Results Are Still UnCERNtain

1. Scientists at CERN's LHC had reported clocking neutrinos at speeds faster than light.
2. Without radical changes to all of currently-understood physics, this simply didn't make sense.
3. CERN called for other labs to examine their experiment and help to find the flaws - if there were any.
4. CERN is now claiming to have found two separate problems in the setup of this experiment - one that would overstate the speed, and another that would understate it.

Bowing to pressure from Listener 43, I'm posting a quick response to all this brouhaha, in spite of the fact that nothing has really been determined at this point.
It still seems likely to me that this whole mis-measurement was foisted upon the scientific world as a distraction - a red herring, as it were - to keep other, competing labs from making any progress in their search for the Higgs boson. CERN has consistently seemed to mislead their "colleagues" (read competitors) as to the likelihood of finding the Higgs in various energy levels, and I, for one, see no reason not to think this is simply more of the same.

Still, time will tell (how's that for a punnish ending?)

Posted by Procrustes 17

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CERN Boosts Their Beams

CERN Boosts Their Beams

1. CERN plans to boost the energy of the beams at the LHC from 4.5 to 5.0 TeV per beam.
2. They anticipate that a year of experiments at these higher energies should let them find - or rule out - the Higgs boson.
3. They're still publicizing the 124-126 GeV range as the hiding place for the elusive particle.

It seems incredible that anyone is bothering to believe these folks anymore. Several months ago, confirmation of the Higgs boson was just around the corner, and now they're planning on a full year of higher energy experiments to either pin it down or rule it out.

In spite of these higher energies, they are still not running at the top levels for which the LHC was designed. Purportedly, this is to avoid "burning out the power interconnects" - something which one would expect to have been included in the design for those top power levels.

Again, it seems odd that the CERNers are telling everyone where they're looking, and at what energy levels they'll be running these experiments. Does anyone else smell fish? Red herring, to be precise?

This all make me wonder if maybe these LHC folks aren't quite the braniacs they represent themselves to be.
Posted by Procrustes 17

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Still Playing the unCERNtainty Card

1. The scientists at CERN's LHC have made the momentous announcement that they may have an announcement to make next year.
2. They've detected what might be a particle at what might be the correct energy for the Higgs boson - the so-called God particle.
3. Other commentators seem unwilling to take CERN's uncertainty at face value, preferring to trumpet solid evidence for the Higgs boson.

These fine folks seem to have bracketed the Higgs boson's expected energy range, seeing "something" at 124 and 126 GeV - the currently bandied-about mass of the Higgs is 125 GeV.
While they tell us that statistically, they don't feel justified in claiming to have found the particle, they feel this means that they will find it next year. While this may be little more than a way of assuring another year's funding for the experiments, it may also be yet another go at sending competing investigators on a wild-goose chase after yet another energetic red herring.
Or it may not.

I for one will be happy when this hunt is over - with its attendant sniping and misdirection - and we can all once again find ourselves in a universe which is permeated with aether.
The supposed emptiness of space would be most happily replaced by that aether, and then work can begin on Higgs field generators.

That, my friends, would be the most important next step coming from any such discovery. The generation of a Higgs field would mean the eventual achievement of faster-than-light travel. By creating the analogue of a noise-cancelling field, mass could be negated.
Imagine the possibilities - they seem nearly limitless.

I know I've been (and continue to be) suspicious of the folks at CERN and the LHC, but if they actually come through with this discovery - or even if one of their competitors manages the feat despite the false starts and red herrings thrown in their various paths - this could be the beginning of something truly wondrous.

Posted by Procrustes 17

Extinct Bees Back From The Dead?

1. A bee species (Cockerell's Bumblebee) went extinct last century - it was last observed in 1956.
2. Scientists in Europe have observed neutrinos moving faster than light
3. General Relativity indicates that faster than light = time travel to the past

When will the scientists at CERN release their entomological observations to accompany the results of their neutrino measurements?
Why do all branches of the federal government continue to remain silent on the threat of extinct species returning to life in the present due to uncontrolled experimentation by foreign scientists?
When with the news media report on this linkage?

We'll report back here as more information becomes available.

