Scientists around the world were elated by the recent discovery of the Higgs boson. The elusive subatomic particle was first postulated by British physicist Peter Higgs in 1964, and was finally detected for the first time this year at CERN, with its Large Hadron Collider, the world's biggest particle accelerator at over five miles in diameter. The Higgs boson is believed to be what enables matter to have mass, and is thus part of the essential "glue" that holds the entire universe together.
Interestingly, the particle was not so much detected, as created. Most people are familiar with Albert Einstein's famous equation e=mc2 which states that when converting mass to energy or vice versa, the amount of energy is equal to the amount of mass times the speed of light squared, meaning that a very small amount of mass can produce a very large amount of energy. This is the principle of the atomic bomb. But in the Higgs experiment, protons were accelerated to nearly the speed of light, giving them a huge amount of kinetic energy, and when they were brought into head on collisions with each other, the tremendous energy released by the collisions resulted in the formation of numerous new particles, including the Higgs boson.
The goal of particle physics is to discover the most fundamental objects in the universe, and explain their interactions in the simplest way possible. To learn more about the Higgs boson and the world of particle physics in general, you can view the current episode of Future Talk in its entirety by clicking here, or divided into three shorter segments by clicking here.
Underwater exploration is finally coming within reach of the common man, thanks to OpenROV, an open source, remotely operated mini-submarine that can be customized with a variety of cameras and sensors. The co-creators, David Lang and Eric Stackpole, have put all the blueprints on the Internet and invited comments and suggestions for improvements, and they're also selling kits so people can put together their own OpenROVs at home. The OpenROV was featured prominently at the 2012 Maker Faire, and is very much part of the Maker culture. In case you think there wouldn't be much interest in this type of thing, David and Eric used Kickstarter, the crowd funding website, to raise money for their work. They set a goal of raising $20,000 in a month and raised more than $100,000, mostly in small donations. Even NASA has gotten actively involved in the project, because of the similarities between exploring oceans and exploring space, and because the open source methodology is something that NASA is trying to develop for its own use. The current episode of Future Talk features an interview with David Lang, footage of the OpenROV in action, and an extensive report on the Maker Faire itself. You can view the show in its entirety by clicking here, or divided into 3 shorter segments by clicking here.
Underwater exploration is finally coming within reach of the common man, thanks to OpenROV, an open source, remotely operated mini-submarine that can be customized with a variety of cameras and sensors. The co-creators, David Lang and Eric Stackpole, have put all the blueprints on the Internet and invited comments and suggestions for improvements, and they're also selling kits so people can put together their own OpenROVs at home. The OpenROV was featured prominently at the 2012 Maker Faire, and is very much part of the Maker culture. In case you think there wouldn't be much interest in this type of thing, David and Eric used Kickstarter, the crowd funding website, to raise money for their work. They set a goal of raising $20,000 in a month and raised more than $100,000, mostly in small donations. Even NASA has gotten actively involved in the project, because of the similarities between exploring oceans and exploring space, and because the open source methodology is something that NASA is trying to develop for its own use. The current episode of Future Talk features an interview with David Lang, footage of the OpenROV in action, and an extensive report on the Maker Faire itself. You can view the show in its entirety by clicking here, or divided into 3 shorter segments by clicking here.