'Big Bang' experiment starts well
Scientists have hailed a successful switch-on for an enormous experiment which will recreate the conditions a few moments after the Big Bang.
They have now fired two beams of particles called protons around the 27km-long tunnel which houses the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).
The £5bn machine on the Swiss-French border is designed to smash particles together with cataclysmic force.
Scientists hope it will shed light on fundamental questions in physics.
The first - clockwise - beam completed its first circuit of the underground tunnel at just before 0930 BST. The second - anti-clockwise - beam successfully circled the ring after 1400 BST.
The beams have not yet been run continuously. So far, they have been stopped, or "dumped" after just a handful of circuits.
By Wednesday evening, engineers hope to inject clockwise and anti-clockwise protons again, but this time they will "close the orbit", letting the beams run continuously for a few seconds each.
Cern has not yet announced when it plans to carry out the first collisions, but the BBC understands that low-energy collisions could happen in the next few days.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7604293.stm
Teacher OK after crashing into bear on a bicycle
My first thought after reading the title of the article was, "where did the bear get a bicycle?" :lol: This is a funny story and made funnier by the misplaced modifyer in the title. ;)
Quote:
Teacher OK after crashing into bear on a bicycle
Wed Sep 10, 11:17 PM ET
MISSOULA, Mont. - A middle school teacher suffered some bruising and a big scratch on his back after he struck a bear while riding his bicycle to school.
Jim Litz said he was traveling about 25 mph Monday morning when he came upon a rise and spotted a black bear about 10 feet in front of him. He didn't have time to stop and T-boned the bruin.
He tumbled over the handlebars, his helmet hit the bear's back and the two went cartwheeling down the road.
The bear rolled over Litz's head, cracking his helmet, and scratched his back before scampering up a hill above the road. [Snip]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080911/...yclist_vs_bear
New Hitchhiker's author announced
Children's author Eoin Colfer has been commissioned to write a sixth instalment of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy series.
Mostly Harmless, the last Hitchhiker book, was written by its creator, the late Douglas Adams, 16 years ago.
Now Adams's widow, Jane Belson, has given her approval to bring back the hapless Arthur Dent in a new book entitled And Another Thing...
Eoin Colfer, 43, is best known for the best-selling Artemis Fowl novels.
He said he was "terrified" by the prospect of creating a new Hitchhiker book almost a quarter of a century after being introduced to what he described as a "slice of satirical genius" in his late teens.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7619828.stm
Women to rule Rwanda parliament
Rwanda will be the first country where women will outnumber men in parliament, preliminary election results show.
Women have taken 44 out of 80 seats so far and the number could rise if three seats reserved for the disabled and youth representatives go to females.
Rwanda, whose post-genocide constitution ensures a 30% quota for female MPs, already held the record for the most women in parliament.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7620816.stm
New Mozart piece of music found in French library
Here's an exciting piece of news.
Quote:
New Mozart piece of music found in French library
By JOHN LEICESTER,
PARIS - A French museum has found a previously unknown piece of music handwritten by Mozart, a researcher said Thursday. The 18th century melody sketch is missing the harmony and instrumentation but was described as an important find.
Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, said there is no doubt that the single sheet was written by the composer.
"This is absolutely new," Leisinger said in a telephone interview. "We have new music here."
"His handwriting is absolutely clearly identifiable," he added. "There's no doubt that this is an original piece handwritten by Mozart."
The work, described as the preliminary draft of a musical composition, was found by a library in Nantes in western France as staff were going through its archives. Leisinger says the library contacted his foundation for help authenticating the work.
"It's a melody sketch so what's missing is the harmony and the instrumentation but you can make sense out of it," he said. "The tune is complete. It's only one part and not the whole score with eight or twelve parts." [Snip]
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080918/...rt_discovery_6
No bull: Police lasso bull on NYC's streets
Now here is a really strange occurance:
Quote:
No bull: Police lasso bull on NYC's streets
Sep 18 11:58 PM US/Eastern
NEW YORK (AP) - It looked like an urban rodeo on the streets of New York City.
Police say a young bull made a dash for freedom through the streets of Queens on Wednesday night but suddenly died before he could be taken to an animal sanctuary.
Police cars tried to steer the bull off the crowded roadways but the several-hundred-pound animal hit and damaged a squad car. An NYPD officer with urban cowboy skills lassoed the bull and it was tranquilized. ...[Snip]
...An NYPD spokesman says it's not known where the bull had been kept.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...cle=1&catnum=9
Now where in heaven's name does anyone in New York keep a bull? :confused: I wonder ifanyone got this on video. I would love to see this drama in the streets of New York. :lol:
