CERN prepares to deliver Higgs particle findings

Posted by . , Tuesday, July 3, 2012 10:23 PM

Physicists are expected to confirm a major milestone in solving a decades-old puzzle about the nature of matter tonight.

The existence of the Higgs boson particle has been a hypothesis for several decades, yet much of what we know about the universe has been formed around the assumption that it does in fact exist.

The results of what scientists call a potentially "revolutionary" and extremely important experiment regarding its existence will be announced simultaneously in Geneva and Melbourne - where the international High Energy Physics conference is taking place - from 5pm (AEST).

The findings may, or may not, confirm existing theories of the way the universe - and our world - are held together.

The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has been leading the search for the Higgs boson, an elusive sub-atomic particle dubbed by some as the "God particle", which is believed to confer mass.
The Higgs has led scientists on a chase since 1964, when British physicist Peter Higgs helped lay the conceptual foundation for it.

If the particle exists, it would vindicate the so-called Standard Model of physics, which identifies the building blocks for matter and the particles that convey fundamental forces.

On the eve of the announcement, rumours are flying about what CERN has in store.
"Whether or not the Higgs has been found, tomorrow will be exciting," Professor Sir Peter Knight, president of Britain's Institute of Physics, told AFP overnight.

"If the Standard Model is confirmed via the discovery of the Higgs boson, or whether we need to abandon and start re-writing the textbooks, it's a historical day in science that we should all be proud of."
A big question concerns the degree of probability scientists need to make a claim.

CERN physicists have said they will not make an announcement until they have proof - from two laboratories working independently at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) - that the risk of a statistical fluke is vanishingly small.

In scientific parlance, the goal is "five sigma," meaning that there is just a 0.00006 per cent chance that what the two laboratories found is a mathematical quirk.

In a news report, the British science journal Nature said CERN will announce that the two labs saw signals of a new particle with a probability of between 4.5 and 5 sigma.

But CERN will stop short of calling it the Higgs until more is known about what the particle does, Nature said.

"Crucially, they will want to know whether it behaves like a mass-giving Higgs, and more specifically whether it behaves like the Higgs predicted in the Standard Model," the journal said.

Last week, CERN boss Rolf Heuer cautioned about the need for verification.

"It's a bit like spotting a familiar face from far. Sometimes you need closer inspection to find out whether it's really your best friend, or your best friend's twin."

Because the Higgs cannot be seen, its existence - or not - has to be inferred.

This is done by smashing protons together in an underground tunnel, providing a tiny but fierce collision that causes sub-atomic debris to fly into detectors built into the 360-degree walls of a car-sized lab.

The trick then is to sift through the signals from this smash up and look for a pattern that points to the Higgs.
The boson has been so slippery because it is believed to decay almost instantly after it interacts with other particles to endow them with mass.

Over the years, tens of thousands of physicists have been thrown into the search for the Higgs, and billions of dollars have been spent on colliders.

A US machine, the Tevatron, came agonisingly close before it was mothballed in 2011 after 26 years of operations.

Its vanguard role was supplanted by the far bigger LHC, a behemoth that comprises four labs dotted around a ring-shaped tunnel, 27 kilometres long, straddling the Franco-Swiss border. 

In a presentation on Monday of data that was analysed after the closure, physicists at Fermilab said they had strong hints that the Higgs exists, but the signal was 2.9 sigma, which falls short of the five-sigma threshold.
According to Nature, the signature occurred at a mass of around 125 gigaelectronvolts, when a Higgs-like particle decayed into two photons, or particles of light.

The Tevatron and the LHC carried out exhaustive experiments to narrow down the mass field and to identify potential Higgs patterns, a task "much worse than [seeking] a needle in a haystack," Fermilab physicist Joe Lykken said.



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Personalised array of microbes may unravel unhealthy secrets.