Posted by Listener 43

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Finally conCERNed About Facts

1. Some time ago, CERN announced they had clocked neutrinos moving faster than light.
2. They were uncomfortable with those results, so were asking other labs to try to confirm or refute these results.
3. CERN has now announced that they will also be running the experiment again to try to confirm or disprove their earlier conclusions.

Firstly, I suppose I should give them credit for realizing that neutrinos shouldn't be going faster than light and wanting to look into why they got those results.
Secondly, I should probably give then credit for asking other scientists at other labs to look into their results and try to replicate the experiment.
Thirdly, they should be roundly criticized and upbraided for only now deciding they might want to give their own experiment a second go, to see if the results are the same.

What kind of lab runs an experiment one time and then tells the world the results? The next thing you know, they'll be handicapping the likelihood of finding the Higgs boson before Christmas. Oh wait, they've already done that.

Looking at the points above, it appears that Meatloaf is in charge at CERN - they think that "two out of three ain't bad."

Posted by Procrustes 17

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Trying to disCERN the Truth

1. Just over a week ago, CERN scientists were telling their colleagues that they didn't have the evidence of the Higgs boson which they had previously thought they had.
2. They claimed - bizarrely - that their loss in statistical certitude meant they had a better chance of finding the so called "God particle."
3. This week, they're claiming to be ahead of schedule in their search for this elusive particle. In fact, they claim they may have evidence of a discovery "by Christmas."
4. Somehow, the LHC has been pumping out collisions at a rate of approximately six times that they had "expected" prior to this announcement.

Once again, the LHC scientists at CERN seem to be playing fast and loose with their colleagues' collective credulity. One has to wonder if they were really that far off in the understanding of the capabilities of their machine. Of course, with their vaunted "LHC@home 2.0" program, they were anticipating a faster analysis cycle, but certainly they're not getting more collisions as a result of this program.

It seems apparent that the CERN leadership has already decided when and what their announcement will be regarding the Higgs boson, and they're trying to play the international press like a cello until then.

One can only hope they will turn out to be less unforthcoming in their science than they seem to be in their press relations.


Posted by Procrustes 17

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Slowly I CERN ... Step By Step ... Inch By Inch ...

1. Scientists at the LHC at CERN have been playing games with their colleagues regarding the likely energy levels of the Higgs boson.
2. At the Lepton Photon conference in Mumbai, these same scientists are now saying their results are less statistically significant than they first thought - a statistical quirk is how they describe the data that led to their initial reports.
3. By doubling the amount of data used, they've moved from 2.8 to 2 sigma significance.
4. Despite this decrease in certitude, they're claiming that this loss of certitude is actually giving them a better chance of finding the so called "God particle" in the near future.

Once again, it would appear that the scientists at CERN's Large Hadron Collider are playing "Hide the Boson" with their colleagues / competitors. It seems quite clear that the only reason to publish these reports is to send other teams off on wild boson chases in the wrong energy ranges yet again.
We can only hope that the other research teams will stop taking the bait and recognize a red herring when they see one.

Posted by Procrustes 17

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CERN to Hide Higgs Boson

The scientists at CERN are up to it again. Last week we reported on their active refusal to report the results of their experiments regarding cosmic rays and climate change. This week's apparent outrage seems even more insidious than their last.
It appears that the folks at CERN's Large Hadron Collider are steering the rest of the particle-accelerator world away from particular energy levels as they all seek the Higgs Boson. By telling their colleagues that they've ruled out certain energy ranges, they've essentially assured themselves of exclusivity in those precise ranges.

We once again have to be concerned that CERN - with that worlds' largest particle accelerator - are looking to reap the benefits of proving the existence of the Higgs Boson. Until they have submitted all these results to the normal process of peer-review, we can only assume the worst - that they've found this elusive particle, and are working on proprietary ways to harness it for their own gain, scientific, financial, or other.

Until CERN is forthcoming with details of their discovery, rather than throwing elementary particle red herrings into the world's tokamaks, we have little chance of proving or disproving this dire suspicion. We can only hope that the powers that be at CERN will realize the responsibility that comes with high energy physics domination.

Posted by Procrustes 17

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