Thank you, @fustar! (+ fustar.info).
“It’s like zoologists trying to determine if they’ve discovered a new species of butterfly by looking at a meadow through binoculars. From 16 miles away.”
From the above Guardian article, I learnt that all the matter we can see in the universe accounts for only 4% of the total, and the Higgs Boson might help us figure out the other 96%. That seems odd in a Douglas Adams kind of way, that we’re so blindly adrift. And he would’ve been thrilled today if he were still around. Though he’s probably flicking someone with a towel somewhere inside that 96% we can’t see.
The Higgs boson, the Guardian also explains – is the force-carrying particle that helps transmit the effects of the Higgs field. And the Higgs field? A kind of cosmic “treacle” spread through the universe. As particles travel through the treacle they slow down, lose energy and get heavier. Kind of like cake mixing really.
And so, a significant day for science, a landmark that’ll be looked back on in decades and centuries to come apparently.
And then the next thing in my feed full-screen floors me… I don’t mean to get all Californian on your ass – but these are some of the thickest slow-motion barrels I’ve ever seen anyone surf through – we’re talking some serious overhanging slabs of ocean here. We’re talking some serious mass. Try keeping your jaw up at 2.29, 3.33, 4.29, 5.23….. Physics eh?
[[That was by Chris Bryan. Also check out his 12 minute show-reel shot with the same super-slo-mo Phantom cameras (in an underwater body).]]