Archive for November 18th, 2011
BBC News – Neutrino experiment repeat at Cern finds same result
The team behind the finding in September that neutrinos may travel faster than light has carried out an improved version of their experiment – and found the same result.
If confirmed by other experiments, the find could undermine one of the basic principles of modern physics.
Critics of the first report had said that the long bunches of neutrinos used could introduce an error into the test.
The new work, posted to the Arxiv repository, used much shorter bunches.
It has been submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physics, but has not yet been reviewed by the scientific community.
The experiments have been carried out by the Opera collaboration – short for Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus.
via BBC News – Neutrino experiment repeat at Cern finds same result.
What Should America Steal From British English?
The Economist ran a fascinating (and popular) poll of British readers, asking which “Americanisms” they use. Many, it turns out, have taken to saying “apartment” instead of “flat” and “sidewalk” instead of “pavement.” So let’s flip it around: Which dreadful Americanisms would you trade for something from the mother country?
You can see the Economist’s results here. The American “bug” has gained ground on the British “insect,” and beta is increasingly pronounced “bayta” instead of the more British “beeta” (beeta? really?). There’s less enthusiasm for trading “I’m well” for our grammatically questionable “I’m good,” or for correctly pronouncing “controversy.”
Anyway, the magazine survey got us pondering language trade in the other direction. God knows American English could use some fixin’. So we put on our thinking trilbies and made a list of poorly performing linguistic citizens who should be replaced with immigrants. Cast a vote for one below. Or suggest one of your own devising in the comments
