Particle physics is not just black holes and antimatter
May 28, 2009
Particle physics saves lives, connects continents through new channels of communication, helps us understand the world around us and inspires tomorrow's leaders.
While the perils associated with particle physics, from Earth-gobbling black holes to Vatican-destroying amounts of antimatter, gain news headlines, it's easy to overlook the large economic and societal benefits of particle physics research.
The technology designed and engineered for paradigm-shifting experiments, such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, is some of the most advanced in the world and as particle physics technology moves forward so technology for industries as varied as biotechnology, energy and communications also rapidly progresses.
The Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) are today, Thursday, 28 May, launching a new report, 'Particle physics - it matters' to introduce a wider audience to the economic and societal benefits of particle physics research.
Tajinder Panesor, manager, science policy at the Institute of Physics, said, "Many more people are now familiar with the 'Big Bang' machine and the hunt for the 'God' particle but we feel that there are still some questions around why so much effort is expended on this type of activity.
"We want everyone logging onto the Web or going to the hospital for a scan to know that what they're experiencing has only been made possible through particle physics research."
The new report lays out how particle physics benefits the UK's economy and its society through healthcare and communication spin-offs and how it provides British industry with world-leading technology, while also helping us address global challenges.
The report includes results from an exclusive survey which asked more than 800 physics undergraduates from eight of the UK's leading university physics departments what it was that inspired them to study physics.
An independent report compiled for the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, The Demand for STEM Graduates, states that the UK will need almost one million more STEM graduates by 2017, doubling the number of STEM graduates produced each year, if we are to face off the economic, energy and environment-related challenges that we currently face. It is therefore significant that the three subjects that most attracted first year undergraduates to study physics, with nine of every 10 first year undergraduates responding so, are quantum phenomena, nuclear physics and astrophysics, all of which fall under the umbrella of or are closely associated with particle physics.
The report summarises research being undertaken by particle physicists at the furthest frontiers of basic science: understanding mass; looking for antimatter; detecting dark matter; and grasping further spatial dimensions, but for every explicit moment of success in these bold adventures, hundreds of other advances are made that touch our lives in ways most don't consider.
More information: Particle physics - it matters
2 hours ago
Oh well. on a more serious note, If you really really try to come up with things that help mankind in a serious and vital way with regards to energy..you will find that in near minutes..in reality -less than a week..that the spooks and private interests will come out of the woodwork at you like a flying sledgehammer.
So, in essence, they talk a a good talk about 'interesting science' when it comes to the true and viable expression of cutting edge physics as actual and immediate relief for mankind's energy issues, but the trail of blood in the attempts to express alternative technologies and the personal experiences of people in that field..show that the public face and the private face of such things are extremely different.
One has to go through the minimal effort to understand that viable alternative or cutting edge physics that can solve energy issues in the immediate sense..if such things are expressed by any individual or small company it is like a combination of a lightning rod and a total death warrant. This should be obvious as the day is long when you take two seconds to understand that trillions of $ in corporate, military, and political systems would come under extreme duress and threat from a a major and fast shift in the face of a major change in physics.
The whole point is to not get all mentally cute on the situation and have 'puppy dog eyes' and nebulous happy thoughts for world changing physics without understanding that there are large groups who stand to have serious and powerfully wrecking change brought into their lives from any alteration in the status quo.
Only when you actually 'make it there', and arrive at the true possibilities and true cutting edge of energy and physics..will you actually meet these forces. Otherwise, they will forever seem like some distant paranoid dream.
Thus, like the hydrogen car, anything of world changing status will always be 10 years away from us.
This is why, that all we ever see, is stuff that never really arrives, and never really works. Real and actual change is far to threatening to the power structure that is existence today.
The point of mentioning all this, is...:If you go into physics to attempt to help the world, understand you are entering total war zone for control of your intellectual expression -to pour it in to areas that are slow and plodding, not fast and power structure wrecking. If you want to make a difference in a way that changes things for the better---CHART YOUR OWN PATH.
The greatest benefit to those brave souls who are willing to follow the path of research is the joy of continuous discovery.
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
http://myprofile....anuelo09