How to Design a Particle Accelerator

Have you ever wondered how to design a particle accelerator but were too afraid to ask? Well, now you don’t have to live in ignorance anymore.   Suzie Sheehy discusses how they work, what form they take, and what champagne means to an accelerator physicist.  This animation is part of an excellent series of science-based shorts by the Royal Institution which have really helped to make science more approachable to a lot of people.

What is the Higgs Boson? An Animated Explanation

So, here it is – everything you ever wanted to know about the Higgs Boson but were way too intimidated by the science to ask.  Particle physics is something of a mystery to me and so it was great to watch this animation and be able to get something of a grasp on the Higgs Boson and what it actually is (and isn’t).  This is (I am guessing!) a simplified explanation of what the Higgs Boson is and why it is so important (nothing would exist if it didn’t, effectively!).

This animation was created by James Sutton for part of his final year studying graphic design. The soundtrack is provided by christ. There has to be some irony in that.

What does the Higgs boson Look Like?

The by-line for Kuriositas is art and science and all the groovy things in-between. So, when I heard about the massive three story tall mural which had been commissioned by the ATLAS experiment at CERN I knew I had to take a look. CERN, just in case you haven’t heard about it (possibly hiding from a localized zombie apocalypse?), is the European Organization for Nuclear Research and is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva.  Painted by international artist Josef Kristofoletti this magnificent mural shows his interpretation of what the Higgs boson might actually look like.

Even in art, timing is everything. It has been a great seven days for watching people (myself including) struggling with particle physics-lite in an attempt to understand the nature of the Higgs boson.  The one question that has come up several times among my teenage students is so, what does the Higgs boson look like, then? Although it may be an irrelevance to physicists, from the perspective of the person in the street I think that is a really, really good question!