Science Geeks

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Anyone interested in science? On my walks I have been listening to Stephen Hawkins books on audible and then doing further reading.

At the same time scientist at LHC have been doing experiments on sub atomic particles. The have recently discovered a quark that breaks down into further particles unevenly. Which is not expected in the Standard Model. The SM details 4 forces of nature, Gravity, Electromagnetic, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. Most of Hawkins, and many other physicists careers has been trying to find unifying theories that explain how all 4 forces relate. Known as Grand Unifying Theories, and also the Theory of Everything which brings it all together.

But if this latest discovery is further proven to be repeatable and not a fluke, then it could mean the discover of a 5th force.

I find this fascinating. It could mean a fundemental change in our understanding of physics.

Tried talking to my wife about it and she looked at me like I have two heads.

Anyone find this interesting?

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Yes, but then it reminds how insignificant we are as human beings and then I get sad

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Yep, its fascinating…

I’m also intrigued by the strange particles, primarily as I can’t get my head around something that can rotate through 360° and be different to when it started.

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We mainly like watching spaceX launches. Quite fond of physics jokes too eg.

Hey, says the barman, we don’t serve faster-than-light particles in here.

A tachyon walks into a bar…

Or

Sorry, said the priest, but we don’t allow Higgs Bosuns in this church.

That’s crazy, replied the Higgs. Without me, you can’t have mass.

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I used to play darts with lots of theoretical physcists at southampton uni, does that count as enough to bullshit about it?

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Sorry didn’t mean to trigger an existential crisis

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Did they actually throw the darts, or just speculate on their trajectory?

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They were all right, I was visiting my other half at the time who was doing her PHD there (Some inflation model) and it was how they started their friday evening drinking, or was it how they finished their weeks theorising.

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The worse ones are the space videos on YouTube

You know, the relative size of stuff ones

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My PhD thesis was on searching for the Higgs Boson at the LHC. Many years ago and forgotten most of it now :joy:

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Oh yes. I remember a year or so ago Betelguse in Orion had some news because it had dimmed. That star is so massive its diameter reaches beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Mind blowing how big it is.

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absolutely…but completely baffling too…

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Yep. It seems the more you learn, the more you actually find is how much you don’t know

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Oh, so when you mean science you mean physics?! :wink: :joy:

I do very much like the sciences, but physics probably the bottom of the list for me. But that’s most likely to do with it being the hardest for me to grasp. My brain just doesn’t work that way, so I find it difficult to wrap my head around it all.

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Yeah i’m interested in this stuff, don’t pretend to understand it all but find it fascinating.
Not heard much from the LHC, I thought it was down for maintenance to give them a power increase?
Most of what I know comes from Biran Cox on the Infinite Monkey cage podcast.

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All sciences really, I started a degree in chemistry. Didn’t finish it because I thought IT was a better gig.

I think with Physics there is so much more we just don’t know, fundementals of how the universe and world around us works.

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It’s shut down now, when it comes back online they can re run that experiment and see if it was a fluke or not. If its not then the physics text books need rewriting

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I’d be no good in the sciences as a career, i’m just not wired up that way. But i do have a natural fascination for the more biological side of things i guess, in particular zoology. I find the natural world very fascinating, plants and animals (etc) alike .

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I prefer his work on OK, Computer :wink:

I am similar. I get a slight, but definite feeling of vertigo when I think about space and the fact the earth is in it right now.

I find it helps to remind myself that these are descriptions of phenomena, not visualisations of particles like we perceive objects. If that makes sense.

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sort of… but the very fact that I have to remove myself from a 4D world as I perceive it in order to understand them is what makes them so fascinating