Posted by . , Wednesday, June 13, 2012 8:27 PM

THE nooks and crannies of a healthy person are home to trillions of micro-organisms. Without this non-human component of the body, which makes up about 1 per cent to 3 per cent of a person by weight, we could not survive.

These minuscule helpers digest our food, strengthen our immune system and ward off dangerous pathogens.
They can also distinguish us, one from another.

Humans have more than 10,000 species of microbes living in and on them, but individuals can carry around very different sets of microbial populations, new research shows.

While most of these constant bedfellows are friendly, nearly everyone carries some potential foes that can cause disease under the right conditions.

These are the findings, released today, of the Human Microbiome Project – the first comprehensive census of the micro-organisms, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi, living on a healthy body.

More than 240 people between the ages of 18 and 40 donated samples from up to 18 sites on their body including the skin, mouth, nose, lower intestine and vagina, for the research, a five-year, $154 million project funded by the US National Institutes of Health. A team of 200 scientists used the latest DNA analysis techniques to study what microbes were present in those samples.

The director of the institutes, Dr Francis Collins, compared the efforts of the researchers to those of past heroes.
"Like 15th century explorers describing the outline of a new continent, the Human Microbiome Project researchers employed a new technological strategy to comprehensively define, for the first time, the normal microbial make-up of the human body," he said.

The results, published in the journals Nature and PLoS, would provide new insights into human health, said a team member, George Weinstock, of Washington University. "Knowing which microbes live in various ecological niches in healthy people allows us to better investigate what goes awry in diseases that are thought to have a microbial link, like Crohn's and obesity, and why dangerous pathogens sometimes, but not always, cause life-threatening illnesses."

While a person has about 22,000 genes, the researchers estimated that bacteria contributed hundreds of times more genes – about 8 million – that help make up for human deficits.

For example, people did not have all the enzymes required to digest food, said Lita Proctor, another team member.

"Microbes in the gut break down many of the proteins, lipids and carbohydrates in our diet into nutrients that we can then absorb."

They also produced vitamins and anti-inflammatory substances that our genes couldn't make, to help regulate the immune system, she said. The ecological niches in the body differed as much as a rainforest does from a desert, the researchers said.

The skin has a diverse collection of microbes, while the vagina has fewer species. The microbes living on teeth are different from those in saliva.

Healthy people can vary a lot, with one type of bacteria making up 90 per cent of the microbes in one person's gut, but less than 1 per cent in another's. But the different gut microbes can perform the same metabolic tasks.

Researchers have already started to use the new information, examining the microbes in the noses and blood of children with sudden, unexplained high fever, a common problem in those under three. They are often treated with antibiotics as a precaution, but the research shows the sick children had more species of viruses than healthy children, and viruses are not killed by antibiotics.

Other researchers are studying a gastric disease that threatens the life of some premature babies. By comparing the microbial communities in infants with and without the condition they hope to understand why some babies develop it.

The study found about 30 per cent of the healthy people had potentially harmful golden staph bacteria in their noses.

"The future of microbiome research is very exciting," Dr Weinstock said.

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Whaling funding a disgrace: Sea Shepherd

Posted by . , Tuesday, December 6, 2011 10:52 PM

Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd has accused Japan of funding the killing of whales with money donated to victims of the earthquake and tsunami, a claim the Japanese consulate in Australia denies.

Japan's whaling fleet has set sail for the country's annual hunt in Antarctica, with security measures beefed up amid international protests.

Sea Shepherd is preparing to confront the whalers in the Southern Ocean, in what is expected to be one of its most intense campaigns yet.

Whaling funding a disgrace: Sea Shepherd
December 7, 2011 - 3:48PM
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Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd has accused Japan of funding the killing of whales with money donated to victims of the earthquake and tsunami, a claim the Japanese consulate in Australia denies.

Japan's whaling fleet has set sail for the country's annual hunt in Antarctica, with security measures beefed up amid international protests.

