-conditioned car to an affordable hatchback, as the settlement is not in their favour?
There are obviously other factors, and if anybody has any ideas, I’d be pleased to hear them.
But I always remember a story of a couple, who moved a mile or so from their new sealed house, with fitted carpets in the town centre, to a country cottage with stone floors and ill-fitting windows. Their son’s asthma disappeared after the move.
So are there any scientific papers on the effects of temperature and humidity on health.
I found this paper from Harvard, entitled Hospital admissions for heart disease: the effects of temperature and humidity. Read the summary. It seems to indicate, that in their specific study, temperature was important, but humidity wasn’t.
My only advice would be to get yourself, one of Maplin’s meters, so that you know your preferred temperature and humidity.
A New Superwheat
You’d think as a coeliac, I would not be in favour of the new superwheat developed at Cambridge as reported on the BBC.
British scientists say they have developed a new type of wheat which could increase productivity by 30%.
The Cambridge-based National Institute of Agricultural Botany has combined an ancient ancestor of wheat with a modern variety to produce a new strain.
But I think this is a victory for traditional high-class science. As I understand it, after hearing the scientist on the radio, the combining of the two plants was done using the sort of methods, that have been used for years. Albeit with some clever seed incubation. No direct manipulation of the genes was involved.
So as this could give a yield increase of 30%, what would happen if these methods were applied to the other staple crops of the world.
Sadly, the problem is that, the Cambridge route doesn’t make any money for the big corporations of this world, who feel that the GM route is much more profitable.
I am not totally against GM, but it has to be used ethically and where it is demonstrated that it the only way to create an important product, such as a new cancer drug.
Linford Christie Is A Gardener
This was flagged up by Katherine Merry on Fighting Talk this morning.
Gardening is one of my pet hates, so I do find Linford Christie’s apparent love of gardening, rather foreign. I like looking at nice gardens, but please don’t ask me to do anything. I would have thought, Linford could have been like me, as we both had other things to do, that are more important.
I checked to see if Katherine Merry was right and found this article in the Financial Times.
Looking After My Shoes
Keeping shoes clean between wearing is difficult in this house, as for some reason they get dusty, if left in a drawer. So I bought these bags from the Clever Baggers.
At just £0.89 each, I can’t complain.
The Anonymous Widower 