Sea Shepherd is preparing to confront the whalers in the Southern Ocean, in what is expected to be one of its most intense campaigns yet.
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Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said it looked as if the Japanese fleet had two security vessels with security and coast guard personnel aboard.

"We are hoping to deter their operations," he said.

"I assume the security vessels will try and dislodge us. I am assuming there will be some difficult confrontations," he said today.

"That is one of the reasons I asked Australia to send a vessel down to keep the peace, but they refused."

He said about an extra $28 million that Japan had given to the campaign was most likely behind the beefed-up security.

"That money did come from the earthquake relief fund," he said.

"I think that it's totally disgraceful. People from around the world sending money to help the victims of the tsunami-earthquake were not expecting their money to be used to fund killing whales in the Southern Ocean."

Three ships from the Sea Shepherd fleet will set sail in about eight days.

The Steve Irwin and the Brigitte Bardot will leave from Albany in Western Australia and the Bob Barker will depart from Hobart.

Mr Kaz Inadome from the Japanese Consulate said no money from the disaster relief funds collected in Australia had been used. All that money had gone to the Red Cross in Japan.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/whaling-funding-a-disgrace-sea-shepherd-20111207-1oi21.html

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Nobel winner thought prize call was 'student joke'

Posted by . , Tuesday, October 4, 2011 9:29 PM

When a Swedish voice came down the line informing him he had a "very important call" Tuesday night, Australia's newest Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt assumed it was an elaborate undergraduate joke.

"My first thought was 'Geez my students have done a pretty good job on this accent'," the Australian-American astronomer said Wednesday.

"She asked me to confirm that I was Brian Schmidt and told me I had a very important call, and then the members of the panel went out and read the citation to me and congratulated me."

"I feel like when my first child was born. I'm kind of weak in the knees and a little, you know, I guess a little -- hard to describe -- almost speechless at this point."

Schmidt, 44, was named joint winner of the Nobel Physics Prize in Stockholm on Tuesday for his work on the 1998 discovery that dark energy -- gravity's repulsive opposite -- was driving an ever-increasing expansion of the universe.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the award was a testament to his "rigour and determination", congratulating Schmidt, US colleague Adam Riess and their competitor Saul Perlmutter, also from the US, on the joint Nobel prize.

"This discovery turned some of our most stable notions of the universe on its head and challenges our understanding of its very composition," said Gillard.

"They stuck with their observations and made the theory fit the facts, however revolutionary and inconvenient."

It was so groundbreaking Schmidt admitted having to overcome his own self-doubts about his findings, which went against the scientific orthodoxy of the time.

"It seemed too crazy to be right. We were a little scared," he told ABC Radio.

By his own admission Schmidt's research is "bleak" stuff: Earth's galactic neighbours hurtling away at unimaginable speeds to ultimately leave mankind's home in a cold, deserted Universe.

"Right now I look out into space and I see billions of galaxies. In the future I will look out and see an empty Universe," Schmidt told reporters Wednesday of his prizewinning work.

"All the galaxies we see now will be so far away that their light can no longer reach us... and our galaxy of stars will slowly fade away and die and we're left with a bunch of stellar embers and a dark universe."

It's a prospect some hundreds of billions of years in the future, but "that's not too long by astronomical standards", he added.

Schmidt was 27 when he moved to Australia in 1994, having obtained his PhD from Harvard, and said there were few other places in the world he could have done such world-class research at such a young age.

He formed the High-Z SN Search team, a group of 20 astronomers on five continents who used distant exploding stars, or supernovae, to trace the expansion of the universe back in time.

Schmidt said knowledge was a "funny thing" and while he was "pretty certain" his dark energy theory was correct "you're never absolutely certain".

It was also impossible to know where the discovery would lead, he added.

"I do not know whether the accelerated universe is going to give us a better toaster, but I do know that it will help us understand the universe, and what that eventually evolves into is to be determined," he said.

Australian Academy of Science president Suzanne Cory said it was the first time an Australian had won the Physics Nobel since 1915, declaring it an "absolutely wonderful day" for the nation's scientists.

A winemaker in his spare time, Schmidt said he was mostly looking forward to life going on as normal, starting with his weekly third-year cosmology lecture later Wednesday at the Australian National University.

He plans to put his share of the US$1.5 million prize money, to be awarded at a ceremony in Sweden in December, towards "some sort of public good" in consultation with his 20-person team.

"I like my life as it is, so I'm hoping that it doesn't change too much," he said.

Source http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hIf9BHVIGiiob9HxfVYuyVV5-zjQ?docId=CNG.1115db5cc2628f77f4863b0a574661ed.301

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Coral reef species may adjust to climate change

Posted by . , Friday, July 22, 2011 2:43 AM

MANY of the world's coral reefs, including the Great Barrier Reef, could survive the coming decades if greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, a study has found.

While past research had predicted large-scale destruction from global warming was inevitable, recent studies have shown some species were more capable of adapting than others.

But the capacity for these corals to adjust could be greatly reduced by human activities such as over-fishing, pollution and habitat destruction.

As part of the study, published in the journal Science, scientists reviewed the most recent research on the effect of climate change on coral reefs, as well as evidence from the fossil record.

A marine biologist and study leader, John Pandolfi, said the response to climate change varied dramatically between regions.

''We can't say everywhere is doomed in two decades because CO2 is this level and pH is that level; it's just not that black and white,'' said Professor Pandolfi, from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University.

''Our expectation is that some regions are less likely to completely collapse in the next few decades than others.''

A marine biologist and co-author of the study, Sean Connolly, also from the centre, said there was good evidence to show that past global warming and ocean acidification had had devastating impacts on coral reefs.

There was also evidence that marine species coped differently to ocean warming and coral bleaching.

He warned that the findings did not mean coral reefs were out of danger.

"There is no doubt that unchecked global warming would have a devastating affect on the world’s reefs," he said.

"If we do nothing, by later this century then all bets are off," Professor Connolly said.

"There is a wide range of responses to climate change among different organisms; some are already suffering with the climate change that has happened already, while others aren’t doing so badly," he said.

There was also uncertainty around which species would be able to adapt to rising temperatures and ocean acidification in time, he said.

Ocean acidification occurs when excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean. Too much carbon dioxide reduces the availability of calcium carbonate, the building block of coral skeletons.

The rate of adaptation for many species could be increased if human activities such as fishing and runoff were managed appropriately.

To increase the ability for a species to adapt to one stress, others needed to be reduced, Professor Connolly said.

"The organisms that have an unusually good ability to cope with high temperatures and ocean acidification have to be able to survive and reproduce offspring that also have those tolerances. But if there is also a lot stress from coastal development [and] runoff then they can die out," he said.

Authorities also needed to ensure populations of marine species did not decline dramatically.

"If you reduce a population size you reduce its ability to adapt rapidly to environmental change," he said.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/coral-reef-species-may-adjust-to-climate-change-20110721-1hr08.html

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New telescope may link us to alien life

Posted by . , Wednesday, July 6, 2011 12:25 AM

If there are aliens on other planets, Australia could play a key role in making contact, the nation's leading astronomer Fred Watson says.

But it may depend on an area of Western Australia being chosen as the site for the square kilometre array (SKA), the world's most powerful radio telescope that will also reveal more about the origins of the universe.

The Murchison region in the WA outback is vying with a site in southern Africa for the SKA with a group of international scientists expected to make a final decision in 2012.

If there are aliens on other planets, Australia could play a key role in making contact, the nation's leading astronomer Fred Watson says.

But it may depend on an area of Western Australia being chosen as the site for the square kilometre array (SKA), the world's most powerful radio telescope that will also reveal more about the origins of the universe.

The Murchison region in the WA outback is vying with a site in southern Africa for the SKA with a group of international scientists expected to make a final decision in 2012.
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Some clues as to the location may be revealed after a meeting in Canada this week involving what has been described as a steering group taking the project forward.

Australia is considered the best location for the SKA but there are suggestions other factors could come into play, including political considerations.

Professor Watson, astronomer in charge at the Australian Astronomical Observatory at Coonabarabran in NSW, said the SKA would be involved in "big picture" science.

"It's about asking the big questions," he told AAP.

"The SKA will be by far the most sensitive radio telescope ever built.

"It will have the potential to reveal all kinds of things ranging from the possibility of picking up signals from aliens, if they exist.

"More seriously, it will look at the early universe, trying to work out how galaxies were formed."

Professor Watson said the SKA would also investigate the "mysterious stuff" called dark matter, which permeates four-fifths of the universe, and possibly reveal how dark matter helped the formation of stars.

"Insights into that are of extreme value to scientists for all kinds of reasons," he said.

"One of which is to confirm the picture we have of the origin of the universe and its early evolution is correct.

"But more especially to tell us things we simply don't dream about at the moment.

"Always with these things the most exciting discoveries are the ones that are completely unexpected.

"So who knows what a facility like this might produce?"

Professor Watson was in Adelaide on Tuesday for the annual scientific meeting of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

Source http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/new-telescope-may-link-us-to-alien-life-20110705-1h06o.html

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Defence to review 'risk' of social media

Posted by . , Friday, May 6, 2011 1:25 AM

Defence Minister Stephen Smith has warned the use of social media by Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel could put the military's reputation at risk.

The defence minister's warning came a day after charges were laid against a former ADF member over the setting up of a gay-hate Facebook page.

Mr Smith today announced an external consulting company would head a review into the use of social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, in light of ADF values.

The social media review is part of a raft of studies looking at the defence force, including the use of alcohol and leadership opportunities available to women.

Mr Smith said the review would raise awareness among ADF employees that the information they share on social media often becomes public.

"That which people [post on social media], which becomes public, particularly if they are representing Australia or representing the ADF, potentially can have seriously adverse consequences," he said.

"It's very important that members of the ADF, whether they're onshore or offshore, understand that at all times they are representing the defence force and representing the nation.

"As a consequence, inappropriate behaviour, effectively, in uniform can lead to very serious reputational damage."

A former ADF member was charged yesterday over alleged threats to a senior army officer and creating a Facebook page which encouraged violence against homosexuals.

The review, to be led by Rob Hudson from George Patterson Y & R, is due to provide an interim report by the end of July.

Meanwhile, the Independent Advisory Panel on Alcohol will examine the impact of alcohol use at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the adequacy of current policies and strategies.

"Often, inappropriate conduct and abuse of alcohol go hand in hand," he told reporters in Perth.

"The objective here is to advise ADFA on the current organisational arrangement so far as use of alcohol is concerned and whether there's anything more we can do or learn."

The panel, to be chaired by Professor Margaret Hamilton, will include drug and alcohol experts as well as the Commander Joint Health, Major General Paul Alexander, and is due to report back at the end of July.

Other reviews will examine ways to improve the leadership representation rates of women in defence and the management of complaints.

The independent Inspector General of the ADF, Geoff Earley, will head the review of how incidents and complaints are managed, focusing on the treatment of victims and the relationship between military disciplinary investigations and civil or criminal matters.

"Sometimes that inter-relationship has led to delays and lack of a timely response in those issues," Mr Smith said.

The reviews follow the Skype sex scandal, in which a male cadet allegedly use a live webcam to stream video of him having sex with a female cadet to his colleagues without her knowledge.

Police have since charged two other cadets with related offences.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick is heading a review into the treatment of women in the ADF and the ADFA following the scandal.

Source http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/defence-to-review-risk-of-social-media-20110506-1ebpp.html

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